Y’all can’t touch my photoshop skillz.

A few months ago as season 5 of The Wire came to an end, my friend Keith and I agreed that The Wire gang would be the next Apaptow crew - the hope being that we would see a ton of the amazing actors on this show move on the other, maybe more visible projects. In the last couple of months I’ve seen Mayoral Candidate Tony Gray and The Greek in Michael Clayton, Officer Beadie on The Office and State Senator Clay Davis in Enchanted (I watched it on the plane, and it was awesome).

NYMAG’s Vulture Blog posted an entry yesterday summarizing the upcoming appearances of Wire alumni and the most awesome bit is that Tristan Wilds, who plays Michael Lee, will be part of the next gen 90210.

Tristan will be playing Dixon Mills, a foster care kid who is adopted by Harry Mills, the new principal of West Beverly High. Yeah, and he’s got a hott sister who will play Brenda to his Brandon Walsh. A pretty believable story when you think of TV show cliches.

Now, at first I was not a big fan of the Michael character and thought that Tristan Wilds was pretty flat as an actor. Over time and as his character developed he became my favorite character on the show and his true acting chops came out in season 5. One wishes that an entire episode be dedicated to his small family outing to Six Flags. (sigh)

Here’s the trailer, this looks hella fun:

I’m hoping this becomes the Gossip Girl of the West. Check out those clothes! Tristan looks pretty pimp and I love how the trailer deliberately rips of the photographic stylings of Merlin Bronques/The Cobrasnake/N.E.R.D’s Lapdance video. I’ll be setting the company’s DVR to record this one. I also love how he’s taking photographs (kinda like Merlin Broques) and there’s a clear shot on him when the VO announces that “Every character has a secret.” oooooooh.

But seriously let’s place our bets now if Dixon Mills:

-Beds a white girl (in the first episode nonetheless to show everybody that the show is in fact “provocative”)

-Gets falsely accused of rape

-Is wrongly expelled (aggravated assault, though he was only defending himself)

-Has a run-in with his former foster care brothers (duh, this happens in any adopted-kid storyline, ref: The OC)

-Faces an existential/self-defining crisis when he decides to run for Class president (bonus points for an Obama-like catchphrase)

-Gets a slap on the wrist for wrecking the family Benz (he was only being a designated driver and the drunk white girl riding shotgun got all cute about wanting to drive)

-A former Wire alumni makes an appearance (Nay, Dukie, Randy Wagstaff - give those kids jobs, man.)

I was watching a video podcast of The Wire’s Out of Character segment with Reg E Cathay, who plays Carcetti’s political advisor on seasons 4 and 5 and he mentioned that his first big break in the business was on a show called Square One TV.

Now me and my brother spent many summers in front of the televion under no adult supervision, so thankfully Square One TV was good enough to hold our attention for a few hours a week. Being the determined Wire freak that I am, it only took me a few minutes to find a Square One clip with my man Norman.

Check it out and thank your lucky stars for Youtubes.

So here are some links. Yeah, there are a lot and I kinda promised these yesterday, but the whole Spitzer debacle kinda sent me into a tizzy.

In posting these links I have realized that there may never be another serialized television show that inspires me to live a better life, open my eyes gaze at the world around me. I guess what I’m trying to say is that this may be a good time to start watching The Hills.

NEW YORK MAGAZINE’s VULTURE Blog has been the bomb with their coverage throughout the season and Monday morning was no exception. Despite the Eliot Mess.

A nice, clean summary of the finale

The actor who plays a homeless character waxes sentimental on the last nite of shooting the final episode

The Finale’s Montage Sequence - with Shot by Shot commentary

Adam Sternberg says - The Wire = The Anti-Sopranos

Is The Wire the greatest ever?

10 Unanswered Questions

I smell a Season 6 storyline . . .

A compilation of quotes from David Simon that shed some light on the finale and what he’s up to next

Life After the Wire. Maybe not . . .

MISC

Entertainment Weekly’s Top 15 moments. Kinda like Cliff Notes . . .

and EW also says a thing or two about the finale

Even Deadspin has some shit to say . . .

My frmr weekly rag kinda disses the 5th season

Don’t forget about the New York Times!

The AV Club interviews David Simon

The AV Club interviews OMAR. FUCKING OMAR MAN!!!!

The Baltimore Sun chimes in on the finale. Uh oh . . . .

Oddly enough, Sunday’s Wire party was exclusively White, except for me.

Salon Magazine discusses the finale

These guys respond to the 10 Unanswered Questions. Smartypants.

An interview with O-Dog

David Simon’s real-life nemesis

Some kids at USC confirm the WAGSTAFF connection

I would only hope that my enthusiasm for the show here ] would encourage some of you to rent the DVDs (or steal them from your friends, as I did). I know I turned a few people onto the show and I can say that their lives are better for it. And seriously, we need more girls watching this show. I only know of one girl who watches the show. WTF? I was at a party this weekend and another Wire fan said that it’s the same reason girls don’t like hip hop. Are you ladies gonna stand for that? C’mon girls, show McNulty, Avon, DeAngelo, Bodie, Wallace, Poot, Stringer, the Stevedores, Carcetti, Bunny, Naymond, Michael, Dookie, Randy, Herc, Carver, Daniels, Prezbo, Marlo, Chris, Prop Joe, The Greek, Clay “sheeeeit” Davis, and the Bunk some love.

B5 and I’m outie, 5000.

So last nite was the last time we will ever see a new episode of The Wire. Which means a lot some of us probably did not get a lot of work done today as we were scouring the web for answers, commentary and general reminiscing.

I’ll have a ton of links later tonight here and over at newdaycoop.blogspot.com, but in the meantime I wanted to post MY top 15 moments. Off the top of my head so it’s a bit sloppy and fuck if I can remember much from season 3. To limit the amount of time I would spend on this I decided to list 3 moments from each 5 seasons.

Spoilers ahead.

Season One

- The time Herc, Carver and Prez go to the Towers to start shit only to have the towers fight back with televisions thrown out the window. This was my first “Holy Crap, this show is awesome moment.”

- Waylon’s speech during the N.A. meeting.

- Bodie and Poot take out Wallace. Man, I grimaced as Wallace begged those guys not to do him like that.

Season Two

- Ziggy and Frank’s earnest talk down by the docks

- Cheese Wagstaff throwing Ziggy on the car

- Ziggy’s heartfelt speech to his father after his arrest.

Guess who my favorite character from Season 2 was?

Season 3

-Kima and McNulty, believing that they saw Beattie, decide to chase her car through the streets of Baltimore

-The Omar and Brother Mouzone showdown.

- The throwaway moment in the gay bar revealing a major character is gay.

Season 4

- Naymond taking a whopping from his Dragonlady mom and realizes he’s not his father’s son.

- The classroom boxcutter incident.

- Bodie gets got. Shit, he was such a good kid too. Oh wait, he did Wallace in, remember? Yeah, he got what he deserved

Season 5

- Clay Davis’s miraculous courtroom victory

- Omar - Spiderman shit

- After a meeting with some bigtime money players, Marlo goes back to the streets to ensure his name is still his name.

Hopefully some of you will post some shit down there in the hole.