Filed under: Television
All U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wanted was to see his favorite show 'The Wire' come back to television for one more season or to the big screen in a movie adaptation. Who knew honoring the request would come with conditions?
David Simon, creator of the one-hour drama about the city of Baltimore's civic and drug operations that played out for five seasons on HBO, said he would be happy to oblige to Holder's request, but on one condition. In an emailed response to the 'Times of London,' Simon said: "The Attorney-General's kind remarks are noted and appreciated. I've spoken to [co-creator] Ed Burns and we are prepared to go to work on season six of 'The Wire' if the Department of Justice is equally ready to reconsider and address its continuing prosecution of our misguided, destructive and dehumanising [sic] drug prohibition."
Recently, Holder held a presentation for the Justice Department's launch of a new website for the Drug-Endangered Children Task Force. Sitting beside him were three cast members from the cancelled series - Sonja Sohn (Detective Kima Greggs), Jim True-Frost (Roland Pryzbylewski, the cop who becomes a teacher in Season 4), and Wendell Pierce (Detective Bunk). It was there that he made the remarks to Burns and Simon. "I want to speak directly to Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon. Do another season of 'The Wire.' That's actually at a minimum....if you don't do a season, do a movie. We've done HBO movies; this is a series that deserves a movie. I want another season or I want a movie. I have a lot of power Mr. Burns and Mr. Simon."
How much power Holder actually has in Hollywood or in the HBO offices has yet to be seen, but currently Simon is hard at work with his show, 'Treme,' set in post-Katrina New Orleans and starring former cast members of the 'The Wire' including Wendell Pierce. HBO recently renewed the show for a third season.
Though many thought Holder's plea was somewhat in jest, the outspoken Simon used the opportunity to critique the job Holder and his team is doing at the Department of Justice. Simon said the anti-drug policies are "nothing more or less than a war on our underclass" and the current war on drugs is "succeeding only in transforming our democracy into the jailingest nation on the planet."