Wired to the box.

A mighty Avon, if ever there was one, was Avon Barksdale; the kingpin of Baltimore’s narcotics distribution in ‘The Wire’.
In the continuing saga of ‘pop-cultural catch-up’ via boxed sets for the culturally impaired; my most recent consumption was has been a FIVE season long eye-bleeding marathon of ‘The Wire’;- and oh it was glorious, my droogs.

Avon Barksdale was played by Wood Harris and Wood Harris is in Johannesburg at the moment, playing a part in the new Judge Dredd film; I hope it all goes well for him. That’s not what I’m talking about today though. Today I’m just talking about ‘The Wire’. Or, as Jon Kenny and Pat Shortt might have called it: ‘D’Wire’.

As I’m sure everybody else in the world knows by now, ‘D’Wire is only brilliant altogether and represents a giant step in evolution as far as televisual dramatics are concerned. It’s enormous, it’s ambitious, it’s all-encompassing and it’s just so gosh-darned well written that it takes your breath away. Or it took my breath away anyway.

Well look, a five season boxed set isn’t actually something I could survive without breathing but don’t be like that when y’know perfectly well what I mean.

Underpinning the complexity of the large ensemble cast and their multiple back-stories, (as well as a clear and analytical approach to the interconnectedness of the schools/policing/media/drug trafficking and politics that make the sordid life of Baltimore), is a very simple premise: everybody is at work.

The cops solving murders are not trying to find justice for the victims or their families; they are trying to have a good work record, for themselves and their careers.
The gallows humour and general indifference is barbaric and shocking in the TV cop genre, but it doesn’t make us recoil from them as characters, because very soon we see that this is simply how it is for people who do a job, and we find other things to like about them.

The drug dealers, from the high echelon Kingpins such as the mighty Avon and his successors, to the children who distribute for them on the corners; no-one is ever simply evil and nor are they victims either: they are at work. They have individual ambition and drive and different levels of tolerance for the nastier side of the game, but this their job, and the law is a simple irritation, that makes it harder for them to do their job.

The politicians, ranging from the ‘Fianna Fail Ferengi’ shameless con-man to the starry eyed idealist who can get nothing done without double-dealing in some sense, (because that is what the business of politics is), are in the business of remaining elected; that, is the focus of their job.

The most idealistic and dedicated teacher in the world can have little impact in an underfunded school where they turn the heating up as a control measure, but still he goes in everyday, to do his job.

And it all fits so beautifully. I have me gripes of course. There’s a flaw or two here and there where some aspect is over-emphasised or dramatised so that the mask of realism slips, but these instances are only jarring because they are so rare, and it’s possible that the program wouldn’t work as well without them, after all, how much realism do you want out of the telly at the end of the day?
A case in point is the colourful and almost superhuman character Omar and his singular way of supporting himself. It doesn’t seem like a viable long-term occupation, certainly for as long as he survives on it in the one town of Baltimore.
But we need it because it places him in a unique position of moral authority outside of the game but part of it. Omar’s the Clint Eastwood noble bad-ass maverick, and the series would lose a lot without him.

One thing, I felt it let itself down on, was the ‘ground-breaking’ sex scenes: inter-racial/same sex/couple in a corridore.t.c.; they felt to me like self-conscious 'television events’ and almost always interrupted the pace of the story; but maybe that’s just me being repressed or whatever. There was one ride in a carpark that was okay because that was just a character caught in the headlights and it didn’t go on for five minutes with music and everything.

Anyway that’s my tuppence worth, about a series that’s long over.

If for any reason, you’ve missed it, or missed part of it, or saw a couple of episodes and didn’t get into it, I’d say check it out. It’s brilliant. I think it has to be the best long running series I’ve ever seen ever ever ever.

And I mean that now.

Winging it.

I dont have a telly in the gaff, and y'know what that means: I get a lot more done with my days but when I'm in company I have no idea what anybody's talking about half the time.

 Now and then I get to play 'pop-cultural catch-up' via boxed sets. In a way, boxed sets are probably a bit like cheating. These programmes are designed to be consumed with waiting period of a week between episodes and a year between seasons... There is a lot more to be gotten from the classic cliffhanger if the whole thing isn't solved instantly by FF-ing past the end credits and opening credits. Then again the boxed set method does keep ads out of the house. (Nobody should have advertising in their home, remind me to elaborate someday).

The boxed set also lends itself to the video marathon, a show (that's any good) will, of course, leave you feeling 'just one more episode...I know it's half past three in the morning but I have to know what happens'. its so engaging , so convenient, no ads just story and all you need to do is press 'PLAY' 

Theirin lieth the probellum- for Boxed sets can eat your soul and destroy your will to live.

Case in point, I have just recently been liberated from the burden of The West Wing, (all seven seasons in a dox beluxe version that came in a bogs dollocks).

Released you say? Burden? Yes. Yes, That's what I say and that's what I think.

It was a welcome burden and by the time my release date came I was well into an advanced stage of Stockholm Syndrome  but still I was 'released' and it was a 'burden', and I shall never be able to fully explain what happened to me back there.

man.

Now I do get to witness telly occasionally, and some time over the past ten years I must have been somewhere where the West Wing was on, but all I ever seemed to see was people hastily walking around corridors and talking too fast about things I didn't understand so... y'know... why bother trying to play catch-up?

The boxed set is an entirely different proposition. No reason to miss a single part. Watch it and know it and be part of it in its entirety, be the Wing! Well no not quite. Fact is I never got the West Wing first time 'round: I wasn't there, it was just another shared cultural experience I missed out on, (like Italia 90') but this was at least as near to 'being the wing' as a snotty nosed come-lately such as meself could expect.

And what shall I say of the wing?

1. Nobody told me it was a soap. It is y'know, it's a soap opera. A very good soap mind you but a soap nonetheless.

2. I can see why it won awards, it's a very good bit of telly and it does explain things at the same time. It explains things in a very simplistic way but that's what's best for the target audience: myself included.

3. The characters are all ridiculously naive and idealistic, but thank god. You couldn't be looking at disillusioned political hacks week in and week out.

4. It runs for so many episodes that it feels more real than a real presidency. I now have a real and clear concept of the Bartlet administration; one that's far more concrete than my idea of the Reagan era or Bush or any of them. 

5. I bet it helped Obama get in.

6. The bombastic title music does not lend itself to boxed set consumption. Snuffy you annoy me.