Talk:List of characters from The Wire

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To-do list for List of characters from The Wire: edit · history · watch · refresh
  • Remove premature spoilers i.e. information relating to episodes that have not aired on HBO yet.
  • Delete entries for non-notable characters (those appearing in less than three episodes).
  • Work through episode guides updating appearances lists for guest stars
  • Expand Bubbles' article
  • Expand Frank Sobotka's article
  • Expand Avon's article to fully cover his role in S3
  • Expand Rhonda Pearlman's section and move to her own article
  • Move Michael, Dukie, Namond and Randy to their own articles
  • Update links to Michael, Dukie, Namond and Randy
  • Add entries for Detective Crutchfield, Spider, Little Kevin, Nerese Campbell, Officer Walker, and Cantrell (3 or more episodes through ep. 50)
  • Consider moving Bodie to Marlo's section to reflect his career move.
  • Update with S4 appearances
  • Update links to the many episodes whose title has been shortened due to page moves

Contents

[edit] Plans

This page is very much a work in progress at the moment.

  • I aim to replace the appearances with lists of episodes that characters have appeared in.
  • Some characters probably warrant their own pages but I think it's worth holding off on creating them until their character bio/summary is long enough.
  • The starring characters should get pictures - these could be taken from the HBO profiles

--Opark 77 15:27, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Apologies

At the moment the page is particuarly skewed towards certain episodes because I'm updating the list and profiles as I write episode guides. --Opark 77 16:44, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] real-life inspirations

This article might profit from a discussion of the real-life inspirations for many of the characters; David Simon discusses some of them here and here. 71.248.115.187 14:49, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

I have added some of this info to the main page and some to the character's profiles. Thanks for providing the sources. --Opark 77 15:21, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Characters with individual pages

Any thoughts as to which other characters warrant their own article? There's a detailed discussion of this sort of decision making over at The Sopranos section. I know I'm supposed to be bold but I'd rather avoid merging back and forth where possible. If character profiles get sufficiently long I will set up a page without anyone seconding the nomination but otherwise I'd prefer to wait and see.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Currently these characters have their own pages:

Support--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Support--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Support (was nominated for deletion but myself and User:JeffStickney voted to keep)--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Support--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Started by me (and support!)--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Sonja Sohn has been a star of the show for 3 seasons, appearing in almost every episode. Hence I would support her having her own page.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC) (Started page --Opark 77 16:55, 22 July 2006 (UTC))
Clarke Peters has been a star since season 2 and was in most season 1 episodes as a guest star. I would support an individual page.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC) (Started page--Opark 77 06:28, 25 July 2006 (UTC))
Guest star in season one and two, joined starring cast in 3. In most episodes. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC) (Started page--Opark 77 06:28, 25 July 2006 (UTC))
Guest star in season one and two, joined starring cast in 3. In most episodes. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)(Started page--Opark 77 10:31, 25 July 2006 (UTC))
Guest star in season one and two, joined starring cast in 3. In most episodes. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)(Started page--Opark 77 23:51, 25 July 2006 (UTC))
Guest star in seasons one and two, star in 3. Set to recur in season four in the school system. Support.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC) (started page --Opark 77 11:01, 28 July 2006 (UTC))
Star since season one. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Star since season one but not in all episodes. Keep.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Star since season one but not in all episodes. Keep.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
In season three, set to recur in season four. Wait and see, keep for now.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Star in season three, set to recur in season four. Wait and see, keep for now.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
If the character Jay Landsman ever gets his own page that page should have a disambig title such as Jay Landsman(The Wire Character) or Jay Landsman (The Wire). Since there is a real and notable Jay Landsman the title Jay Landsman should be reserved for the real person. I don't really agree or disagree with the recent merge- with its length and detail it would work either way, but it was certainly mistitled for an article about the character.I propose that someone-preferably someone who has read David Simon's book- convert Jay Landsman from a redirect page to an article or stub about THE REAL PERSON. As for the character, he is important enough, has been in the series from the start, and has enough detail written about him. If the article is properly titled and set up I would support a separate article for the character, but the disambig title would be a must. JeffStickney 21:31, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
Started page at Jay Landsman (The Wire). I have not read Homicide so I'll leave Jay Landsman for someone who has.--Opark 77 08:22, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
Star until death in season two. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
I support that. He was a very important part of the show even after his death, and the description is certainly long and detailed enough.JeffStickney 21:59, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
Star in season three, recurs in season four. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Guest in season three, star in season four. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
New star in season 4, wait and see.--Opark 77 11:33, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
Star since season one. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Star for one season only. Support own page once profile is expanded.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
While he was only a one-season character, he was a very impotant part of that season. If his description were expanded far enough, I believe he would warrant his own page. Right now his section is too short for that however.JeffStickney 22:43, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
Star for one season only. Support.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Guest star for one season only. Profile is now quite long. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Recurring character, in every episode of S2, profile is now quite long. Support.--Opark 77 09:07, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
Recurring character with a long profile.--Opark 77 16:57, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
Star for one season only. Profile is now quite long. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Guest in season three, star in season four. Profile is now quite long. Support own page. Article should be Dennis "Cutty" Wise for disambig.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Recurring guest star in 4 seasons, on the links template. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:56, 16 September 2006 (UTC)
Recurring guest star in first 3 seasons. Long profile. Still on HBO's character guide. Support own page.--Opark 77 13:32, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
Recurring guest star in 4 seasons with long profile. Support own page.--Opark 77 07:27, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
Recurring guest stars in season 4 with major roles and increasingly lengthy profiles here and with individual character profiles on the HBO website. Support own pages.--Opark 77 21:05, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Characters who might warrant their own page:

Star since season one. Support own page.--Opark 77 15:37, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Recurring guest star, may be in season four. Keep here.--Opark 77 15:38, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
Merge for now. wait and see what season 4 brings up. Also see my comment below for the merged Jay Landsman article. That title should be reserved for the real person (the detective-turned-actor) not the character.JeffStickney 21:14, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
Merged.--Opark 77 08:22, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
Recurring guest star in season 3 and in every s4 episode aired to date. Long profile. Support own article.--Opark 77 10:28, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
Recurring guest star in season 3 and in every s4 episode aired to date. Lots written about her in the press. Support own article.--Opark 77 10:28, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
Guest star since season 1 with a long profile here and a HBO profile. Support own article.--Opark 77 10:28, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
I support Bubbles and Bunk getting their own pages; there is plenty that can be added to both of them (and if I recall correctly -- my own copy not being on hand now -- both actors are interviewed in the Truth Be Told companion book, so there's more source material there). In season 4, if Marlo and Carcetti do indeed have major plotlines, I'd support separate articles for them as well. Others I'd keep an eye on (contingent on a high level of activity in the new season) would be Rawls, Burrell, and Prop Joe. Andrew Levine 14:39, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Richard Burton

I ain't no wikipediean, nor do I have any interest in doing any real editing, but I think it should be noted that Richard Burton did not play "Shamrock" McGinty, seeing as he's been dead for almost twenty years—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.15.56.224 (talk • contribs).

I dewikified the link to Richard Burton. Obviously a different person.JeffStickney 00:30, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
I created a new article for the Richard Burton in The Wire here. I found that he aqs also involved in council sponsored anti-drugs programs and hope that this combined with his acting makes him notable.--Opark 77 12:53, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Brother Mouzone and the Nation of Islam

Brother Mouzone dresses and carries himself as though he were a member of the Fruit of Islam, the NOI's enforcement arm. Yet the NOI are very much anti-drug, and it's clear Bro. Mouzone works as muscle for a New York-based drug organization that supplies Barksdale's crew, and is not connected with the NOI. Was he perhaps a former FOI soldier who went private? What's his story? Anyone have any sources to fill this character out? He's been a minor recurring character in Seasons 2 and 3, probably not enough screen-time to justify a whole page, but he's (imho) a fascinating character, particularly in relation to Omar. (BTW, is it coincidence that Omar's last name is the same as Malcolm X's?) --Davecampbell 19:41, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree that he is a fascinating character and his entry could be expanded. I don't know of any sources that discuss the characters origins but would also welcome any that anyone finds.--Opark 77 21:46, 4 September 2006 (UTC)
There's this Q&A from David Simon, where he seems (in my reading) to deliberately sidestep the question of whether Mouzone is based on anyone involved with NOI or FOI. So I don't think we're likely to get a straight answer from Simon about Mouzone's origins. Andrew Levine 17:46, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
I read the same article, and it's apparent that Simon doesn't want to say that Mouzone is affliated with NOI/FOI or not. I think the ambiguity is deliberate. Mouzone never even says he's a Muslim, nor do we see him doing anything related to the practice of islam, or reading any islam-related publications. The only evidence he's affiliated is his attire and his manner. Whatever he is, he's a great character. MonkBirdDuke 22:21, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Really, really, long

As of yesterday, there are only 20 articles in all of Wikipedia longer than this one (see Special:Longpages). This page takes incredibly long to download even with a high-speed connection, and must be murder on dial-up modems. Almost half of the characters listed here had very brief and mostly inconsequential appearances, and their inclusion is trivial. I propose an inclusion criteria for the page: any character appearing in less than three episodes should be removed. Anyone else is fit to stay. If need be, some can be covered in the section of a character who is left in (like how Day-Day is mentioned in Clay Davis' section).

An exception would be made for characters introduced for the first time in the new season. We would hold off on applying the inclusion criteria until at least four episodes have aired.

I'm going to be bold and effect this change myself. It is not desirable to have a page this long. Andrew Levine 19:22, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

This seems reasonable. Go ahead. Splitting off starring characters/characters with long sections is another way to reduce the length of the article.--Opark 77 09:28, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
How about breaking the list up into subsections? List of characters from The Sopranos does this. I would suggest a section for the law, a section for the street and a section for the port.--Opark 77 11:30, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
What would they be called? List of Street characters from The Wire? List of characters from The Wire involved in the drug trade? I'd rather keep them all in one place, and do as you suggested, spinning off some more major characters and gutting the ones who had only walk-on roles. Andrew Levine 14:49, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
Also, I disagree with changing all the "season one" to "season 1" and the like. I know Tony suggested it, and I'm not sure if this is an Australian convention, but in written American English it looks very unprofessional. The Wire: Truth Be Told uses fully written-out numbers for its seasons, as does every major-newspaper review of the show I've seen. Andrew Levine 14:53, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
Actually, now that I think of it, the Sopranos idea is pretty good. I suggest List of law enforcement characters from The Wire, List of political figures from The Wire, List of characters from The Wire in the drug trade, List of characters from The Wire at school (to be created once we have fleshed out these characters more), and I don't know what for the docks (since it includes stevedores, smugglers, and Sobotka family associates). Andrew Levine 17:55, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
We're already down to no. 23 on now off of the long pages list. Good work but we should keep trying to get the length down.--Opark 77 18:22, 16 September 2006 (UTC) (edited --Opark 77 21:04, 17 September 2006 (UTC))
[1] this is the version before we removed the non-notable characters in case it is needed to salvage any of the information from their entries.--Opark 77 10:59, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
Personally, I think splitting up this article would be a good thing. It's nearly impossible to decipher it at this length. MonkBirdDuke 22:27, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
I'd urge anyone interested in reducing the length of the article to contribute to the discussion about which characters might warrant their own articles.--Opark 77 11:15, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
As this season progresses the 4 kids, Snoop, Chris, and a few of the political figures will eventually warrent their own pages. As far as the long pages list goes, that is based on file size, not length of text. Almost all of that is coming from pictures (which are necessasry). As far as navigation goes, I'm not that sure about the two charts for "current cast" and "formerly starring". It puts 3 and 1/2 screenlenths (at my resolution) between the article outline and the character descriptions. It feels like I have to navigate over the outline twice.I personally think without those two charts (which basically duplicate the auto-generated outline) the article would be easier to navigate.JeffStickney 16:13, 8 October 2006 (UTC)
I disagree that the charts duplicate the autogenerated outline. They feature solely starring cast members and I often refer to them to remind myself who is in the current starring cast. However, I completely agree that they are disruptive to navigating the article where they are. Perhaps moving them to the end of the article would improve this? Have you any thoughts on my suggestion of subdividing this article into other lists? This would be a significant task so I'm reluctant to begin without hearing a few more peoples opinions.--Opark 77 17:10, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Links template

I've raised a few points about the links box over on Template talk:TheWire for anyone interested in which chracters are included there.--Opark 77 20:01, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Major Case Unit?

Isn't it really "Major Crimes Unit"? Check out this video, they clearly say they are from the "Major Crimes Unit". [2]--Jersey Devil 16:51, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

They were originally called the "Major case unit." When the unit was made permanent at the end of season two, they changed the name to "major crimes unit." Andrew Levine 16:55, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
Major Crimes is more accurate since McNulty and others use it by name several times. i.e.: There's one scene where McNulty says...."McNulty, Major Crimes"...and the guy replies..."Sullivan, Minor Irritations" MonkBirdDuke 22:15, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
Well, both names have been used multiple times by the characters on the show. Andrew Levine 01:52, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
Since Herc and Dozerman just transferred into this unit, and Kima and Freamon just transferred out perhaps these characters' entries should be moved to the corresponding sections. I added this to the to-do list.JeffStickney 23:49, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
Done.--Opark 77 20:10, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Premature spoilers

Most of the people who are watching this page are big fans of the show, but not all of them have access to HBO On Demand, and even those who do don't always have the same access to the episodes. (New episode availability varies by cable provider). I've noticed that this article has contained spoilers from the episode Alliances for a couple days now. It doesn't bother me as I've seen it, but not everyone here has on demand. I think we should hold back on the spoilers in this article or in the character articles until the OFFICIAL air date. The only exception to this should be the episode article itself. Someone going to the article Alliances (The Wire episode) would expect to see spoilers on that episode. Someone reading this article's section on Randy Wagstaff would not expect to see spoilers for an unaired article. As today is the official airdate there is no reason to revert, but this is something to consider for future reference.JeffStickney 16:56, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

I uploaded all of that content. Having watched Alliances and Refugees together I forgot what happened in each some of the time. I tried to separate them adding refugees midweek and alliances today but obviously fell down in places. Apologies. This seems like a reasonable suggestion.--Opark 77 17:06, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if it's legitimate to argue no to add something until it airs on HBO. If HBO has officially made it available to On Demand and it can be legally viewed, I think it should be fair game. You could make the same argument for people who don't even have HBO and are waiting for a DVD release. Should we hold it back months from now because people have not seen the DVD? On a side note, nearly the entire season has already been leaked on bittorrent and you can download up to about episode 10 of the new season. 128.6.78.50 18:43, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

I think it's a reasonable request when it is a matter of days. If it was waiting months for the DVD release I would object but that's a different argument entirely. I would definitely object to spoilers from illegal downloads before airing as that is negative for the whole of wikipedia and put us in danger of copyright violation suits from HBO for spoiling their shows, that they paid to produce before they have even aired them.--Opark 77 19:06, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] McNulty's Boys

Weren't his two sons in season four, or did I dream/hallucinate that? 65.97.2.33 03:29, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

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