ArchPundit

First up, Mo Ryan hits us with the fact via Jeremy Manier (one of the better mainstream science reporters out there), that Obama’s favorite character is Omar on the Wire.  It’s hard to argue with that. Omar is a gay Robin Hood in the ghetto and has so many different layers it’s hard not to be fascinated with him.
Clinton likes Gray’s Anatomy.

I refuse to go all Maureen Dowd on this, but that’s telling.

Previously I said the first episode was a bit uneven as it set-up the new context.  That’s not true in Weeks 2 or 3 where we see David Simon make multiple story lines fit together seamlessly.  The Wire again takes up the mantle of the BDSOT (Best Damn Show on Television) that Homicide: Life on the Streets originally held amongst fans (based on a book by David Simon).
More after the jump, but spoiler alert:

Clark Johnson’s role as an old school editor reporter fits perfectly and he is able to raise red flags about an up and coming Stephen Glass who is too bored to do any good reporting and instead makes up stories.  He gets the attention of the Publisher who is enamored of journalism professors over experience and wants everything simplified.  An easy attack by a guy like Simon who can make simplicity out of complexity, but also telling of some of the worst reporting we see out there (See St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
At one point when discussing the complexity of a story on the Baltimore City Schools, the Publisher shoots down Johnson’s character that doesn’t want the predictable blame the schools for things out of their control piece.  Next up he stops a piece on the University of Maryland’s deseg program because it might be too critical when his friend, a white journalism professor assures him everything is just fine.

There is an irony here in that the UM-Baltimore County has one of the most progressive efforts to improve African-American performance in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields, even better than UM.

The story about the paper is relatively standard with too much effort spent on squeezing out additional profits while cutting down on reporting and replacing older reporters with younger reporters without the same contacts and the decline on the quality of reporting. The preview for week for suggests how deep the problem is as State Senator Clay Davis is under grand jury investigation and no one knows until he goes to testify.

The press not being able to cover these stories provides the primary push of the story as McNulty and the city fall.  The Mayor, despite his promise to pursue the 22 deaths from bordered up buildings calls off the investigation in budget cuts and is looking at nowhere near the decrease in crime he promised.

The one false note comes here as McNulty has already started his slide into drunken promiscuous behavior before being called off the case.  It should be that being called off the case is what causes him to begin the descent from where I sit, but a minor issue.  After being pulled off the case, McNulty’s fall from grace increases in speed including drinking during the day and creating a fake serial murderer.

Bunk believes McNulty has lost his mind and threatens him, but gets nowhere finally getting McNulty and Lester into a room hoping Lester can talk some sense into him about creating a fake serial killer.  No such luck as Lester’s only complaint is that the idea doesn’t go far enough.   Bunk’s head explodes.

Carcetti continues to maneuver the Commissioner of police out of a job so he can install Daniels, but moves a little too quickly putting Daniels under pressure and worried about something from early on in his career that might hurt him.  All of this happens as Carcetti is attempting to run for Governor after only being in office for two years.

Omar, after being absent in the first two episodes comes in at the end of the third episode as he finds out that Marlow’s people tortured and killed Butchie.  And it’s on.

What’s clear from the episodes so far is how a weak press leads to a weak government–if the press isn’t on top of the government, nothing gets done and with a weakened press, the city is further weakened.