TEXT:
In 2008, the hit T.V. show The Wire came to a close.
It was praised as one of the most realistic shows on television.
And now it’s over.
Or is it?
CUE: Tom Waits’ “Way Down in the Hole.”
NEW TEXT:
Coming in 2010.
CUT TO:
CAPTION:
The Wire: For Bears.
CUT TO:
Bears selling at the corners.
CUT TO:
“It really shows you the gritty side of life of bears in a major metropolitan city. It makes you care about the bears. As opposed to people. I mean, who cares about people?”
— The Washington Post.
CUT TO:
Bears shooting up.
CUT TO:
“It just shows the real lives of real bears in inner-city Baltimore, and it makes us ask: are we doing enough?”
— The Mail and Globe.
CUT TO:
CAPTION:
The Wire: Wheelchairs.
CUT TO:
A man standing on the sidewalk. A wheelchair rolls by. Then, another wheelchair rolls by with a gun taped onto its side, firing again and again. The second wheelchair passes. The man looks around, a touch confused.
CUT TO:
“An unblinkingly realistic portrayal of, uh, wheelchairs.”
— David Denby, The New Yorker.
FADE “Way Down in the Hole.”
CUT TO:
CAPTION:
The Wire: Beethoven.
CUT TO:
A fully-wigged Beethoven on the corner playing “Moonlight Sonata.”
CUT TO:
A few feet back from Beethoven. Two Red Hat Ladies pass by.
RED HAT LADY NUMBER 1
Oh, I don’t like street music.
CUT TO:
Senator Clay Davis in a chair, facing the camera.
SENATOR CLAY DAVIS
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
Holds up a picture of a sheep.
CUT TO:
CAPTION:
The Wire: Children’s Reading Program.
CUT BACK TO:
SENATOR CLAY DAVIS
This is a sheee —
CUE: Tom Waits’ “Hoist That Rag,” which comes in swinging.
CUT TO:
“We are talking about The Wire, right?”
— The Daily Herald Tribune Gazette Herald.
CUT TO:
CAPTION:
The Wire: In Which We Tell David Simon.
CUT TO:
“You’re doing what to my show?”
— David Simon.
CUT TO:
The Wire: Real. Authentic.
Summer 2010.
Black.
