HBO's The Wire

"The Wire" is HBO's newest crime drama. While HBO's original series "The Sopranos" and "Oz" have also dealt with crime as a topic, their main characters have primarily been the criminals. While the criminals are definitely major characters on "The Wire", it is HBO's first conventional police drama that revolves around criminal investigation and probably the first television drama to focus on surveillance and wiretap investigations specifically. The talent behind the program gives it a good shot at success. David Simon, creator, writer, and executive producer of "The Wire," was also the talent behind the excellent series "Homicide: Life on the Street" and HBO's "The Corner." Several episodes are directed by Clark Johnson, who has also directed episodes of "The Shield" and appeared on "Homicide" for its entire duration as Detective Meldrick Lewis. For fans of "Homicide," several actors who appeared on the 1990s police drama, such as Callie Thorne and Peter Gerety. While it does not have the shock value and fast-pace of FX's "The Shield" or the depth of "Homicide: Life on the Street," its first few episodes definitely show promise. Admittedly, the series started off slow and it was difficult to maintain an interest. However, as the show progresses, it just keeps getting better and better.

"The Wire" opens with unconventional police officer James McNulty (Dominic West, 28 Days) observing the trial of D'Angelo Barksdale. He sees a witness who has been intimidated recant her previous identification of D'Angelo as the perpetrator of a shooting. He talks to the judge in the case, Judge Phelan (Gerety) about what he believed happened in the case and why the defendant walked. He mentions that the case could be part of a string of cases involving a high-end drug dealer named Avon Barksdale, uncle to D'Angelo. Phelan contacts the Deputy Police Commissioner (Frankie R. Faison) and pushes for an investigation which puts McNulty in hot water with his supervisor Major Rawls for opening his mouth. A team is assembled under the supervision of Lieutenant Cedric Daniels which includes narcotics agents Greggs, Hauk, and Carver and Detective McNulty is called in as a consult. Originally the investigation is rather limited-the focus of the team is on "buy and bust" operations. McNulty originally pushes for surveillance and wire operations as he sees that "buy and bust" operations will be ineffective in locating and bringing to justice a perpetrator as elusive as Avon Barksdale. As the investigation proceeds, McNulty's suspicions are confirmed and the case becomes increasingly more complex.

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