[lbo-talk] The buzz on "The Wire"

[Tayssir John Gabbour]

On 10/18/07, joanna <123hop at comcast.net> wrote:
> Few things are more delightful in life than gossip about those you love.
>
> In that vein, there is a long, long article on "The Wire" in the Oct 22
> New Yorker.

Nice and looong...
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/22/071022fa_fact_talbot?currentPage=all

(Hmm, someone advised me to get the New Yorker 80 GB hard drive with
all the back issues...)

I'm really impressed by people with the courage to end a show when
it's run its course. The Prisoner, the original The Office, Battlestar
Galactica. Incidentally, I found an interesting interview of The
Prisoner's co-creator and lead actor, where he offers a primitivist
view (which I don't 100% agree with):

    McGoohan: ".. we're run by the Pentagon, we're run by Madison

    Avenue, we're run by television, and as long as we accept those

    things and don't revolt we'll have to go along with the stream to

    the eventual avalanche."

    Interviewer: "We tend to view the threat, the Village there, as

    sort of a thing as something external like Madison Avenue, the

    media. How responsible are we for accepting this? Where do we

    become involved in being "unfree"?"

    McGoohan: "Buying the product, to excess. As long as we go out and

    buy stuff, we're at their mercy. We're at the mercy of the

    advertiser and of course there are certain things that we need,

    but a lot of the stuff that is bought is not needed."

    -- http://www.cultv.co.uk/mcgoohan.htm

Tayssir