Wire news roundup

I know I've been a bit remiss in updating this blog. There actually has been a good amount of Wire news too.

- The show is an Emmy Award semifinalist for best drama series. The final five (there are ten now) will be announced on July 17. I guess it's never too late for recognition, even though I think Season Five didn't equal the previous four. Hopefully, though a nomination will at least give the series the following it deserves (though S5 doesn't deserve to beat out the absolutely superb first season of "Mad Men" for best series).

- There's a real-life scandal currently going on at Baltimore City Hall that sounds eerily familiar to those who have watched the show. It involves the new Mayor, Sheila Dixon, who was portrayed as Narese Campbell on the show. Life imitates art.

- Ed Burns now lives in the countryside of West Virginia. "I'm something of a loner," he says in the short article. I always thought he was a little unfairly crowded out by Simon for credit for the series (certainly didn't generate as much press) but perhaps it's just because he's more of an introvert.

- Also, interesting to note that Baltimore native Joey Dorsey, a basketball player for the University of Memphis that was just drafted into the NBA, had this to say about the show on how realistic it portrayed his hometown:

Ask him whether his neighborhood bears any resemblance to the one on "The Wire," and Dorsey says no.

"It's worse," he said.

The locals nickname it "Iraq." Surveillance cameras on every street corner. Rampant crime. Lost souls, desperation, a numbing hopelessness.

"I don't even want to go back home because it's not safe," Dorsey said.

He also said, "Oh yeah, I watch it. That's right around in my neighborhood. West Baltimore. And all that stuff in actually happens back home. It's so bad that I stay in Memphis a lot. I go back home for probably three days to see a couple of my friends there, and then I'm out."