The greatest TV show of the century

“I’m glad the show has a shelf life,” says creator David Simon, of the win. “We weren’t interested in whether characters were good or bad. The writers had in their heads the idea, ‘If a society is going to have a law enforcement arm, what’s the job of that institution? What are the police doing?’ If you write a show like that, it will have a shelf life for as long as those systems are in play.”

Back when it first aired, an honour like this didn’t seem likely. Though critics loved The Wire, it wasn’t the biggest hit with viewers, earning mostly average ratings. (Simon says they got killed in viewer numbers for season three, in part, because of the debuts of Sunday Night Football and Desperate Housewives). It was barely recognised by the TV industry’s most prestigious ceremony, the Primetime Emmy Awards; nominated for writing awards in two different years, winning neither. But its impact on TV – featuring the kind of antiheroes, explicit action, authentic storylines and complex plotting that would become standard practice in the world of streaming television – has proven immeasurable in the years since it concluded.    

‘Two Americas’

Snot Boogie’s story could be The Wire’s mission statement. Viewers were getting a heads up that they were entering a very specific world with its own rules, patterns of speech, expectations and dangers. However strange it might have seemed to an audience weaned on Miami Vice and Hill Street Blues, though, it was also a very American operation, reflecting how the country deals with people it would rather not consider.

But this show ensured you did consider them very deeply. It perched in the courtyard of housing projects while the corner boys conducted their drug business. It showed the ingenuity of addicts trying to earn a buck by ripping copper plumbing from houses under construction. It documented the disappearance of well-paid labour jobs for America’s working class. It showed all the different ways experienced Baltimore cops can use the f-word while mulling over evidence in a crime scene.