# So what didn't you like about The Wire? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2012, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947 "2012-03-16T09:30:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/41 "2012-03-19T16:13:30Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Omar’s coming, you better better hide your heart… > mmm Omar’s comin’, better walk. Walk, but you’ll never get away. No, you’ll never get away from the burnin’ a-heartache. * * * Omar is not Batman because of his origin story or ethos, geez. That guy upthread explained it well, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2012, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/42 "2012-03-19T17:02:20Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Yeah, I read an article about the real characters of the Wire and they mentioned one of the characters Omar was based on (he was a composite of a couple of stick up men) jumping off a balconey during a shootout from an even higher distance than on the show. That’s the thing, though. (And, again, I think he’s a great character.) All those things happened to several different people who rode their luck a time or two and lived to tell about it. With Omar, it _all_ happens to _one guy_. Which is awesome, but detracts somewhat from the ‘reality’ of the show. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/43 "2013-08-24T10:14:32Z")
Hope its ok to revive this thread, only just watching through all the seasons now while waiting for new Breaking Bad. One thing I noticed which seems unbelievable to me and brings me out of the show. Avon Barksdale and Stringer are always careful to not talk on the phone directly about drugs or killings in season 1. Then in season 2 and 3 we see many many conversations with Barksdale and Stringer talking bluntly over the visitor phone handsets in Jail to each other. Prisoners conversations with visitors can be recorded and throughout season 3 they’re trying to connect Stringer to street level dealing. Why do they never tap his conversations with Barksdale? ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/44 "2013-08-24T18:18:32Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally Posted by **coremelt** > Prisoners conversations with visitors can be recorded and throughout season 3 they’re trying to connect Stringer to street level dealing. Why do they never tap his conversations with Barksdale? I haven’t watched it in years and if you did just watch it, did their shady lawyer somehow get a court order preventing this? Because, yeah, that seems like the obvious place to put a wiretap on a show called _The Wire_. > [@planetcory](#): > > That’s the thing, though. (And, again, I think he’s a great character.) All those things happened to several different people who rode their luck a time or two and lived to tell about it. With Omar, it _all_ happens to _one guy_. Which is awesome, but detracts somewhat from the ‘reality’ of the show. Yeah, this can be a common dramatic plot device. One criticism of _The Perfect Storm_ was that, true, swordfishermen have experienced situations like sharks coming onboard, crewman going overboard after being caught by a hook, and losing their “bird" (the ballast stabilizer thingy, IIRC) in a storm, all that stuff never happens _all_ on one trip. Someone mentioned no one says _The_ 695. Most people I know usually say beltway, or Baltimore beltway (and Beltway with a capital letter usually means that other beltway, 30 miles south). I’d recommend _Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets_, the book that started it all (\*Homicide \*TV series, _The Corner_ book and miniseries, and _The Wire_) for a good, and sometimes laugh out loud funny–despite the subject, read. Landsman doing his ghost impersonation outside the interrogation room had me rolling: “Mmmmuuuurrrder…mmmuuurderrr…” [some of their suspects actually believe in spirits and voodoo spells] IIRC, the investigating detective says something like “Jesus Christ, Jay, now you’ve done it. Knock it off”. And I have read that one of the real-life Omars did actually jump off a balcony and it was higher than depicted in the show. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/45 "2013-08-24T19:16:15Z")
> [@Edward\_The\_Head](#): > > It also felt nothing like Baltimore. I grew up going to Baltimore, I know plenty of people from Baltimore and none of them talked like they do. At least I don’t know of anyone that talked like the cops on the show did as I don’t know any drug dealers. We don’t say THE 695. If all the characters had true Baltimore accents it would have been cancelled immediately. McNulty attempted one at times and it was absolutely terrible. There were a few who were either Baltimore natives or good at doing the accent. Valchek(sp?), one of the drunk cops from S1 if I remember correctly. The school principal, and others, but it would have been extremely grating to Baltimoreans and non-Baltimoreans alike if all characters had the accent. Actually now that I think about it Jay Landsman attempted it a few times with mixed results. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/46 "2013-08-24T19:56:20Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > If all the characters had true Baltimore accents it would have been cancelled immediately. McNulty attempted one at times and it was absolutely terrible. There were a few who were either Baltimore natives or good at doing the accent. Valchek(sp?), one of the drunk cops from S1 if I remember correctly. The school principal, and others, but it would have been extremely grating to Baltimoreans and non-Baltimoreans alike if all characters had the accent. Actually now that I think about it Jay Landsman attempted it a few times with mixed results. Yeah, can you imagine if they talked like the Bawlmur characters from an early John Waters movie, hon? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/47 "2013-08-25T00:08:18Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I haven’t watched it in years and if you did just watch it, did their shady lawyer somehow get a court order preventing this? Because, yeah, that seems like the obvious place to put a wiretap on a show called _The Wire_. No there is no court order. I got to say season 3 is really dragging for me, it seems like its going nowhere. I really enjoyed season 1 and 2, does it get better again? Currently up to S03E9. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/48 "2013-08-25T01:22:56Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > No there is no court order. I got to say season 3 is really dragging for me, it seems like its going nowhere. I really enjoyed season 1 and 2, does it get better again? Currently up to S03E9. Well, I really enjoyed it, but I was born in Baltimore and have lived there. YMMV. Refreshing my memory at Wikipedia, I’d say at least finish this season. I think people have described it as all 5 seasons can be looked at like it’s a novel. Things that happen in earlier chapters set up events much later on. Like an unlikely alliance to settle a score, for example; people who have seen it know what I’m talking about and I didn’t see that one coming. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/49 "2013-08-25T01:40:43Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > No there is no court order. I got to say season 3 is really dragging for me, it seems like its going nowhere. I really enjoyed season 1 and 2, does it get better again? Currently up to S03E9. Mos’ def. 🙂 I wasn’t crazy about the political stuff in S3, but I thought Hamsterdam (and the fallout) was fascinating, and Brother Mouzone and Marlo Stanfield lit up my TV set. And Omar, always Omar. Please finish the season – it’ll be worth the time. Season four moves into the schools, and if you thought there was pathos and tragedy in season one, just wait. ---
**Author:** ![BrokenBriton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@BrokenBriton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrokenBriton)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2013, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947/50 "2013-08-25T08:49:13Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Omar and Brother Mouzone. > > Yes Omar was awesome, but come on. There’s no such thing as ghetto Batman. The only realistic thing about Omar was how he went out. Random and senseless. It wasn’t what Omar did it was what the street legends said Omar did. Once the ‘street’ believed in the stories of his daring all he had to do was stand outside a row house and drugs would fall at his feet. In legend, he was a superman. Great marketing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-didnt-you-like-about-the-wire/615947.md?page=2)