Wire: ‘Social science fiction’ or genre fiction?

Our paper concerned the ways in which HBO TV drama The Wire has been co-opted as a spur to a new kind of social science, and how its roots as TV genre fiction have been elided. We drew from cultural studies approaches and our own interviews with the creators of the show (David Simon, Ed Burns, etc.) in order to highlight the importance of precursors such as Hill Street Blues and Homicide.

Roger Sabin

Research Interests

Cultural history, cultural studies, subcultural studies, film and television studies. Specialisms: comics, graphic novels, manga; punk and counterculture; 19th century entertainment; television crime drama. Cultural theory, especially postmodernism in history.
Current Research

Currently completing one book and co-authoring two others. The sole-authored book is about 19th century ‘funny papers’/comics, and in particular the character 'Ally Sloper', the first comics superstar. The other two concern TV crime drama: one is about The Wire, and one about the history of the genre. Also, various smaller-scale projects involving comics, graphic novels, manga and other areas listed above.

Previous books include: As Author: Comics, Comics and Graphic Novels (Phaidon); Adult Comics: An Introduction (Routledge); The Lasting of the Mohicans (University Press of Mississippi – co-authored with Martin Barker). As Editor: Punk Rock: So What? (Routledge); Below Critical Radar: Fanzines and Alternative Comics 1976-Now (Codex - with Teal Triggs); The Movie Book (Phaidon – with Michael Newton).