When HBO’s “The Wire” debuted in 2002, the TV landscape was very, very different. There was no streaming. Hell, sharing seasons of television on DVD wasn’t even really a thing back then. And according to a new interview with David Simon, creator of “The Wire,” one of the riskiest parts of his groundbreaking series was ditching the procedural cop drama model and telling a gritty, serialized story.
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Speaking to Vanity Fair, Simon discussed his new series “The Plot Against America,” as well as the newfound popularity of “The Wire,” with new viewers discovering the early-2000s drama on streaming services. And the writer-creator-producer explained that he’s happy people are discovering his show, but back when he first was creating the series, the idea of telling a serialized story without the invention of binge-watching was unknown territory for him.
“When we tried that, we knew it was different and we knew there was some fundamental risk, because what if [viewers] miss two weeks and they’re lost?” said Simon. “You’re carrying so much story forward, and TV’s not really made for everybody catching every hour. We basically threw out [the dominant model] and said, ‘Nah, let’s just write a book. Let’s write the best possible story we can and let’s treat these things as chapters.’”
He continued, “We did it only on the strength of HBO showing episodes four or five times a week on the regular broadcast platform. When we did it, we weren’t thinking about the DVD market for television, which really was not a gleam in anybody’s eye at that point. In fact, they didn’t come out with the DVDs for seasons one and two of The Wire until season three was being broadcast.”
The TV writer, who began his entertainment career as the creator of the network TV cop procedural drama, “Homicide: Life on the Street,” added that the experience of working on “The Wire” led him to believe that the model of cop shows with stories wrapping up nicely each week was dead, and all he wanted to do was continue with serialized storytelling.
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“At the time we felt like we were sort of sticking our necks out a little bit, but that doesn’t count to anybody picking it up now,” he said. “Who gives a shit? Now it’s just a story. And it’s fine. I’m glad the TV universe changed, because that’s all I know how to do. I haven’t worked on an episodic show since ‘Homicide,’ and I probably won’t work on one again.”
As mentioned, Simon is now the co-creator of “The Plot Against America,” which is the limited series that is now airing on HBO.
