David Simon

16 Stories

Hawaii Supreme Court Quotes The Wire in Gun Rights Ruling

'The thing about the old days, they the old days' was first heard on the HBO show

(Newser) - "What's past is past" was the underlying message, sort of, of a ruling this week from Hawaii's Supreme Court, though its decision cited a different famous quote from a popular TV series to get its point across. CBS News and the AP report that the state's...

The Wire Creator Pulls Project About Texas Out of Texas

David Simon says he can't ask female cast and crew 'to forgo civil liberties'

(Newser) - Texas' abortion law banning the procedure after six or so weeks of pregnancy "has officially made its impact on the local film scene," with The Wire creator David Simon announcing he won't film an upcoming HBO project in the state, the Houston Chronicle reports. The Baltimore-based TV...

Every Year Before The Wire, Williams Posed the Same Question

'What are we going to say this year,' actor who played Omar would ask David Simon

(Newser) - David Simon, creator of The Wire, weighs in on the death of his friend Michael K. Williams in a New York Times essay, one that recounts a question the actor would ask at the start of each season. "What are we going to say this year?" Williams played Omar,...

Wire Stars, Creator Call for Peace in Baltimore

Look for reform without a brick in your hand, David Simon says

(Newser) - As images of unrest in Baltimore were seen around the world last night, the creator and several cast members of the TV show most associated with the city added their voices to those calling for peace. Andre Royo, who played Bubbles on The Wire, tweeted a call for his "...

David Simon of The Wire: Calm Down on Surveillance

This is a 'faux scandal' driven by people who don't have a clue

(Newser) - David Simon created The Wire and presumably knows a thing or two about surveillance. One thing he's sure of: All this noise about the feds snooping on Americans is a "faux scandal," he writes at his website . The column opens with a question: "Is it just...

The Wire , as ... Musical?
 The Wire, as ... Musical? 
funny or die

The Wire, as ... Musical?

David Simon is a fan of the Funny or Die spoof

(Newser) - Funny or Die marks the 10th anniversary of The Wire by turning it into a musical, of course. It even stars Michael Kenneth Williams, better known by fans of the show as the unforgettable Omar, notes the Baltimore Sun . Wondering what show creator David Simon thinks of the spoof?...

This Man Makes More Than You Would in 3.5K Years
 This Man Makes 
 More Than You 
 Would in 3.5K Years
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

This Man Makes More Than You Would in 3.5K Years

David Simon's 2011 pay package worth more than $137M

(Newser) - You might want to wait to read this until you're somewhere it's OK to scream: It would take the average American worker 3,489 years to make as much money as one top CEO took home in just one year. David Simon of shopping mall developer Simon Property...

Arrest of Wire's Snoop Shows the 'Other America'

David Simon: We've got two of them now

(Newser) - Wire creator David Simon writes in Slate that he's "certainly sad" over news that Felicia Pearson, who played the unforgettable hitman Snoop on his show, has been arrested on drug charges. "This young lady has, from her earliest moments, had one of the hardest lives imaginable," he...

Wire Creator Among MacArthur Genius Grant Winners

22 others get $500K to follow their passions

(Newser) - The creator of the HBO hit series The Wire and now Treme is among 23 winners of the "genius" grants announced today by the MacArthur Foundation. The awards, granting $100,000 annually for 5 years with absolutely no strings attached, left David Simon with a "vague sense of...

HBO's Treme Does Justice to New Orleans
 HBO's Treme Does 
 Justice to New Orleans 
TV REVIEW

HBO's Treme Does Justice to New Orleans

'Wire" creator David Simon scores with new series set in Big Easy

(Newser) - Critics seem thrilled with Wire creator David Simon's new HBO series Treme, about post-Katrina New Orleans:
  • Dave Walker, New Orleans Times-Picayune : "This is the screen depiction that New Orleans deserves, has always desired, but has been denied."
  • Locals want to know two things: "Is it real? and
...

In a Decade, 'TV Became Art'
 In a Decade, 'TV Became Art' 
opinion

In a Decade, 'TV Became Art'

The Wire , The Sopranos , Six Feet Under , Mad Men —get the picture?

(Newser) - For television, the past decade has been “as the sixties are to music and the seventies to movies”—some of the worst content ever was produced, but the cream of the crop rose to the level of art, Emily Nussbaum writes. Sure, “you could easily memorialize the...

Wire Creator Simon: NYT, Post Must Charge for Web

(Newser) - How to save newspapers and, in fact, journalism itself? Wire creator (and former newspaperman) David Simon implores the publishers of the New York Times and the Washington Post to start charging for their websites. “Content matters," he writes in the Columbia Journalism Review. "And you must find...

Shield Guns Down The Wire
 Shield Guns Down The Wire 
OPINION

Shield Guns Down The Wire

In crime drama face-off, Mackey has the edge on sheer depravity

(Newser) - When it comes to gritty portrayals of life on the unforgiving streets of an American city, no show is better than The Wire—except The Shield, Chris Petit declares in the Guardian. The crime dramas, with their shaky lens style and foul-mouth approach, shuck romance and expose the oft-forgotten American...

Generation Kill On Target
 Generation Kill On Target 
TV Review

Generation Kill On Target

HBO's miniseries captures soldiers in 'their unfettered, foul-mouthed glory'

(Newser) - From the mean streets of Baltimore to the meaner ones of Baghdad, the force behind The Wire scores a direct hit with HBO's new Generation Kill, writes Brian Lowry for Variety. Following a cast of Marines during the Iraqi invasion’s first 40 days, the 7-episode miniseries may make you...

'Wire' Spotlight Burns Paper
'Wire' Spotlight Burns Paper

'Wire' Spotlight Burns Paper

Show's creator defends portrayal of real-life newsmen

(Newser) - The portrayal of battered, prize-grubbing  and unscrupulous journalists in HBO's “The Wire”—based loosely on creator David Simon’s years at the downsizing Baltimore Sun—has provoked a furious internet outcry from some former colleagues who can't help but recognize themselves, the Washington Post reports. One highly regarded...

Wire's Architect Begins His Final Chapter

David Simon put whole life, love of Baltimore into HBO's hit drama

(Newser) - The final season of HBO critical darling The Wire lands in January, and will revolve around the newsroom—the last unscripted setting from creator David Simon’s own experience. The show has tackled drug runners, cops, dockworkers, and inner-city schoolchildren “with sociological precision,” reports New Yorker’s Margaret...

16 Stories