This might be hard to sum up, but I wanted to offer a space for reflection as to what the “takeaways” are from this course and the series. Big thoughts, little thoughts, whatever – but what do you think is going to stick with you?

While official course response forms are in process, I wanted to open the floor for any thoughts as to what should change – or not change – in next year’s offering of this class. I’m especially interested in what readings you think should be kept or are less relevant, and your thoughts about speeding up the timeline to give us a week post-season 5 to read more analyses of the show and reflect on the series as a whole. Thanks!

As I mentioned in class, Kyle has connected with Alexa Fogel, The Wire‘s casting director, and we can gather some questions to pose to her about the show’s casting and other behind-the-scenes matters. Post them in the comments thread, and hopefully she can reply to some.

My own to start the ball rolling – there were a lot of non-actors in the cast, either in minor cameos or roles of significance (like The Deacon, Det. Norris, and Lt. Mello). Do you have a sense of how decisions were made as to the writing and casting of these parts, which clearly pulled from Simon and Burns’s Baltimore connections? And on-set, how did these non-actors integrate with the more experienced cast?

While The Wire can certainly be enjoyed even if you know what’s coming – after all, why else would we rewatch it? – we want to allow classmates who have not seen the series to experience the plot without spoilers. So please only reference events that have been seen in the episodes that we’ve watched together per the class schedule!

This blog will be the site of Urban America and Serial Television: Watching The Wire, a course at Middlebury College taught by Jason Mittell in Spring 2009. If you’re interested, subscribe to the feed and join in the conversation once it starts.