The Corner (miniseries)

[Adrian]

The opening scene is the Director (Charles S. Dutton) talking straight to camera about corners. He talks simply about what he is going to show us. It's very documentary-like as he casually leans against the wall, but his voice gives it away. He grew up on similar corners a long time ago when there was at least a semblance of honour. Apparently, that isn't so nowadays, and...

...only then do we cut to the HBO signature snowy-screen opening titles that defines the channel. I found that a real shock as HBO always start and finish their shows with that interference. This show must be something special if they are going to do that.

After a fade to black, the teaser:

True Stories...

is what appears as the title card.

And then we cut to the first scene, where the Director (now in faux interviewer mode) is interviewing drug addict Gary McCullough as he goes about his business: Gary buys a single cigarette for 25¢ from a Korean grocery store (and, yes, it is the same Korean grocery store from The Wire 5-8); gets hassled by a fellow addict looking for a smoke; passes the time of day with Fat Curt, and all the time The Director pushes Gary to reveal how a formerly successful man like him ended up like he did. Gary does a classic double-take as he suddenly realises what he had and what he's lost.

All this in the first five minutes.

Gary loses patience and storms off and we fade to the real opening titles:

"Gary's Blues"

And boy, don't the blues play a big part in all of this. I'm not talking Gary Moore, I mean real, proper blues.

I'm watching this again after a full viewing of The Wire, and this is a show that owes it all to Ed Burns. You can see the man in this show (and the book) and I swear I can pick out the words he wrote.

It shouldn't be compared to The Wire because it's a different beast - mini-series rather than serial drama - but I'll take The Corner over The Wire any day.

[David]

The opening scene is the Director (Charles S. Dutton) talking straight to camera about corners.
Ah, he's missed the boat, I'm afraid. We've already been treated to Victoria Coren's History of Corners on BBC4.

In fact, a brilliant opening to the brilliant Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe, of which unfortunately I can't find the clip.

(Did I mention he was brilliant...?)

[Adrian]

As usual, David, you (and BGO) are too British for me. I have some vague memory of the UK and what you might be on about, but the details are lost on me. Do you mean when CSD played the traffic cop who got stopped by Tony Soprano and then demoted?

Just in case you are serious, here's C S. D doing his Corner intro:

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[David]

As usual, David, you (and BGO) are too British for me.
It's a common problem. Thanks for the link but frankly that's much too dull. In fact I did manage to find Victoria Coren's masterpiece, which you can see below (blimey - I can do posh embedding too! ;) ).

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[Hazel]

but I'll take The Corner over The Wire any day.Goodness, maybe I should add it to the wishlist then?

[Adrian]

Good find, David. Good old Charlie nails it again, though always seems a bit of a depressive to me, which maybe helps as a TV writer. The Coren spoof was spot-on.

The embedding is for special features only - not to be abused! Keep it to yourself or else all the cool kids will be doing it.

[Adrian]

Goodness, maybe I should add it to the wishlist then?
As of now (when I've just rewatched it), then, yes, it's better than The Wire. It's harsher and grittier (no, really!) but more importantly it focuses on the drug users and their families rather than the police.

There's a lot of crossover between the two series, both in terms of actors (the actor who played dapper Fremon (and it grieves me to say that in the past tense) here plays Fat Curt, the lowest fiend of them all, and also characters. I've mentioned Officer Bob Brown before in The Wire thread, and he's here too as one of the main police characters, and there's a tangential Korean lady in both series too.

[David]

Good old Charlie nails it again, though always seems a bit of a depressive to me, which maybe helps as a TV writer.
I'm sure it does. He's lately expressed concern that the next series of Screenwipe may be hampered by fallout from the Brand-Ross affair, which would indeed be unfortunate since what he does is totally different. It's intelligent.

Anyway, in spite of my flippancy earlier your Corner looks much better than Victoria Coren's (be honest now - it's not often you'll be told that...). I shall keep an eye out for it.