In its final season of eligibility--and after being teased with appearing on the
--
The Wire
's fifth season received only one nomination for the
, announced July 17, for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series for the series finale, "30." One. That brings HBO's Baltimore-set televisual essay about the decline of the American city's Emmy nominations to the grand total of two.
Admittedly,
The Wire
has never been popular with the Emmy's mainstream vision of TV's best--even though today finds many
by the nominations--but this final exclusion from the Outstanding Drama nominations is especially lame, if only because claptrap such as
Boston Legal
,
Damages
,
Dexter
,
House
,
Lost
, and
Mad Men
fill out that category's ranks. Now, I watch
all
of those shows--and appreciate
Boston
's anarchic political comedy,
Damages
' absolutely ludicrous plot,
Dexter
making a serial killer its protagonist, Hugh Laurie's constantly livid adult white man,
Lost
's complete absence of a point, and
Mad Men
's, well, Christina Hendricks.
But, sheesh,
The Wire
actually deigned to try to discuss the problems facing most big cities in America: an unwinnable and devastating drug war, the decline of the working class, the porous inconsistencies of public education, the internecine compromises of local politics, and the fate of local news under media conglomeration. Whether the show succeeded or failed in addressing those concerns compellingly is totally open to debate, but it has been extremely refreshing to watch TV that felt involved with the way people live.
Granted, the Emmys don't have a good history with programs it's not sure how to handle--see also:
Battlestar Galactica
--but you can always hope
The Wire
might've been recognized as an Outstanding Drama this time around.
But no, so be it. All that means is that now
The Wire
can join those other TV shows that never earned an Outstanding Drama or Comedy Emmy,> You know, those totally forgettable, not at all innovative programs shows such as
Homicide
,
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer
,
The Honeymooners
, and
Roseanne
.