# Someone at Capital One's ad agency must be a fan of The Wire **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469 "2013-10-05T22:49:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/1 "2013-10-05T22:49:22Z")
I was watching baseball about a week ago, and during one of those endless Alec Baldwin commercials I was startled to see Wee-Bay playing a cop. Which in my opinion is pretty funny. Just now was a different Capital One commercial, again during baseball, and this time it was Tommy Carcetti’s campaign manager, Norm Wilson, playing a super villain. Slim Charles for the trifecta? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/2 "2013-10-05T22:59:39Z")
Since Omar Little apparently runs the dirtbag company, it’s no surprise to me. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/3 "2013-10-05T23:18:31Z")
Not Capital One, and no tie-in that I can suss out, but Lt. Daniels is doing an ad for an LED lightbulb. Maybe it relates to that dark basement. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/4 "2013-10-06T03:25:48Z")
I dunno… the actor is Reg E. Cathy and since he appeared in one of my favorite shows of all time, _Square One_ (a kid’s show about math from the late 80s/early 90s), I’ve seen him pretty regularly in all sorts of roles, and commercials. To me, he’s just a guy who’s likely to be cast in (or accept a casting in) commercials rather than a guy who’d be sought out for a commercial because people remember him for a previous role. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/5 "2013-10-06T03:53:18Z")
Practically every featured actor on The Wire was on Law & Order at least once, including everybody mentioned in this thread so far. In fact Wendell Pierce was on the original Law & Order four different times as four different characters. I think most of those appearances came before the Wire happened, but afterward they may have made an effort to get the rest of them. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/6 "2013-10-07T16:59:59Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Practically every featured actor on The Wire was on Law & Order at least once, including everybody mentioned in this thread so far. In fact Wendell Pierce was on the original Law & Order four different times as four different characters. I think most of those appearances came before the Wire happened, but afterward they may have made an effort to get the rest of them. _L&O: SVU_ is carrying on the tradition of hiring _The Wire_ actors. Last week they had Sonja (Kima) Sohn on in a small role. Before that, Pablo (Nick) Schreiber was in a series of episodes, including the previous season cliff hanger and the current season’s premiere. Earlier in the year, Isiah (Clay Davis) Whitlock Jr. made his fifth appearance on the show. A different character each time. This ties him with John (Rawls) Doman. The main reverse crossover was of course the Belzer/Munch cameo. ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/7 "2013-10-09T15:42:09Z")
I have just finished watching “Borgia” (not “The Borgias”) and struggled for the first 3 episodes to recall where I had seen the guy who plays the Rodrigo Borgia. Turned out to be Rawls from “the Wire”. While he was perfect for the Wire, he is a bit of a weak link in Borgia. ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/8 "2013-10-09T15:45:31Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > _L&O: SVU_ is carrying on the tradition of hiring _The Wire_ actors. Last week they had Sonja (Kima) Sohn on in a small role. Before that, Pablo (Nick) Schreiber was in a series of episodes, including the previous season cliff hanger and the current season’s premiere. Earlier in the year, Isiah (Clay Davis) Whitlock Jr. made his fifth appearance on the show. A different character each time. This ties him with John (Rawls) Doman. > > The main reverse crossover was of course the Belzer/Munch cameo. Darn…I thought Bryan Cranston was good for having playing three different characters on Murder, She Wrote. I went back and watched the first one he was in…he played Linda Hamilton’s boyfriend, and they were both tennis players. He was blown up in a car. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-at-capital-ones-ad-agency-must-be-a-fan-of-the-wire/670469/9 "2013-10-23T17:59:49Z")
Last week’s _SVU_ had a good _The Wire_ crossover. It was Munch’s retirement party. (Belzer even did standup!) In the crowd was [Clark Johnson](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0424800) who played the editor in the last season of _The Wire_. But the character name at IMDb is listed as his old _Homicide_ character. I also think they guy next to him might have been from _The Wire_ as well. So at first I thought it was some of Munch’s old Baltimore buddies. Munch is not disappearing entirely. He is going to be an investigator for the DA, allowing for later appearances in this and other shows. [Peter Gerety](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0314253) recently made his third appearance on _The Good Wife_, all as a judge like on _The Wire_. I kept waiting for him to sic McNulty on someone. Note that _The Good Wife_ like _SVU_ and presumably the commercials are all filmed in NYC. There’s an East Coast/West Coast split thing for actors. While there’s a lot of actor wannabes in NYC, there are far fewer ones with good TV experience so there’s a smaller pool to draw on. A lot more reuse of people. But I think the Capital One ads are deliberate.