Race, reality – writing through “The Wire”

The James River Writers group hosted a panel discussion Friday at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts. Panelists included Richard Price and David Simon, part of the creative team behind the HBO series “The Wire,” and Robyn Diehl Lacks, assistant professor of the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

“The Wire” is now in its fourth season after three successful years as a critically acclaimed crime drama involving an ongoing police investigation into the complex drug market on the streets of Baltimore.

Peter Coughter, a VCU Adcenter professor, moderated the discussion that followed a screening of an episode from the third season of the show.

One of the central themes of the discussion centered on the fact that although “The Wire” is popular with critics, the show may be as good as it is because it’s not especially popular among television viewers.

Price said he believes part of the reason why the show remains somewhat under the radar of most viewers is because of its epic scope that can make it difficult for new viewers to follow the plot.

“They’re coming in on chapter 48 of a 200-chapter Russian novel,” Price said. “I mean, things happen in year one, episode three that do not play out until year two, episode three, and you just have to be there for the whole time.”

Creator David Simon had a different take on the show’s marginal ratings. “Let’s be honest, a drama that has a majority African-American cast . . . it’s never happened,” he said. “Black viewers have learned to watch white actors because they’ve had to. But whites have never learned to sit in their living room and feel like a minority.”

Coughter also discussed with Simon and Price the stark realism the show presents to its audience who have been more accustomed to series like “Law and Order,” where each show wraps up nicely in an hour that is packed with cop drama clich