The Wire is an American television drama series created, produced and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, in which each season focuses on a different facet of the city of Baltimore: the drug trade, the port, the city bureaucracy, the school system and the print news media.
The series is a gritty police drama set in Baltimore, Maryland that considers the impact different institutions have on individuals.
The first season of The Wire concentrated on the often-futile efforts of police to infiltrate a West Baltimore drug ring headed by Avon Barksdale and his lieutenant, Stringer Bell.
In Seasons 2 and 3, as the Barksdale investigation escalated, new storylines involving pressures on the working class and the city's political leadership were introduced.
Season 4 focused on the stories of several young boys in the public school system, struggling with problems at home and the lure of the corner - set against the rise of a new drug empire in West Baltimore and a new Mayor in City Hall.
The fifth and final season of The Wire centres on the media's role in addressing - or failing to address - the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.
The Wire was created by David Simon. Executive producers included David Simon and Nina Kostroff Noble, with co-executive producers Joe Chappelle and Ed Burns and producers Karen Thorson and George Pelecanos.
Trivia
The show was created by writer, journalist and producer David Simon who was also a writer and producer of Homicide: Life On The Street.
Some of the stories of the show are co-written by Ed Burns who's a former Baltimore homicide detective and school teacher.
Surveillance and wire-tap technologies are central to much of the shows plot and structure, hence its title.
Conversations are very important in the show as many of the events that take place happen off-camera and are revealed through the characters conversations only.
The title music is the gospel and blues Tom Waits track Way Down In The Hole, from his album Frank's Wild Years. Each season of the show features someone else singing the song. The performers are as follows:
Season 1: The Blind Boys of Alabama
Season 2: Tom Waits
Season 3: The Neville Brothers
Season 4: DoMaJe
Season 5: Steve Earle
The closing track is entitled The Fall and is composed by Blake Leyh, the show's musical supervisor.