The Wire

Friday September 9 at 10.00pm on W

The Wire is one of television’s most critically acclaimed programs and the fifth and final season of this awarding winning show continues to challenge viewers with a less than typical ‘cop’ show. This season focuses on the new city editor having having to deal with cutbacks while attempting to expose a politician to deal with cutbacks while attempting to expose a politician’s connection to a drug dealer while major players connection to a drug dealer while major players meet to divide Baltimore’s lucrative drug trade. Cast: Dominic West, Seth Gilliam.

Talk of new Underbelly series

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Writer accuses MTV of stealing Jersey Shore concept

A television writer has accused MTV of stealing his idea for reality shore Jersey Shore from a 2006 pitch he called Guidos: The Reality Series. Christopher Gambale is claiming that MTV used his idea of portraying stereotypical Italians without credit, but MTV is hitting back by saying that his idea was not original.

Uni offers course on The Wire

A Baltimore university has begun offering a course based on critically acclaimed drama series The Wire. The John Hopkins University has launched the class which uses the show as a base to explore issues affecting US cities including drug use and crime with guest lecturers including the show’s creator David Simon.

Ugly Betty actor claims God was involved in murder

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9:30pm – Tuesday, March 2 on ABC2

Focusing on the workings of law enforcement amid the attrition of a city plagued by rampant crime, The Wire captures the routine world of the criminal underground and it’s parallel bureaucracy that is in some ways more functional, if more brutal, than the civil system arrayed against it.

Tonight, West Baltimore residents get some surprising straight talk from Major Colvin at a community meeting, but he has little success convincing area drug dealers to relocate to his tolerant zones.

Councilman Carcetti reveals his mayoral political ambitions and pursues a campaign manager.

Meanwhile, Detectives Greggs and McNulty recruit Bubbles to gather street intelligence on the Barksdale gang; while Cutty loses his taste for the straight life and joins Barksdale’s crew.

Detective Bunk feels the pressure to find Police Officer Dozerman’s gun; while Lieutenant Daniels worries that Avon Barksdale, having cut a prison deal, will be paroled despite the Major Case Unit’s previous work against him.

Stringer Bell continues to invest in property development and tries to make amends with Donette.

http://abc.net.au/iview/

9:30pm – Tuesday, February 23 on ABC2

The Western District drug unit under the command of Major Howard ‘Bunny’ Colvin is increasing the pressure on street dealers but it’s the power play in City Hall attracting all the publicity.

Acting Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell is caught in a power play by District Councilman Thomas ‘Tommy’ Carcetti – an ambitious young man with roots deep in the racial politics of Baltimore.

Mayor Clarence Royce, facing re-election next year, puts Burrell on notice that crime statistics, and murders in particular, must come down – whatever it takes.

At the weekly Comstat meeting, another police Major is fired as a result of Carcetti’s pressure to reduce crime.

Carcetti then uses the press to deflect heat from the police department onto the Mayor, to test his tenacity.

Meanwhile, Omar and his crew scope out a Barksdale stash house, and decide to attack it despite its heavy fortifications.

A shootout ensues, with deaths on both sides… http://abc.net.au/iview/

9:30pm – Tuesday, February 16 on ABC2

Disguised as an old man in a wheelchair just out of hospital, Omar makes a dramatic reappearance in The Wire tonight. With partner in crime Kimmy, the two con their way into a Barksdale stash house, and in a heist that’s almost too easy, make off with the drugs and the cash.

Stringer Bell visits Avon Barksdale in jail to detail his plan to deploy the troops across a variety of drug corners, with instructions to make their high-quality heroin available to other dealers at advantageous prices. When his drug crews fan out to new territory pitching their scheme they encounter a fair amount of scepticism from mid-level dealers.

Meanwhile, not convinced that D’Angelo Barksdale’s death in prison was in fact a suicide, McNulty probes the case further, with his focus still on bringing Stringer Bell to justice.

Addressing his troops, Western Districts’ Police Major Howard ‘Bunny’ Colvin, foreshadows a new scheme he’s cooking up to contain the city’s drug trafficking. He explains that after the City Council years ago passed a law forbidding the consumption of alcohol in public places, cops spent an inordinate amount of time arresting men on street corners.

“The corner is, was and always will be the poor man’s lounge… But somewhere back in the ’50s, there was a small moment of goddamn genius by some nameless smoke hound who comes out of a cut-rate one day and on his way to the corner, slips that just-bought pint of elderberry into a paper bag – a great moment of civic compromise. That small wrinkled-ass paper bag allowed the corner boys to drink in peace while giving us permission to go do police work. Dozerman got shot last night trying to buy three”, Major Colvin continues. “There’s never been a paper bag for drugs. Until now.” Herc and Carver hear him but don’t yet understand the point he’s making, and are irritated at his ambiguity. http://abc.net.au/iview/

9:30pm – Tuesday, February 9 on ABC2

The third season of television’s most uncompromising and realistic police drama, The Wire, debuts with an episode titled Time After Time.

The title refers to the cyclical process of initiating reform, change and then a return to the status quo.

Focusing on the workings of law enforcement amid the attrition of a city plagued by rampant crime, The Wire, captures the routine world of the criminal underground, offering a parallel bureaucracy that is in some ways more functional, if more brutal, than the system arrayed against it.

The Wire continues its detailed examination of a city’s underground drug economy, focusing on the vagaries of crime and law enforcement in Baltimore, Maryland, while exploring the idea of reform and the role of the political leadership in addressing the city’s problems.

The heat is on as the drug war is being lost.

Bodies are piling up, and a desperate Mayor wants the crime rates down before the election.

But the police department hasn’t got any solutions. Wiretaps haven’t worked. Neither have stakeouts or street busts. And no matter how hard the Baltimore police try, the drug dealers always seem to be one step ahead of the game.

It’s time to change the rules. http://abc.net.au/iview/

9:30pm – Tuesday, December 1 on ABC2

Detectives Bunk (Wendell Pierce) and Freamon (Clarke Peters) chase their crime scene, a container ship, to Philadelphia where none of the crew finds it useful to speak English.

On orders from drug lord Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), his lieutenant Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) finds a way to set-up a correctional officer who’s been harassing Barksdale’s hitman, Wee-Bey (Hassan Johnson).

Meanwhile, McNulty (Dominic West) pursues the identity of the Jane Doe found floating in the harbour.

A pair of young longshoremen – Frank Sobotka’s (Chris Bauer) son, Ziggy (James Ransone), and his nephew Nick (Pablo Schreiber) – heist a container of digital cameras and sell them to men working for ‘The Greek’.

And after an ominous visit from his uncle Avon, D’Angelo (Larry Gilliard) agrees to stop getting high in prison, a wise move in more ways than one.

9:30pm – Tuesday, November 24 on ABC2

In a city plagued by rampant crime, The Wire captures the routine world of the criminal underworld, offering a parallel bureaucracy that is in some ways more functional, if more brutal, than the system arrayed against it.

Tonight, made to look like a fool when his generous gift to a Polish-American Catholic parish is trumped by rival union leader Frank Sobotka (Chris Bauer), Deputy Police Commissioner Stanislaus Valchek (Al Brown) begins a bitter feud with Sobotka.

Avon Barksdale continues to run his empire from a prison cell – counselling his nephew D’Angelo (Larry Gilliard) and going after a guard who is harassing the gang’s convicted hit-man, Wee-Bey (Hassan Johnson).

Meanwhile, on the waterfront, port Police Officer Beatrice Russell (Amy Ryan) gets stuck investigating the contraband found in a shipping container destined for ‘The Greek’ (Paul Ben Victor) but languishing on the wharf with its perishable cargo.

McNulty lends a hand with the investigation, albeit for vindictive reasons, and ultimately Detectives Bunk Moreland (Wendell Pierce) and Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) are assigned to help investigate the deaths.

The Wire is the brainchild of David Simon, whose years as a police-beat reporter for The Baltimore Sun has proved invaluable in the depiction of characters, protocol and anecdotes found in The Wire. Many of his ideas are culled from actual incidents and personalities in Baltimore.

http://abc.net.au/iview/

9:30pm – Tuesday, November 17 on ABC2

The second series of television’s most uncompromising and realistic police drama, HBO’s The Wire, commences tonight with a new case that, like the first series, focuses on the vagaries of crime and law enforcement in Baltimore.

As the illicit drug war with Avon Barksdale’s (Wood Harris) crew rages on, the action moves from the battered streets and squalid projects of West Baltimore, to the city’s troubled waterfront.

With an unflinching look at Baltimore’s port workers and unions, the second series chronicles the steady decline of the working class.

As was the case in the first series the storyline is told from the points of view of both the police and their targets, capturing a universe of subterfuge and surveillance.

As episodes unfold, police find their workloads expanded to include not only familiar drug dealers, but also a new group of longshoremen and wiseguys caught up in a major homicide investigation at the city’s shipping port.

Tonight, stigmatized and reassigned to the harbour patrol, Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) finds the body of a woman floating in the Baltimore Harbor.

With Barksdale in prison, savvy Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) manages the drug operation while studying for his college course. Bodie (JD Williams) drives to Philadelphia to make a connection for the Barksdale crew.

Meanwhile, over at the docks, the rank-and-file scrounge for work while union bosses take desperate measures to reinvigorate business. And a horrible discovery is about to turn the port inside out…

http://abc.net.au/iview/

9:30pm – Tuesday, November 10 on ABC2

Series one of the police crime thriller The Wire concludes tonight with drug lord, Avon Barksdale, suffering a temporary setback.

The cops have now wrestled back the advantage to deuce, but it’s still anyone’s game.

Often dubbed the greatest TV show of all time, this episode opens with Det. Shakima Greggs (Sonja Sohn) in hospital recovering from gunshot wounds. Conscious though weak, she’s able to name one of the assailants but refuses to be pushed into identifying the second shooter, Wee-Bey (Hassan Johnson).

Busted, but quickly out of jail on a quarter-million-dollar bail, Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), along with his lieutenant, Stringer Bell, (Idris Elba) meet lawyer Maurice Levy (Michael Kostroff) in an underground garage – the only place they can talk safely about restructuring the crew.

However, D’Angelo Barksdale (Larry Gilliard) is feeling talkative in jail and acknowledges he sold drugs for Avon, attended meetings and delivered money. He also implicates Avon in the death of 16-year-old Wallace. He’s remorseful about Wallace and tells Det. Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) and attorney Rhonda Pearlman (Deirdre Lovejoy) that he was freer in jail than when he was home.

Pearlman is ecstatic after the ‘career-making case’ meeting and nails McNulty in the police headquarters garage.

Through a phone company contact, Det. Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) and Det. William ‘Bunk’ Moreland (Wendell Pierce) track down and arrest Wee-Bey in Philadelphia.

Choosing life in prison over the death penalty, Wee-Bey agrees to cooperate and confesses to nine murders, including ones he didn’t commit, in order to exonerate others in the Barksdale gang.

http://abc.net.au/iview/