You Come at These 10 ‘The Wire’ Facts, You Best Not Miss

HBO’s The Wire famously shifted focus to different corners of Baltimore between seasons, but did you know creator David Simon based the series on his real-life time as a police reporter? Or that many real public officials and criminals actually played themselves? Get ready to hit them corners, as the 37th episode of ‘You Think You Know TV?’ goes all in the game for HBO’s The Wire!

Simon drew plenty of influence from his real life chronicling the world of Baltimore crime, including characters and events, hoping to portray the effect of various institutions on the citizens divided between them. Much of The Wire proved so realistic in its portrayal of cops fighting the drug trade, that real New York drug ring actually learned to evade police tactics by watching it.

‘You Think You Know TV?’ is a ScreenCrush original series that dives deep into the worlds of your favorite TV series and freeze frames a few tidbits you might not have known, as with our other installments for 1966's Batman, The Office, Sherlock, Friends, Futurama, Louie, Charlie Brown, Tales From the Crypt, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Twilight Zone, American Horror Story, The Sopranos, Vikings, Twin Peaks, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, LOST, Seinfeld, Batman: The Animated Series, House of Cards, Power Rangers, Family Guy, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Breaking Bad (x2!), True Detective, Empire, The Simpsons, Hannibal, Star Wars Rebels, Better Call Saul, The X-Files, The Flash, Arrow, Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.

Our companion series ‘You Think You Know Movies?’ has already tackled everything from Die Hard to A Christmas Story, but now we’re heading to Bodymore, Murdaland for The Wire. Gotta keep that devil, keep him down in the hole.

Watch more TV installments of ‘You Think You Know’ down below, in addition to our The Wire entry above, and let us know what shows we should cover next!

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