CRIME LUMINARIES CONTRIBUTE TO 'WIRE'

Buried deep in the production credits for the new season of HBO's
"The Wire" is a trio of names far more familiar to the literary
world than to the land of TV.

Crime novelists George Pelecanos ("Hard Revolution"), Dennis Lehane
("Mystic River") and Richard Price ("Clockers") all have written
for show's third season, which begins Sunday (10 p.m.). And having
these very good authors involved makes perfect sense, because "The
Wire" comes as close to the quality of a truly great novel as
television gets: It's richly drawn, meticulously written and brimming
with challenging ideas about crime, race, economics and the American
way of life.

There's also no question that "The Wire" is not the easiest hour on
TV. This is not a beach book you can cruise through in an afternoon.
Rather, it demands that the viewer pay attention as complex story
lines play out throughout the season and characters evolve. If your
focus wanes for just a moment, you may miss the brilliant shadings in
even the most minor of characters, or a flash of sharp insight into
urban life.

Created by former Baltimore Sun police reporter David Simon -- whose
first book was turned into "Homicide: Life on the Streets" and
whose second became the great HBO miniseries "The Corner" -- "The
Wire" may appear to be another drama about crime on the streets with
the cops on one side and drug-dealing gang bangers on the other.

But that would be a surface impression. Those on the side of the law
and those breaking it are locked in a war that neither side is likely
to win anytime soon. Early in the new season, one character -- talking
about the drug trafficking and gang wars -- suggests that "game done
changed."

No, replies another. "Game the same. Just got more
fierce."

In a sense, both sides are trapped in the same box of institutional
corruption, political ambition and urban economics. (No show on TV
deals more with class and economic status than "The Wire.") And both
sides suffer in their personal lives from the pressures of their work.

The nominal lead character, detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West),
has become so obsessed with taking down the drug dealers that his
personal life is in shambles. (In Sunday's opener, there's a
particularly sad scene involving McNulty taking his sons to
Baltimore's Camden Yards.)

One of the members of his anti-drug team, the street-smart Kima Greggs
(Sonja Sohn), has seen her relationship with another woman fall apart.
Their boss Cedric Daniels (the elegant Lance Reddick) is still
struggling to resurrect his career within the police department and
deal with his wife's decision to run for the city council.

On the other side, the charismatic drug lord Avon Barksdale (a
terrific Wood Harris) is still in prison. Taking over: Stringer Bell
(Idris Elba) who is trying to bring his newly acquired theories on
business and economics to the way the gang distributes its "product"
on the streets. One newcomer, Cutty Wise (Chad L. Coleman), has just
been paroled from prison to a Baltimore he barely recognizes and a
drug business where the rules have changed.

Also swirling through the early episodes is a contemplation of the
limits of reform with Glynn Turman as Mayor Clarence Royce, who
believes that leveling the city's most dangerous housing projects can
make him look tough on crime; Robert Wisdom as Bunny Colvin, a top cop
who, on the verge of retirement, is willing to take a different
approach to the drug wars; and Aidan Gillen as Thomas Carcetti, an
ambitious and amoral city councilman.

The first four episodes of "The Wire" are impeccable television with
compelling storytelling and crisp dialogue from Simon, Price, Lehane
and Pelecanos and superior acting from the large ensemble. Visually,
no series has a greater sense of its time and place.

And, unlike past seasons, there is more of an attempt to inject humor
into the fiercely cynical and downbeat mix. In one particularly
priceless scene, some of the cops take a break from the wars to catch
a movie at the local multiplex -- only to run into the drug dealers
they chase every day.

"See you tomorrow?" one of the dealers asks the cops as both groups
exit.

Largely because of its dense storytelling and thematic complexity,
"The Wire" is the least-appreciated and the least-watched of all
HBO's great dramas. But we should be grateful that the cable channel
has stuck with it and its challenging artistic vision as long as it
has. Television doesn't get any better than this, and, although it
will require some work on your part, you should really catch "The
Wire" while you can.

"The Wire"

(first four episodes)

Airing: 10 p.m. Sunday, HBO

Cast: Dominic West, Sonja Sohn, Lance Reddick, Wood Harris, Idris
Elba, Michael K. Williams, Aidan Gillen, Chad L. Coleman, Glynn
Turman, Robert Wisdom

Creator: David Simon