# Viewing audience for "The Wire," by race. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403 "2009-01-08T18:12:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/21 "2009-01-12T03:50:36Z")
I’ve never seen it. I thought urban dark gritty went out in the 70’s. I keep hearing it’s the greatest show ever, but I still haven’t gotten around to Deadwood 'cause I’m not really into swearing a lot westerns either. It might be a great show, but I’ve got better things to do than watch dark gritty black stuff, and tough gritty western stuff, and gritty raw prison stuff. Guess I’m just not big on tough, raw, gritty stuff, unless it’s scifi. Can The Wire be remade on a spaceship? ---
**Author:** ![EpiGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8c91f0/32.png) [@EpiGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EpiGirl)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/22 "2009-01-12T04:18:38Z")
I’m from Baltimore, so nearly everyone around here loves it (black, white, stc.). I never really got into it, I’m too much of an optimist. Perhaps part of the love for it by black people and those in urban areas is the realism. Many of the side characters are actual Baltimoreans who have been in the game, so to speak. Like **Lakai** somewhat mentioned, it also shows a cross-section of black urban life and not the narrow depictions often found on crime shows. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/23 "2009-01-12T05:08:49Z")
One thing I love about the show is that the people are real, not cartoons. They are complex and have a variety of motives, some of which they don’t even understand. There are small bits of optimism in the series but they are few and far between. There have been a couple of episodes where my wife and I just kind of sit there in silence as the credits play. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/24 "2009-01-12T05:16:25Z")
\*The Corner \*is on FX tomorrow night. Is it any good? ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/25 "2009-01-12T05:42:07Z")
> [@EpiGirl](#): > > I’m from Baltimore, so nearly everyone around here loves it (black, white, stc.). I never really got into it, I’m too much of an optimist. Perhaps part of the love for it by black people and those in urban areas is the realism. Many of the side characters are actual Baltimoreans who have been in the game, so to speak. Indeed. I was surprised to find out that actress Felicia 'Snoop 'Pearson (they used her real name for her character) was actually a gangsta and even killed a girl when she was 14. > [@EpiGirl](#): > > Like **Lakai** somewhat mentioned, it also shows a cross-section of black urban life and not the narrow depictions often found on crime shows. It does show a cross-section that is wider than almost any other similar show ever made, but it still vastly underrepresents black urban “citizens” who are not involved with government (i.e. cops, politicians, social workers). ---
**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:** [January 12, 2009, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/26 "2009-01-12T07:22:06Z")
Mark me down for a fan of The Wire (white). I got in on the ground floor because I was lucky enough to have HBO when season one started. I don’t think I ever missed an original airing of an ep. The OP’s question just made me realize that I don’t have any black friends anymore. I had one, but we both moved and I haven’t seen the guy in five years. Am I going to have to hold a Colbert-esque new black friend competition? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/27 "2009-01-12T08:36:43Z")
This article in the New Yorker, mentions the demographics of the audience: > [@](#): > > Sometimes the fan base of “The Wire” seems like the demographics of many American cities—mainly the urban poor and the affluent élite, with the middle class hollowed out. [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/22/071022fa\_fact\_talbot](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/22/071022fa_fact_talbot) ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/28 "2009-01-12T17:53:26Z")
My wife and I loved it and we are Indians transplanted to the Us about 8 years ago. But damn! - we cant get any of our friends of any ethnicity to sit through 3 episodes! ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/29 "2009-01-12T18:24:37Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > \*The Corner \*is on FX tomorrow night. Is it any good? I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard that it’s really great. I believe it won the Emmy. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/30 "2009-01-12T18:47:44Z")
_The Corner_ – I rented it after I started watching _The Wire_. There’ll be some familiar faces, in roles 180 degrees from their Wire characters. I thought it was great. It felt like a documentary – the drama was low-key, for the most part. It’s definitely worth watching. _Homicide_, OTOH, I haven’t been able to get into. Maybe because I’ve watched it on regular TV, with commercial breaks, and maybe some editing. ---
**Author:** ![November](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6f9a4e/32.png) [@November](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/November)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/31 "2009-01-12T19:28:07Z")
> [@Windwalker](#): > > Indeed. I was surprised to find out that actress Felicia 'Snoop 'Pearson (they used her real name for her character) was actually a gangsta and even killed a girl when she was 14. You know, I didn’t know that but I’ve always been very struck by her performance. I don’t know whether it’s her background or just acting talent, but she manages to inflect everything she does with an air of understated menace, even just standing there in the background with her hands in her pockets. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/32 "2009-01-12T19:28:58Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Yeah, there’s very little exposition, and what little you get might not come until two or three episodes later. I was thinking about the show a couple days ago, and I think season 1 has one of the greatest bits of exposition I’ve ever seen or read. Through a series of entirely plausible events, one gangster decides to teach two other gangsters how to play chess. In order to do so, he explains the role of each piece by analogizing it to the job of a member of their crime syndicate. Narratively, what he’s doing makes perfect sense, and it’s a scene that builds all three characters and is well-written and highly watchable. **At the same time** that the character is explaining chess to the gangsters using syndicate analogies, however, the writer is explaining the syndicate’s organization to the audience using chess analogies. It’s brilliantly symmetrical. I really can’t think of a more elegant bit of exposition. > [@levdrakon](#): > > Can The Wire be remade on a spaceship? Hopefully not too much of a spoiler, but Season 2 centers around fighting off an invasion of bloodthirsty aliens. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/33 "2009-01-13T03:44:52Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Hopefully not too much of a spoiler, but Season 2 centers around fighting off an invasion of bloodthirsty aliens. > > Daniel Now you’re just teasing me. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/34 "2009-01-13T04:04:16Z")
I swear it’s true. Someone back me up here. If I recall correctly, in the first episode, some sort of pod-thing shows up in Baltimore after being ejected by some sort of alien mother-ship, and the show’s regulars discover that the pod-thing is full of dead aliens. The live aliens show up in the next episode, I think, and start killing humans. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/35 "2009-01-13T06:39:10Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I swear it’s true. Someone back me up here. If I recall correctly, in the first episode, some sort of pod-thing shows up in Baltimore after being ejected by some sort of alien mother-ship, and the show’s regulars discover that the pod-thing is full of dead aliens. The live aliens show up in the next episode, I think, and start killing humans. > > Daniel Maybe in the cut that aired stateside. Here, the version they showed had an extra 3 minute scene explaining that the alien mother-ship was actually a CIA time travel device. In one scene close to the end of the episode you can see the future CIA men reflected in McNulty’s shades. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/36 "2009-01-13T09:18:43Z")
I am a white Aussie fan who is just about at the end of series 4 (I don’t think 5 is on the market here). What I have noticed is that as the series go along the black characters become harder to understand. I never thought of subtitles in series one or two but by four ending up using them continually. Anyone else find that? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/37 "2009-01-13T09:23:42Z")
Snoop is pretty hard to understand, she has a really thick Bmore accent and I think she either appears in season 4 or at least starts to appear more in season 4. Don’t feel bad about not understanding her, do you remember the scene in the hardware store where she’s buying a nail gun and the guy selling it to her clearly isn’t following her describing recoil and the effects of different bullets? ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/38 "2009-01-13T10:28:07Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I swear it’s true. Someone back me up here. If I recall correctly, in the first episode, some sort of pod-thing shows up in Baltimore after being ejected by some sort of alien mother-ship, and the show’s regulars discover that the pod-thing is full of dead aliens. The live aliens show up in the next episode, I think, and start killing humans. > > Daniel This is all true – I’ve watched S2 three times. I love the scene where the alien overlord uses his psychological powers to dupe the cops tailing him into tracking a human instead – brilliant use of the genre conventions. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/39 "2009-01-13T15:24:33Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Maybe in the cut that aired stateside. Here, the version they showed had an extra 3 minute scene explaining that the alien mother-ship was actually a CIA time travel device. In one scene close to the end of the episode you can see the future CIA men reflected in McNulty’s shades. Now you’re just making things up. **Tracy’s** telling the truth, though: that scene was awesome. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403/40 "2009-01-13T15:39:54Z")
And that terrifying scene in the finale when the aliens corrupted human aerial technology to make their escape right over the good guys’ heads. D: Almost more evil than the aliens was that creepy human traitor who was working with the aliens, benefit from their technological advances, and tipping them off about the cops’ activities the whole time. I _hated_ him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/viewing-audience-for-the-wire-by-race/480403.md?page=3)