As a former Baltimore-based journalist who incorporated much of his experience on the streets into his work on “The Wire,” creator, executive producer, head writer, and showrunner David Simon was perhaps the most fitting choice to transform “The Wire” into one of the most renowned and influential shows of all time. Obviously, an inevitable consequence of this series meant that the city itself would have to be painted in an unfavorable light, which would be a self-inflicted political blunder for any politician attempting to run for office in Baltimore. One particular mayor, as it turns out, almost prevented “The Wire” from becoming what it was meant to be.
While celebrating the show’s 20th anniversary earlier this year, Simon joined CinemaBlend for a video interview to discuss the overarching impact of the series. At around the five-minute mark, the creator is asked about the story of how the show almost came to an end after just one season thanks to a wishy-washy Baltimore mayor who originally encouraged the production to shoot in and around Baltimore … until further political ambitions caused him to change his mind. According to Simon:
“After season one, the mayor said he wanted to be out of ‘The Wire’ business. And the problem was, before season one, before we even shot the pilot, I actually went to that mayor and said, ‘Look. This can be any Rust Belt city. I could stage this in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cleveland, you know? It just needs to be a post-industrial city that’s struggling with the same problems.’ And I actually went to lunch with him to talk about it, and he said, ‘Oh, no, no, bring it here, we want the TV work.’ I say, ‘You sure?’ ‘Yeah, sure.'”
