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Category Archives: The Wire

The Wire On Demand - Now

The first episode of The Wire is now available on TMN on demand.
Go watch it.   We’ll talk later.

The Wire - When McNulty Met Bunk


The Wire - Prequel


Coming Soon


Writing The Wire

The New Yorker has a terrific article written by Margaret Talbot about The Wire which comes back for its fifth season in January. Here are a couple of excerpts:
“The Wire” débuted in June, 2002, looking more or less like a cop show. But the differences were important. It spent as much time with […]

And So Begins Another Season of Television

We’re finished with most of the fall launch and I for one am feeling a little let down. No slam-dunk must-see show has emerged.
But it’s not over yet. We might learn to love one of these series as the season goes on. The pilot was a solo writing effort. But now, […]

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Pilot

And now for something completely different…
As much as I love and admire The Wire, it’s not a useful model for most of us. So let’s go now to the opposite end of the spectrum and look at a much watched and completely accessible hour long drama: CSI.

The pilot (which has no name other than […]

The Wire - Episode 1: “The Target”

Story by: David Simon & Ed BurnsTeleplay by: David Simon
The first shot is a thin blood trail on pavement.
Detective Jimmy McNulty and an informant discuss the victim’s name: Snot Boogie. The scene seems to be mostly about McNulty’s bemused attitude toward the job. There is no outrage or excitement around the fact that […]

Pilots

I have been thinking a lot about pilots. In the last year I’ve been hired to story edit a few series in development and have watched the writers struggle to get their pilots working. I always advise people not to write a “first” episode. Don’t set up the series. Write a […]