The Wire: Was Anyone Paying Attention?
A week has now passed since the airing of the final episode of the fourth season of the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire. Diehard fans will no doubt experience withdrawal symptoms without a television show even remotely close to that quality to watch. HBO Video on Demand may have to be employed to satisfy the urges.
With the show renewed for a fifth and final season, production to begin sometime in the Spring of 2007, the challenge now is to see if this ground-breaking series gets the recognition it deserves from the show business awards community.
The Wire received a Peabody Award in 2004 and been praised by reviewers since the show debuted. About this season, the New York Times said the show "is the closest that moving pictures have come so far to the depth and nuance of the novel." Daily Variety observed, "When television history is written, little else will rival THE WIRE," hailing the show for its "extraordinary depth and ambition." Entertainment Weekly called the series "a staggering achievement," while the Washington Post described it as "electrifying and disturbing...a gripping saga," and the New York Post termed it "the single finest piece of work ever produced for American TV."
Yet acknowledgement by way of awards from the television industry has eluded them.
This show, set and filmed in Baltimore, Maryland; produced and written by creatives who are most decidedly not a part of the Hollywood mainstream; and which stars a cast of enormously talented actors, many of them African American, but all of them outside the “pretty, young, White, 20-something” model that too much of the industry embraces, has gone unnoticed by many of those who decide on the awards.
This past week nominations were announced for the 64th Golden Globes, and while the HBO network garnered 14, none were for The Wire.
Awards don’t just happen by chance. This is a political process and lots of money, time and effort is exerted by networks and producers in campaigning to get nominations, then votes, necessary to secure the coveted trophies. Average television viewers can’t vote.
But we can influence networks to devote the resources necessary to mount a campaign to seek a nomination. Fans can write letters to the tv editors of their local newspapers and major entertainment magazines, to praise their favorite show and generate wider publicity. And that’s what fans of The Wire should do, and they’d better do it fast.
It’s too late for the Golden Globes but the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Emmys are still to come. SAG, of which I am a member, announces its nominations (in acting-related categories only) on January 4, 2007. A random sampling of the entire membership was chosen to make nominations, while the full membership will get to vote on those. The awards will be given out on January 28.
However, the Primetime Emmy Awards, the industry’s highest honor, won’t be held until August 2007. That’s a long time for people to forget all about this excellent fourth season. Fans need to lobby hard and for the long haul.
Viewers can start by telling HBO to commit their marketing efforts towards promoting The Wire for both the SAG nominations (even at this late date) and the Emmys, nine months from now. Write to:
Chris Albrecht
Chairman and CEO
HBO
1100 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036-6712
Phone 212.512.1000
Carolyn Strauss,
President, HBO Entertainment
HBO
1100 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10036-6712
Phone 212.512.1000
Whether writing to network executives or news editors, express the need to reward excellence and how The Wire embodies the highest standards of television in its writing, acting and producing. Tell them how television is full of too much formulaic programming and how lower broadcast network viewership is directly related to that. Remind them that The Wire is simply the best drama on television, anywhere, and it deserves to be given awards befitting a show of such consistent quality.
Posted by bernie at December 17, 2006 8:34 PMThe Wire is always going to suffer in these award shows because it is the furthest thing from a 'Hollywood' show I can imagine. But part of the problem with these nominations is the screening process. It would be nice to think that the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences take the time to watch an entire season of the best show on television, but I'm afraid too many of them see just a single episode. And unlike Grey's Anatomy or The Sopranos - serials that nevertheless feature smaller story arcs and themes contained to single episodes - it is impossible to judge The Wire based on any one episode. It would be like reading a random chapter of a great novel. I know the acting Emmys are selected based on one episode that is submitted, so The Sopranos sent "Whitecaps" from Season 4 and pretty much guaranteed that Edie Falco and James Gandolfini won that year. But how could you pick one episode of The Wire to showcase Michael K. Williams or Andre Royo? The show's ensemble cast, especially this season, limits everyone to a handful of scenes in each episode. Similarly, it's impossible to appreciate the depth of storytelling and attention to detail of the writing staff without connecting each episode to the whole season, and even previous seasons. Also, the writing, acting and directing are much less flashy than other shows, because The Wire aspires to and accomplishes a realism that nothing else on TV even approaches.
I was disappointed in the Golden Globes, because they had the sense to honor The Office (BBC), Jason Bateman and Ian McShane when the Emmys didn't. And the recent Writer's Guild of America nominations also ignored The Wire (maybe because the show's writing staff is comprised of former reporters and novelists without a TV pedigree?). It might have a chance in the SAGs, but an Emmy seems like a very remote possibility.
On the bright side, The Wire came in first for both Best Drama and Best Overall Program in the Broadcasting & Cable Critics Poll, and is starting to show up on critics' end-of-the-year Top 10 lists. That will help get the word out about the show, but writing to the HBO brass certainly can't hurt. I'll be soothing my withdrawals - like Bubbles in rehab - by watching Homicide: LOTS and The Corner and reading David Simon's nonfiction books on which they were based.
Posted by: Jim at December 18, 2006 10:38 AMI was pissed when I didn't see any nominations for The Wire. It doesn't seem possible to justify. I mean Big Love? Are they serious?
Posted by: j. brotherlove at December 18, 2006 12:43 PMBernie, thank you for doing this! I am going to post the mailing addresses and also encourage people to write and write some letters myself.
The Wire this season was AWESOME... I'm just behind in writing my reviews...
what do you think about Sleeper Cell?
Posted by: Mad Professah at December 19, 2006 9:31 PMThe best are always under-appreciated, j. brotherlove ...
but I loved loved LOVED 'Big Love'. I haven't seen the nominations, but if Cloe Sevegny got one, it's well deserved. Big Love is a great show about a touchy subject.
And Mad Professah -- Sleeper Cell season one was great. I won't be seeing season two any time soon because after the wire finished, I shut down my premium channels. Too damn much money to keep HBO and Showtime. I'll just have to catch my shows down the road on DVD.