The Wire's last days

As HBO's The Wire ends this Sunday, 03/09/08, new Major of Philly, Michael Nutter, who is such a huge fan of the show, is opening City Hall and showing the last episode as part of a community gathering. Last weeks episode called Late Editions had a scene in which Gus Haynes from the Baltimore Sun is doing some check finding on the fake writing of Templeton whom he questions briefly, and then tries to get admission into Walter Reed Army Medical Center so he can investigate Templeton's writing regarding Terry Hanning, the homeless Iraq War veteran. At the hospital, Gus watches in amazement as Hanning's military buddy shows off his state-of-the-art prosthetic limbs. The vet verifies Hanning's story. He reiterates that while many bad things happened in Iraq, nothing in the way of a firefight happened on that particular day.

While Haynes is at Walter Reed, I believe I notice Sgt. Bryan Anderson in the Background scene! Sgt. Bryan Anderson, who has received treatment in Walter Reed (in real life) as he was injured during his second tour of duty in Iraq, losing two legs and a hand. Bryan was a member of a MP Company, which was my occupational speciality. He has been profiled on more than one occasion and made the cover of Esquire Magazine along with being profiled by the HBO film: Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq. I have yet to find Anderson credited or listed as uncredited for this background scene but I do believe it was really him.

This Sunday will be the last episode of the Greatest Show on TV, EVER. I remember watching the last MASH Show and even the last Seinfeld show and to me THE WIRE does not compare to these great TV shows in the history of popular cultere as THE WIRE is so far deeper and more complex. It will be a sad goodbye and I cannot wait till the box set comes out.