Long profile of David Simon and The Wire in the New Yorker this week. Haven't read it yet, but digging in now.
Update: Ok, all done. I thought this observation about the two main groups of fans of the show (urban poor and media critics) was canny:
Sometimes the fan base of "The Wire" seems like the demographics of many American cities — mainly the urban poor and the affluent elite, with the middle class hollowed out.
The last bit of the article talks about a new show that Simon's thinking of doing for HBO about New Orleans musicians.