From wiretaps to corner boyz

I'm a Wire junkie these days. It has ruined television for me. Since the end of the fifth season on FX last year, I've been unable to watch other crime-based dramas cos' nothing else is realistic enough. I've taken to watching Project Catwalk cos it's just so other-end-of-the-scale. Being a junkie. Sometimes pitiful. So I'm delighted that The Corner, David Simon's initial six-part mini series about life on the Baltimore projects is getting an airing. It's not exactly light viewing, and it doesn't quite swing with the same conviction and scat as The Wire, but it's still grimly compelling. And totally bizarre to see the likes of Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) and Norman Wilson (Reg E Cathey) shaking down as pimps and players. Peters in particular, is a great, grizzled drug dealer, complete with walking stick. And Delaney Williams, who plays sardonic cop Jay, is a good few pounds thinner as Scale Guy. In fact, watching The Wire guys is the only light relief about the show before the show that ruined and saved television at the same time.