« Bloomberg's Money | Main | Telegraph Lines » The Cheese Stands Alone14 Jan 2008 03:26 pm
Barack Obama's favorite TV show is The Wire and his favorite character is Omar. Omar's certainly the popular choice, though Avon Barksdale's recent return reminded me of what a great character he is. UPDATE: On the other hand, Ugly Betty star America Ferrara is backing Clinton. Comments (44)
Bell was my favourite. That dude was just awesome. And he was played by an English actor too! I never knew until I saw him on DVD in the British TV show Ultraviolet a few weeks ago. 
Personally I would go with Stringer. Omar's great but a gay hardened criminal does not seem like a safe choice for a Presidential candidate - I would have suggested Lester Freamon. I suppose Obama's banking on the assumption that almost no-one watches the wire.
How do you pick one? If he wants to win, Obama better be looking at how Lester Freamon operates more than Omar. Is Clay Davis HRC's favorite character?
I have to say every time I think I have a favorite, I change my mind. I enjoy Bunk the most. Omar is the most interesting. McNulty I have the most visceral reactions about. Etc. It just speaks to how great the show is.
I suppose it would be overly narcissistic for Martin O'Malley to name Carcetti as his favorite.
But no doubt I'm just being antisemitic.
Saw an episode or two of the Wire back in season one and thought it was a boring, unoriginal crapfest with the sole purpose of employing actors killed off by the OZ writers. Either this is some weird, Progressive thing or the writing's gotten better in subsequent seasons.
If you didn't like season 1, you won't like the rest.
KCinDC: Wait, I love Maury Levy as a character. Maybe I'm just being Semitic.
Okay, maybe I was too hard on Levy, but I somehow don't think he has as many fans as Omar, and unlike Omar he has no redeeming features.
I'll agree, Omar is the most interesting character. I do wish Stringer Bell could've been played out a bit more.
Oh, PLEASE let Clinton attack Obama for admiring a homicidal drug-dealing homosexual. I would be so excited I'd explode.
I went to a public toilet once or twice back in the day and thought it was an, ugly, smelly, crapfest with the sole purpose of of letting people evacuate value meals. Either this is some weird, smelly toilet or everybody else's crap stinks.
Kima and Bubbles!
I realized last night while watching the Wire that I'll be devastated when either Omar or Bubbles gets killed (surely they can't both survive this season?) in a way I don't ever remember being affected by a TV show character before. Randy from last season sort of shredded my heartstrings; the kid playing him gave such an incredible performance. If we're going to pick obscure favorites, I'd go with Church Elder Guy: He's got great dry humor, and he provides an important reminder that, despite Simon's fatalism about all this, there are many good people who, operating with few illusions, do small, meaningful things at the margins that do have positive impacts and sometimes even save people.
Bunny and Stringer, the two reformers struck down by their respective institutions, are most appealing to me. Bunk is fantastic also.
thought it was a boring, unoriginal crapfest Then you better throw out your television set because The Wire is objectively the best show out there today and one of the few best shows there ever was. Everybody knows that.
Hillary Clinton's favorite show is Dancing with the Stars. No, seriously! Now whose more in touch with reality?
1. Stringer 2. Omar 3. Snoop 4. Michael 5. Wallace (His murder was beyond painful to watch!)
flippantangel, Church Elder Guy is a reformed real-life big time drug dealer, "Little Melvin" Williams. Apparently, he had a few run-ins with former cop and Wire writer Ed Burns in Baltimore. They had an episode of BET's American Gangster about him.
Actually, as I understand it, "Little Melvin" is the real-life inspiration for Avon Barksdale.
I think Levy has redeeming features. He's loyal to his clients. He's competent. He doesn't seem particularly sadistic. He doesn't seem to hold grudges. He handled the polygraph thing well in season... 4? Whatever. When Kima had it done for his client. I mean, Levy's a villain, sure, but in the Wire's lineup, to single him out as having no redeeming features seems odd to me.
Obama/Omar '08!
Obama/Omar '08!
I wasn't singling Levy out, just comparing him with Omar. Counting "not sadistic" (like "not as bad as Saddam") as a redeeming feature seems a bit much, but I'll concede the others. And I've only just started season 4.
Well, normally, I'd agree that not being sadistic isn't much of a recommendation, but you compare the man to the field. There are a lot of sadists among the Wire characters (Rawls, Marlo, Herc, Avon...). Even most of the better cops seem to take a certain joy in the adversity of others.
Antid Oto, Yeah, "Little Melvin" Williams inspired the character Avon Barksdale but he also plays a character in the wire called Deacon.
I love Omar, but my favorite character now has to be Snoop Pearson. Senator Clay is pretty awesome, too.
Saw an episode or two of the Wire back in season one and thought it was a boring, unoriginal crapfest with the sole purpose of employing actors killed off by the OZ writers. Dude, you are obviously thinking of Law & Order. I don't believe there is a single actor from Oz on The Wire.
*MINI-SPOILER ALERT* If anyone has seen Season 5, Episode 3 On Demand yet...I think the last scene of the episode shows that we're about to be reminded why we all love Omar so much. This is the part where he kills the shit out of everyone. Not a very high-brow analysis, I know, but I'm still looking forward to it.
Haven't seen any of season 5 yet, but with every episode of season 4, I think I ended up following less dialogue. Can anyone tell me, btw, who Michael shoots in the last scenes of the last episode, and why?
I don't believe there is a single actor from Oz on The Wire. Lance Reddick (Lt. Daniels) and Reg Cathey (Norman Wilson) appeared on Oz. Although Reg Cathey didn't appear in season 1.
Never having seen the show, I had to look up Omar in Wikipedia. I can see why this guy would be number one. He's a hijacker and hit man. He sort of reminds me of Andrew Vachss "Burke". If you've never read the 'Burke" series, you should. They're some serious hardcore crime stories. Burke is an ex-con who operates as an unlicensed PI, hijacker, and shakedown artist. He's often called an "urban survivalist". He has a crew around him of oddball associates, including a tech guy, a mute martial artist, and assorted others. He mostly targets perverts and pedophiles (reflecting Vachss primary interests as a lawyer), but he often comes in conflict with the Mob and other more powerful groups in the process. He operates way outside the law, most of the time. If you like "The Wire", you'll like Burke.
I don't believe there is a single actor from Oz on The Wire. Daniels, Norman Wilson, Rawls, Avon, Bodie, Carver, Herc, and Cheese all had roles in Oz at some point.
Omar is my least favorite character.
I was always a Stringer Bell fan. De'Angelo was cool, too. Is it weird that my favorite character killed one of my other favorite characters. Bunk and McNulty, I want to go drinking with in Fell's Point sometime.
Can anyone tell me, btw, who Michael shoots in the last scenes of the last episode, and why? If I remember correctly, he shoots a local corner mope (can't remember his name) whom Marlo suspects of being overly friendly to the police (specifically McNulty). Said mope -- who has been managing a corner for Marlo -- has been pretty open in his resentment of Marlo's heavy-handed tactics (Marlo killed one of his assistants for talking and for not carrying out orders perfectly). Marlo doesn't put up with that kind of shit. Hopefully I got that right.
Omar's me favorite, becasue he has a code, an as a pirate, I canappreciate a man with a code. He also knows er the tender joys manly companionship offers them bold enough to sail such waters, and as a pirate I'm bound to appreciate manly boldness. Mark me down fer Obama, maties, me mind is made up.
Daniels, Norman Wilson, Rawls, Avon, Bodie, Carver, Herc, and Cheese all had roles in Oz at some point. Hmm, I guess you're right, but they all had roles on Law & Order, too.
Can anyone tell me, btw, who Michael shoots in the last scenes of the last episode, and why? It isn't actually Micheal who does the shooting, he's just in the car. According to the Wikipedia page, the shooter is someone called O Dog. (I thought it was Michael until I read that.) The person who got killed was Preston "Bodie" Broadus. He was the guy that was looking after the Pit until D'Angelo was sent in to take over in the first episode of the first season. He also killed Wallace, spent a night playing pool with Herc and Carver, and spent most of season 4 trying to figure out how to avoid getting killed by the Marlo/Prop Joe cold war. Bodie was probably one of my favourite characters, along with Bubble and Bell.
Michael kills some random guy in the last scene of the last episode, presumably some corner mope Marlo has a beef with for whatever reason. It's not too important who it is, just Michael's first kill.
Thanks guys. That explains it. I thought Michael shot Bodie. I suppose that would be just a little too poetic.
Comments closed January 28, 2008. |
Search
Subscribe to this blog by Email Books by Matthew Yglesias
Recent Comments
Recent Posts
Weekly Archives
Categories
|
Copyright © 2008 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
| 
Heads in the Sand
Mark me in the Avon column.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | January 14, 2008 3:31 PM