In a nutshell, The Wire covers different facets of Baltimore, like drug trade on the streets and government corruption. Having worked in downtown Baltimore for years, much of what I saw in the city was portrayed very realistically on the show.

Omar Little

Omar Little is one of the reoccurring characters throughout the five seasons. Omar is a street-renowned thug who makes a living robbing other dealers stashes and “re-ups”, or the refill shipment of drugs. When Omar comes strolling by, usually sporting a sawed-off shotgun and whistling “A Farmer In The Dell”, everyone runs, including kids. He has a very strict moral code, despite being a gangster. He never cusses and doesn’t allow his partners to do so either. Once a month, he even goes to church with the grandmother who raised him.

Omar sporting his trademark shotgun

Omar, played brilliantly by Michael K. Williams, shows a multitude of different levels during the show’s run. First and most obvious, he is a thug who has at least ten murders to his name. That being said, one of his biggest rules is he never robs or murders anyone that isn’t in “the game”. He continually does battle with street gangs, first the Barksdale clan, later with Marlo’s group. In the counter-intelligence and stalking Omar does for nearly every robbery or murder, it’s apparent that he is of higher intelligence. He consistently remains one step ahead of his adversaries. He develops complex plans and executes them to perfection. In a different world, he’d be a great special ops mission planner.

In the third episode, we are presented with the fact that Omar is gay. This is a surprising departure from many TV dramas, who present the “thug” as a sterotypical “man’s man”. In an interview, show creator David Simon explains: “I thought Omar, as an unaffiliated character, could be boldly and openly homosexual in a way that a gay man within the organized drug trade or within the police department could not be.” Williams added, ”The way I decided to play it was, So what?” He said, “Yeah, he’s gay, but that’s not the thing you’re gonna remember him for if you meet him down an alley. It’s that shotgun that will have you worried, not his gayness. I didn’t want it to define him.”

I robs drug dealers!

Lastly, as an extension of his intelligence, is Omar’s humor. In a pivotal scene in the second season, Omar appears in court as a state’s witness. The prosecutor asks “What exactly do you do for a living, Mr. Little? “. Omar responds: “I rip and run”. Confused, the prosecutor says “you….?”. Omar proudly replies, “I robs drug dealers!”. During cross examination by defense lawyer Maurice Levy, Omar is asked, “You are amoral are you not? You are feeding off the violence and the despair of the drug trade. You are stealing from those who themselves are stealing the lifeblood from our city. You are a parasite who leeches off the culture of drugs…” Omar interrupts him: “Just like you, man.” The lawyer, flabbergasted at what was inferred, says, “Excuse me? What?” Omar leans forward. “I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. Its all in the game though, right?”

Even President Obama is a fan of Omar. J. Patrick Coolican, formerly of The Seattle Times, now of The Las Vegas Sun, questioned the president’s interest in The Wire. Below is an excerpt.

Obama: I gotta say Omar’s a great character. That’s not an endorsement.
Coolican: (Laughing.) Uh oh, you’re making national news here.
Obama: Exactly. That is not an endorsement. He is not my favorite person. But he’s a fascinating character.
Coolican: And there’s a real life story behind it, too.
Obama: He’s this gay gangster who only robs drug dealers, and then gives back. You know, he’s sort of a Robin Hood. And he’s the toughest, baddest guy on this show, but he’s gay, you know. And it’s really interesting. It’s a fascinating character.

Entertainment Weekly rated Omar Little as 51st of the 100 greatest characters in the past 20 years. Many news outlets, including notables like Time Magazine, have said The Wire is one of the greatest TV shows ever made.

I personally think the depth and development of Omar absolutely makes him one of the greatest TV characters ever. For those of you who have seen the show, what do you think? If you haven’t seen it, check it out and let me know. Feel free to leave your comment below.

The problem is… that wasn’t the whole story! Due to some selective editing and because the sound clip didn’t fit their scare tactics, WBBM cut the end of the four year old’s sound byte. Thankfully the Maynard Institute was sent the full clip, which promptly was released.

This distortion of the truth violates all sorts of journalism ethics. According to UNICEF’s guidelines to interviewing kids, journalists “have a responsibility to portray children fairly…”. Instead of reporting the story on-hand, WBBM went and created their own.

WBBM’s communication director Shawnelle Richie sent TV Spy a statement regarding the story.

We accept responsibility for the mistakes that were made, both in the reporting and editing of the story. The video of the child should not have aired. As soon as news management identified the problem, they took immediate steps to ensure that the video would not air in subsequent newscasts. In addition, we have followed up with our employees to make sure that we all have learned from the mistakes that were made.

Ms. Richie failed to mention the clip was taken out-of-context. Another problem with this statement is the editor knew exactly what he or she was doing when they put that clip together. It’s not an accident if you meant to do it. It fits right into the crazy youth of America angle… “not only were teens shot, but a 4 year old wants a gun!!” To quote the news anchor again, “…scary indeed.” This clip reinforces the stereotype that all African-Americans are violent, even youth.

These false fears are what causes us to be a closed and bigoted society. We all know the bias of MSNBC and Fox News, but the local news was supposed to be the ‘last frontier’ for good and honest reporting. Instead of reporting exaggerated or false stories, we need to rely on local news for the legitimate ones.

It is harsh, but I feel the editor of this story deserves to be fired for this blatant misconstruing of facts. He or she has proven they lack the professionalism that journalists need to properly report the news.

What do you think… honest mistake or calculated distortion?

Last night I found myself watching the annoying Sham Wow! guy on TV. He is unbearable. Even through all my anger, I did find a few ‘inconsistancies’ in the commercial.

First, at :38, notice how when he pours the soda (or pop where I’m from) into the carpet, it seeps out the bottom. That’s quite a mess! Scene cuts to a new piece of carpet where it’s not longer soaking out of the carpet. He even says, “Let’s do this in real-time!” Too bad you cleaned it up between takes!!!

Secondly, at 1:25, there is a clear cut of audio when he puts the Sham Wow in front of his face. Listen closely, you’ll catch it. The most annoying part to every infomercial is at the end.

BUT WAIT… if you order within the next five minutes, we’ll double you’re order FOR FREE! That’s a $19.95 offer for nothing!

Is anyone really believing that? Is there someone that is saying, “Bill, get off that phone. We only have four minutes left to order those towel things”?

Either way, I’ll stick to my soft cotton towels. Can you imagine a bathrobe of Sham Wow? It’s almost as bad as a Snuggie.