The Wire (HBO) will be back for a 5th season

And the real Jay Landsman has the authentic Baltimore accent. So does Al Brown who plays Valchek. If you've never been to Baltimore and wonder what the people sound like, listen to them.

 

I've noticed that about the accent. In addition to the two you mentioned, the female principal at Prez's new school has it, and so did the cop who found Carcetti on the park bench and told him to "take it down the road." Not being from there, I was wondering how pervasive that accent is -- is it just a Baltimore thing, or all of Maryland, or what?

Just another example of the amazing attention to detail in the show. In those two 30-minute specials leading up to this season, some of the actors were talking about how dead-on the Baltimore slang was, and how it was much different than anything you hear on the streets of even New York, Philly or Washington. Also, the actor who plays Valchek said the show has the first scripts in English he'd ever seen with a glossary.

 

And Dominic West (McNulty) and Idris Elba (Stringer) are both English. West is originally from Yorkshire and Elba's a Londoner. They nailed it.

 

If you hear Idris Elba speak in his real voice, it's scary how different it is.

As good as the Baltimore accents are, the autheticity of the corner boys vocab, to me, is amazing. I'm consistenly impressed that a group of middle age white writers can show the way urban black america speaks so accurately.

 

I will say that living in Baltimore brings an entirely different level of understanding and appreciation for the show. In particular, I can't wait to see what I've heard happens with the Martin O'Malley manque in the coming weeks.

 

Man, Darren Clarke, the golfer, looks like he could play McNulty's older brother.

 

It's scary hearing both of them.....I've watched The Wire since the first episode, never had any idea either were British. When I heard Dominic West being interviewed a few years back I almost fell out of my chair.

I'm always super impressed when I person is able to hide their accent so well, I can't even pronounce the letter "r"..

 

Funny thing is.... it seems the foreigners are much more adept at speaking American than vice-versa.

Russell Crowe in the Insider is incredible.

Can anyone think of an American accent master? I think Meryl Streep... then crickets.