David Simon: "The Wire Is About The End Of Empire"



(image via baltimoresun)

There was a bittersweet, melancholy air to David Simon's appearance on The Charlie Rose Show last night. Simon, on the show to promote his new HBO series Generation Kill, veered -- at Charlie's prompting -- on to the subject of the demise of the American newspaper. "The Wire is about the end of empire," he said at one point, revealing more than he ever has about the air of urban decline that permeated the series.

"We are as distracted a society as you can imagine and I don't see it getting any better .. the American collective is coming apart at the seams." On the subject of the lack of political will to restore New Orleans Simon, a former journalist covering the municipality of Baltimore, said, "It's shocking about what we're not able to get done."

Yup.