{"product_id":"on-the-wire-1","title":"On the Wire","description":"Many television critics, legions of fans, even the president of the United States, have cited \u003ci\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/i\u003e as the best television series ever. In this sophisticated examination of the HBO serial drama that aired from 2002 until 2008, Linda Williams, a leading film scholar and authority on the interplay between film, melodrama, and issues of race, suggests what exactly it is that makes \u003ci\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/i\u003e so good. She argues that while the series is a powerful exploration of urban dysfunction and institutional failure, its narrative power derives from its genre. \u003ci\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/i\u003e is popular melodrama, not Greek tragedy, as critics and the series creator David Simon have claimed. Entertaining, addictive, funny, and despairing all at once, it is a serial melodrama grounded in observation of Baltimore's people and institutions: of cops and criminals, schools and blue-collar labor, local government and local journalism. \u003ci\u003eThe Wire\u003c\/i\u003e transforms close observation into an unparalleled melodrama by juxtaposing the good and evil of individuals with the good and evil of institutions.\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47221701017944,"sku":"9780822357063","price":106.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780822357063.jpg?v=1783692024","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/on-the-wire-1","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}