{"product_id":"9780822376446","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":47069946872048,"sku":"9780822376446","price":27.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780822376446_p0.jpg?v=1763751909","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780822376446","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}