Arts: David Simon Gets a Blog, Asks Wire Fans to Get Serious

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Brow Beat David Simon Gets a Blog, Asks Wire Fans to Get Serious By Forrest Wickman Posted Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012, at 05:25 PM ET Frustrated with speaking to the public through interviews, David Simon has started a new blog, "The Audacity of Despair," at DavidSimon.com. While the Wire creator says he has owned the domain for years, it seems to have been his controversial comments in recent interviews—Simon called the rise of TV recapping "ridiculous," and disparaged "people who arrived to The Wire late," before later clarifying his comments —that led Simon to turn to his own website. In one of his first posts, Simon further clarifies his annoyance with Wire fanboyism, as expressed in things like Grantland's recent bracket to determine The Wire's greatest character and Vulture's bracket to determine the best drama of the last 25 years (which, I would point out, did contain some serious criticism). The problem, he says, is not that these fans are coming to the show late—though he does wonder where these fans were while the show struggled to stay on the air—but rather that engaging with the show in this way, such as by ranking its coolest characters, is too shallow. Simon in particular takes issue with Grantland editor Bill Simmons' choice, when asking President Obama a question about The Wire, to ask him to name his favorite character. Simon offers that the better question would have been this one: "Mr. President.  I know you've said you're a fan of The Wire.  Well, one of that show's basic critiques is that the drug war is amoral ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Most Embarrassing Moments From the Worst House of Representatives Ever Is Our Economy Too Complicated for Our 18th-Century Political System? Why Lunch Breaks Are Massively Overrated	Advertisement
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