clockers

i love the wire. i feel that no American television program comes as close to the wire at capturing the reality of our institutions - the way they function, the people they benefit and ignore - and our way of life.

and, yes, i know it's not real.

but it attempts to depict something real. and tragic. and something that should make us all mad enough to get up and do something about it.

alas, the wire is gone and all that remains are dvd marathons.

but i have found some respite in the program's absence. the wire was as much a visual novel as it was a television show. each hour unfolded as a new chapter in a page-turner. and several brilliant authors - not screenwriters - were responsible for the program's pace and plotting.

one was richard price. david simon, the wire's creator and head writer, loved the novel clockers, written by price. it depicted urban life and the police procedural in much the same way the wire went on to do. so simon went out and convinced price to write for the show. simon's love for clockers even spread to price's scripts for the wire, a couple of "borrowed" scenes shown below.





i recently finished reading clockers, and the wire really shared the same spirit as this excellent story. on the surface (just like the wire), clockers appears to be a mystery surrounding drugs and violence. but deep at its core, the story is much more.

clockers is told from two sides of the law - law enforcement and dealers, or clockers.

at the heart of the law is aging homicide detective rocco klein. irish. alcoholic. married, but distant. father, but even more distant. and a detective committed to doing his job the right way to protect and serve the people worth protecting and serving.

at the heart of the clockers is strike. 19 years old. drug lieutenant who never lays a hand on the product. estranged from his family, and from everyone else for that matter. suffering from an ulcer. and desperately wants to get out of a game where it's every man for himself.

the story unfolds at a slow, yet steady, pace, allowing us to get to know our characters inside and out. we may never condone their actions, but we can understand their feelings and motivations. each chapter is penned with shades of grey.

as the story ended, i felt as if i'd just "read" an episode or season of the wire. but, looking at the date of publication for clockers (1992), it's amazing how much the wire - its dialogue, its characters, its pacing & its plotting - owes to richard price and clockers.

for lovers of the wire, i recommend clockers. i plan to read other novels by price. and the wire also owes its extraordinary storytelling to other brilliant authors - dennis lehane, george pelecanos & david simon.

too much television can corrupt your mind and kill brain cells, the exception being the wire of course. in the meantime, get a library card and start reading!