The Corner


The Corner is a 2000 HBO drama television miniseries based on the nonfiction book by David Simon and Ed Burns, and adapted for television by Simon and David Mills. It premiered on HBO in the United States on April 16, 2000 and concluded its six-part run on May 21, 2000. The series was released on DVD on July 22, 2003. It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries in 2000.
The Corner chronicles the life of a family living in poverty amid the open-air drug markets of West Baltimore. "The corner" is the junction of West Fayette Street and North Monroe Street .

Cast and characters

Many actors from The Corner had also appeared in ', which was adapted from Simon's book, '. Similarly, many actors who appeared in The Corner later appeared in Simon's next television series, The Wire, often playing contrasting characters, e.g., Clarke Peters, Maria Broom, Corey Parker Robinson, Reg E. Cathey, Clayton LeBouef, Donnell Rawlings, Tootsie Duvall, Robert F. Chew, Lance Reddick, Delaney Williams, and DeAndre McCullough. Additionally, Alexander and Peters later starred in Simon's television series Treme, and DeAndre McCullough briefly worked for the show in set construction and on the security crew.

Reception

A review by Hugh K. David of DVD Times praised The Corner as "raw, gritty, uncompromising, realistic, smartly directed, supremely well-acted, compulsively watchable, but harrowing and with little light at the end of the tunnel", comparing it to the television equivalent of such films as Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream, with elements in common with both La Haine and City of God.

Awards

The miniseries received three Emmy awards at the 52nd Primetime Emmy Awards. It won for Outstanding Miniseries; Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Movie ; and was nominated for Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special. It also won a Peabody Award in 2000.

Episodes

Each episode starts and ends with a documentary style interview, wherein a lead character answers questions posed by the director, Charles S. Dutton.

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