Remember the term 'Juking the Stats' from the other seasons? That's exactly what Scott Templeton was doing, and the bosses were fine with it as long as it sounded good. Even if it was a straight-up lie. The police did it, the schools did it, the criminals did it, the newspaper journalists did it, everybody did it. That's what makes the show amazing. Everything came full circle.
remember what the teacher told mr.prezbo, she said every where you go you're still there (or something along those lines) showing that the "game" doesn't change just the players
+01342663563 I think that's a great theme of the show. Every one is dirty. Who are the true criminals? Everyone is playing the hand that their dealt... some play by the rules, but many don't. Most often, it's the gang bangers and dealers that live at a higher moral code than any of the cops, politicians, or reporters.
Funny thing: the actor who plays "journalist" Scott Templeton is Tom McCarthy, who in real life is also a writer, producer and film director. One of his most successful works? Spotlight, a movie about the importance of outstanding journalism and reporting.
Gus ended being one of my favorite characters from the entire series. Then again, how is it even possible to pick favorites from this truly magnificent series? This was a great scene.
For sure.. my favorite characters change every re watch wich is quite frequently lol but in my opinion my favorites Are Bunny Colvin, The Bunk, Bubbles, Cutty and Randy... i really wish Randy could have got his kwn subplot in season 5 instead of just a cameo
The whole series will last for centuries because it depicts the decline and fall of our society. A few good guys doing their jobs well cannot shore up a crumbling society.
David Simon about working at the baltimore sun: He came to me and said, “I want to do the stories that are about the Dickensian lives of children growing up in West Baltimore.” What he was saying was, “If you give me a nice, cute eight-, nine-year-old kid who doesn’t have a pencil, who doesn’t have a schoolbook, who lives in poverty, who’s big eyed and sweet and who I can make the reader fall in love with, I can win a fuckin’ prize with that. Write me that shit.” “Don’t hand me some struggling junkie.” “Don’t give me a guy who’s, like, trying to get high but maintain his dignity. Don’t give me anything complicated.” And he really used the word “Dickensian.”
Am I missing he point if I think that that's an insult to Dickens's work? I mean, granted, he used sentimentality in pretty much all of his works, but he still brought it to the publics attention. Made-up sop stories trying to pass themselves off as fact are an insult to his legacy, as well as to actual journalism.
Dickens wouldn't be that surprised if he came back to London today. He didn't like child poverty and homelessness in Victorian England, he wouldn't like it now.
@@muiresuilgorm3452 he would be SHOCKED and think that England lost a major invasion war vs the middle east lol. He would be FREAKING out once he found out you guys accepted those people in and gave them benefits, healthcare, free money, don't jail them for insane crimes (often times against children and of a perverted nature), etc. while the native English are persecuted as racists and colonizers and are worst off then they were decades ago. You people live in la-la-land
It's been said over and over but The Wire is basically a masterclass in how to cast. Templeton is a great example. The actor gives an A+ performance but before he even opens his mouth he looks like the type of guy who would throw his mom in front of a bus to get a story.
@@andrewkimble143he also directed Spotlight, which won best picture. And he’s said in interviews that he NEVER would have made Spotlight without his experience on The Wire and learning about how newsrooms actually work because of this role.
Bobby Coggins profit and ratings (ie entertainment) driven journalism will inevitably lead to that. Journalism should be truth as firefighters is about helping people.
Jonathan How do you use the internet to fact check a perfect quote from an anonymous source? How would you use the internet to disprove any of Scott's stories, really?
Gus had boss level intuition at all times. Scott thought he was pulling the wool over Gus's eyes but Gus was always ten moves ahead. Scott never stood a chance. It was only Gus's tact needed for playing the workplace heirachy game that get him relatively subdued.
"In my notes Gus... every last word is in my notes!" almost a direct quotation of Stephen Glass, the journalist who made up his stories - he (also others like Jayson Blair) probably served as inspiration for Scott Templeton.
Disagree. The media lost its integrity becuase it got bought and sold piece by piece to companies that did so entirely for shit like this. This isn't the reason. it';s the end result of the reason.
@@capnpaco Nailed it. It's like how the public says they want more "good news" and not so much "negativity," but what stories do they click on the most? Crime and mayhem.
I love the idea that something being in Scott's notes is somehow proof that is really happened. He would obviously write down the same bullshit that he's using for his stories, Even more inexplicable is the fact that Scott didn't even bother writing any of it down in the notebook. 😂
A journalist notebook is also a log/record, when you diligently takes notes as discoveries/events/interviews happen then that becomes a thrustworthy record, especially if you have to hide or don't have the name of sources. Essentially notes are the first step in showing due dilligence. Police officers also have to take notes dilligently, as they have to type up reports and possibly witness in court. Scott did machine type his fabricated notes, but he didn't bother to copy it down in his physical notepad.
Agreed, hilarious. It was a nice touch to show what a worm Templeton is. The show repeatedly shows that the excellent game players (whether it be detectives, reporters, lawyers, or participants in the drug trade) are meticulous, patient, and stay on the grind. We repeatedly see how disinterested Scott is in legitimate hard work, and this is just another example of him failing to fake even the barest essentials of evidence for his story.
I occasionally see a comment calling Gus too perfect of a character, and how he's basically an outlet for Simon to air his grievances about the industry he worked for. I don't necessarily disagree with that, but I think the most important thing to note is that Simon's grievances were valid and worth telling a story about. Simon's experience and wisdom that he gained from being a journalist combined with Clark Johnson's performance makes Gus an outstanding character.
My main complaint about season 5 is that it’s too black and white compared to the other seasons. The beauty of the wire is that the criminals are still given humanity and that the cops are portrayed are real flawed people. Season 5 had Gus being a great reporter/journalist and Scott being all that is wrong with the profession. But there was no nuance. You had no reason to like Scott. Even the killers and drug dealers in the other seasons have something.
@@tonywagner7269 Yeah Simon basically had an axe to grind in Season 5, and even though S5 was still a great Season you could tell it didn't have the magic Seasons 1 to 4 did. S5 felt more like a fictional drama like Breaking Bad than an accurate representation of city-life from the earlier seasons that made The Wire so different to other TV shows.
I was and still am blown away from how deep the wire goes. The writer's deserve so many awards because of how in depth the show's story goes, and how realistic the story is compared to real life. Most TV shows are about 10 to 20% realistic at the most, with the odd ones like The Sopranos being a bit more, about 30 to 40% realistic. But with The Wire, it's such a masterpiece written by an a retired Baltimore homicide/special crimes police officer, it has to be the only show I've seen that is about 95% realistic. The problem I have is everytime I watch the wire I skip or don't pay attention to the boring ass newspaper stuff. I want to watch season 5 again just to pay attention to the newspaper room stuff and see how deep the story goes with it.
I love revisiting this show on youtube to save me the hastle of going thrue dvds and finding my favorite scenes, but the whole series... each season is like the chapter in a book, and as it moves on it builds on each foundation of the chapter before til the end.
Journalists are like this is in real life. The sad part is, that the institutions they work for are exactly like the one portrayed in this show. Which leads to Journalists going independent of the MSM.
See thats the beauty of the wire. Its all a cycle, there are great reporters out there i would even say more good than bad, but the system feeds giving the scotts of the world the pedestal. His boss feeds it, the people who buy the paper feed it, and we all lose.
Even if you HATED Season 5 (I didn't, I liked it a lot) you had to respect the story of...life..coming full circle. Everyone should have to watch The Wire and take a class on it, I know there are classes on it but it should be mandatory
I agree. There were some slow bits, but I kept paying attention and the way it all came together at the end was great, if depressing right at the VERY end when the music starts playing. And yes, it was educational too, because you got a look at corruption from every department, right down to the entry level street dealers skimming for themselves, to the hierarchy of their criminal organisations, from the "regular" cops and detectives, to the stat-juking guys at the top of that tree. Then the district attorney's officers. Then onto the media, onto city politics, onto state-politics. Then how they all can overlap and several types of corruption can end up being mixed together at once. It was pieced together amazingly! Then the ending which was basically like "Well, we hope you enjoyed the show, but you see none of this matters, all you've achieved is you now KNOW it works like this, so nobody "WON", the game never changes and everything you just saw is never going to stop and will keep on happening, again and again. And there is not a thing you who knows how it works now or any one person can really do about it. Thanks for watching!"
My only issue with season 5 was McNulty and the fake serial killer charade felt out of kilter for a show that otherwise felt incredibly grounded in reality. If it turns out that is based off something real then consider that criticism retracted.
I don't understand how this criticism is still alive. He totally snapped because he realized he literally killed Bodie, someone he highly respected and empathized with. That's why he did everything he did. People just don't make the connection because it happens at the end of Season 4 (Bodie's murder) and McNulty doesn't start truly going crazy in response until Season 5.
When the Mike Daisey (Apple / Foxconn) fabrications began apppearing in the media - specifically when This American Life devoted an entire show to a retraction, I *immediately* thought of this scene. .Gus Haynes' speach is my favorite moment in Season 5. God Bless David Simon, Ed Burns & Clark Johnson.
Lol not really. It’s worst out of all 5. Too Hollywood like. Made up serial killers, omar jumping out of a 7th floor balcony. Just not a very good season compared to the rest.
@@steveschall9 Yeah, not like false evidence is a real thing or anything. And 7th floor? Dude what the actual fuck. Omar jumped from a 2nd and it was based on a rumour that the real Omar jumped from a 4th.
Those job losses at the Baltimore Sun must’ve really put Gale in a spot. To drop everything in Maryland to dive to New Mexico, settle in, and start cooing crank.
Eventually these types of newspapers would just turn into tabloid magazines. You don't have to be credible to make money. Sometimes because of the mundaneness of life, people just want to hear a juicy story, regardless of if it's true or not.
The "Nice" comment after Scotts FU wasn't just dismissive sarcasm but also Gus indirectly and respectfully highlighting Templeton's inability to articulate a valid argument. As if to say "There you have it folks, Pulitzer Nominee and Baltimore Sun's finest"
This is great, watch the series absolutely amazing, But for context for those who are watching this who haven't seen the series. The ' its in my notes' scene at the end should have included alma revealing the truth, that said I appreciate you putting this on youtube .
@@Destruction320 that is garbage. They didn't choose the characters name "Gus" because of this character in the wire. They chose Gus because Gustavo would be a name you'd find in Chile.
We. Cannot. Run. This. Shit. This still echos in my mind. The cadence and passion of how he says it... I adapted it for my own life and I think of it anytime I'm in a workplace disagreement where someone is doing something incorrectly lol
The shame of this scene is Scott and The Sun won a Pulitzer. Viewers never got to see him brought low. In The Wire, everybody paid for their sins at some point, except for Rawls and Scott.
AJBfc Jason Blair wrote for the New York Times and resigned after he was caught plagiarizing and making up stories. Stephen Glass wrote for The New Republic magazine and was caught fabricating over half of the articles he wrote. I think Kelly might be Megyn Kelly? But I'm not sure she was around when The Wire was airing new episodes, it could be someone else.
Great little bit of trivia that the actor who played Scott Templeton, the anthesis of great journalism, directed the film “Spotlight” which is the embodiment of ethical, hard hitting journalism.
Great element to the final season. I liked seasons 1-3 far more than seasons 4 and 5 BUT I did like how they showed the ugly reality of "dressing up" that goes on everywhere. In this season the newspaper is affected not only by the ugly recession but the decline that has rapidly deteriorated the newspaper industry since 2000 in which the internet and big companies swallow up market share and buy out newspapers left and right so there were 2 angles from which the baltimore sun was under increasing pressure. Scott happened to create the perfect kind of buzz for the paper and they needed buzz and praise in this moment so their general standards of reporting went out the window and Templeton knew it and that's why he decided to make his move. If you see the series, you'll see in the end how close to right Gus was in his forecasting.
"our job is to report the news not to manufacture it" However, the largest cable network, the largest local tv network owner, and the largest political internet sites and radio stations and all their biggest personalities would disagree with that .. One of the reason why no one knows what's going on anymore
@A M Have you tried a newspaper? Critical thought also required, but I understand if you're primed to just accept or reject reporting and opinions out of hand, with no middle ground.
dinobotpwnz yh there was no need to lie about the notebook. In fact it was idiotic to mention it. You could tell that he was so addicted to the lie that he was trying to convince himself it was truth.
David Costabile goes from a guy named Gus who works for him to working for a guy named Gus (was that a nod to The Wire?). When his BB character opened the door in THAT scene i expected the person at the door to say “Gus says hello!”
Has anyone ever notice how Scott did not have any comebacks when Gus was calling him out? “Our job is to report the news, not manufacture it” This is a classic insult! The only reason why Scott replied, “Fuck you, Gus” was because he didn’t have any counter argument.
The paper didn't care if he made it all up, they were making money and getting huge press out of it. Don't let a little thing like the truth get in the way.
"it always starts with something small." so we don't notice it, and they think it is a minor wrong done in service to a greater right. "it always starts with something true." so we trust the rest that follows will be true too, and they feel confident that divergences from a starting truth can be remedied in the future before anyone notices or is affected. the lies we tell ourselves enable the lies we then tell others.
"It always starts with something TRUE. Something confirmed...." The Sun should have been introduced in Season 4 with the bodies in the buildings; Gus was a great character.
Really? Cuz I thought it was an excellent and accurate portrayle of how a newspaper is run. I found it interesting at least to see the politics of it, how some stories are pushed in front of others and the manner of curruption behind it.
The bosses were clearly after a Pullitzer and didn't care about quality reporting. Any half decent reporter would have been able to see the that the serial killer was made up, Gus actually realized it from the beggining.
Honestly guys if you've seen the show multiple times and find yourself here looking for your Wire fix then try and get your hands on the episodes with commentary (may mean buying the box set, I've now given you the justification you needed to buy a show you've seen multiple times)
