"Omar comin'!" - One of the Wire's most memorable characters

Last week I started off what I hope will be an ongoing summer series on legal or law-related series that might be worth your attention during the summer months when people typically have a bit more time to divert their attention to less pressing issues (such as learning - and retaining! - substantive law).

Although not a series about lawyers, per se, but rather about the entirety of a social ecosystem in which the law plays an enormously significant part, The Wire is probably one of, if not the, greatest television series of all time. It ran for five seasons, with each season focusing on a different aspect of Baltimore's social fabric - the drug trade, the docks, the school system, municipal politics, and the media. Throughout the series are recurring characters and thematic threads that help to tie it all together.

Series creator David Simon started as a news reporter in Baltimore (his earlier series, Homicide: Life on the Street was also outstanding), and his eye and ear for detail give the series a gritty authenticity that is nothing short of captivating. Despite the rather blue language, it is nevertheless brilliantly written, with one of the series' greatest scenes consisting a thorough investigation of a murder scene with the dialogue consisting of nothing but the repetition of variations of a certain four-letter epithet that starts with the letter F.

The thematic arcs, rather than being a potential gimmick, are fantastic tool that give a deep look at the machinations of various aspects of Baltimorean life and society. The municipal politics season is particularly apt in light of the myriad scandals and controversies that have consumed Toronto's own municipal politics of late. Sure it's deeply cynical, but it's undoubtedly shot through with more than a grain of truth.

While YouTube has a huge number of excerpts and clips from the series, it's probably best to start from the very beginning - check out the opening scene here.