''The Corner'' is a 2000 HBO

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

television miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. " Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

based on the nonfiction book '' The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood'' (1997) by

David Simon David Judah Simon (born February 9, 1960) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on '' The Wire'' (2002–08). He worked for '' The Baltimore Sun'' City Desk for twelve years (1982–95), wrote '' H ...

and

Ed Burns Edward P. Burns (born January 29, 1946) is an American screenwriter, novelist, and producer. He has worked closely with writing partner David Simon. For HBO, they have collaborated on ''The Corner,'' ''The Wire,'' ''Generation Kill'', ''The P ...

, and adapted for television by David 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 The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series represents excellence in the category of limited series that are two or more episodes, with a total running time of at least 150 minutes. Criteria The program must tell a comp ...

in 2000. ''The Corner'' chronicles the life of a family living in poverty amid the open-air drug markets of

West Baltimore West Baltimore station is a regional rail station located in the western part of the City of Baltimore, Maryland along the Northeast Corridor. It is served by MARC Penn Line trains. The station is positioned on an elevated grade above and betwe ...

. "The corner" is the junction of West Fayette Street and North Monroe Street (

U.S. Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making ...

) ().

Cast and characters

T. K. Carter Thomas Kent Carter (born December 18, 1956) is an American actor. In films, he is mostly known for his many comedic performances, such as the street-smart Chester in ''Seems Like Old Times (film), Seems Like Old Times'' and the karaoke-singing ...

as Gary McCullough, a drug addict; DeAndre's father, and Fran's ex-husband. He dropped out of college when Fran became pregnant and became addicted to drugs after their marriage ended. *

Khandi Alexander Harriet Rene "Khandi" Alexander (born September 4, 1957) is an American dancer, choreographer, and actress. She began her career as a dancer in the 1980s and was a choreographer for Whitney Houston's world tours from 1988 to 1992. During the 199 ...

as Francine "Fran" Boyd, a drug addict; DeAndre McCullough and DeRodd Hearns' mother, and Gary's ex-wife. She lives in the "Dew Drop Inn" with her sisters, Bunchie and Sharry, brother Stevie, and his son. *

Sean Nelson Sean Nelson (born June 12, 1973) is an American musician and journalist. He was the lead singer of the alternative rock group Harvey Danger and is the arts editor for '' The Stranger'' newspaper in Seattle, Washington. Music career Nelson i ...

as DeAndre "Black" McCullough, a 15-year-old drug dealer; Gary McCullough and Francine "Fran" Boyd's son. *

Clarke Peters Peter Clarke (born April 7, 1952), known professionally as Clarke Peters, is an American-British actor, writer, and director. He is best known for his roles as Lester Freamon in the television series ''The Wire'' (2002–2008) and Albert Lambrea ...

as Fat Curt *

Glenn Plummer Glenn E. Plummer (born August 18, 1961) is an American film and television actor best known as Timmy Rawlins in '' ER'' (1994-2007), and Vic Trammel in ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008-2009). Biography Plummer was born in Richmond, California. Career ...

as George "Blue" Epps * Toy Connor as Tyreeka Freamon * Maria Broom as Bunchie Boyd * Sylvester Lee Kirk as DeRodd, DeAndre's younger brother * Corey Parker Robinson as R.C. * Reg E. Cathey as Scalio * Rodney Scott as Little DeAndre Many actors from ''The Corner'' had also appeared in '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' (1993–1999), which was adapted from Simon's book, '' Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets'' (1991). Similarly, many actors who appeared in ''The Corner'' later appeared in Simon's next television series, ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

'' (2002–2008), often playing contrasting characters, e.g., Clarke Peters, Maria Broom, Corey Parker Robinson, Reg E. Cathey,

Clayton LeBouef Clayton LeBouef (born November 12, 1954) is an American actor, best known for his recurring role as Colonel George Barnfather in '' Homicide: Life on the Street''. He appeared in several episodes during each of the show's seven seasons on the a ...

Donnell Rawlings Donnell M. Rawlings (born December 6, 1968) is an American comedian, actor, and radio host. He is best known as a cast member on the Comedy Central sketch comedy TV series ''Chappelle's Show'' and the HBO drama ''The Wire''. Early life Donnell ...

, Tootsie Duvall, Robert F. Chew,

Lance Reddick Lance Reddick (born December 31, 1962) is an American actor and musician. He is best known for playing Cedric Daniels in ''The Wire'' (2002–2008), Phillip Broyles in ''Fringe'' (2008–2013), and Chief Irvin Irving in '' Bosch'' (2014–2020) ...

Delaney Williams Delaney Williams (born December 12, 1962) is an American character actor from Washington, D.C. He appeared on the HBO drama ''The Wire'' (2002–2008) as a recurring guest star playing homicide sergeant Jay Landsman. He also had a small role o ...

, and DeAndre McCullough (as an assistant to

Brother Mouzone Brother Mouzone is a fictional character on the HBO drama ''The Wire'', played by actor Michael Potts. Character history Brother Mouzone (from Arabic موزون ''mawzūn'', meaning "balanced,” "weighted") is a drug enforcer and hitman from ...

). Additionally, Alexander and Peters later starred in Simon's television series '' Treme'' (2010–2013), and DeAndre McCullough (who also played a bit role in ''The Corner'', as a policeman who arrested 15-year-old DeAndre) briefly worked for the show in set construction and on the security crew.

Episodes

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

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 10/10, based on 14 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Powerfully performed and authentically written, ''The Corner'' is an unwavering depiction of life under the thumb of addiction and poverty."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 90 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". 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 ''Last Exit to Brooklyn'' is a 1964 novel by American author Hubert Selby Jr. The novel takes a harsh, uncompromising look at lower class Brooklyn in the 1950s written in a brusque, everyman style of prose. Critics and fellow writers praised ...

'' (1989) and ''

Requiem for a Dream ''Requiem for a Dream'' is a 2000 American psychological drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher McDonald and Marlon Wayans. It is based on the 1978 novel of the same na ...

'' (2000; also adapted from novels), with elements in common with both ''

La Haine ''La Haine'' (, ; released in the United States as ''Hate'') is a 1995 French crime drama film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmaoui, the film chronicles a day and nig ...

'' (1995) and '' City of God'' (2002).

Awards

The miniseries received three Emmy awards at the

52nd Primetime Emmy Awards The 52nd Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 10, 2000. The ceremony was hosted by Garry Shandling and was broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Two networks, Bravo (U.S. TV network), Bravo and The WB, received their fi ...

. It won for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries; Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special ( Charles S. Dutton) and Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Movie (

and David Mills); and was nominated for Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special. It also won a Peabody Award in 2000.

Related media

* "Fifteen years after David Simon and Ed Burns spent a year chronicling an inner city neighborhood in Baltimore in the book and HBO miniseries "The Corner," ''Need to Know'' returns to see how life has changed for one of the main characters they profiled." * "Scott Simon returns to the inner city community in Baltimore that he first visited last fall to see if recent improvements in the economy are improving the lot of chronically under-employed and unemployed young African-American men there."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Corner 2000 American television series debuts 2000 American television series endings 2000s American television miniseries HBO original programming Television shows based on books Television shows set in Baltimore Television series based on actual events U.S. Route 1 Television episodes written by David Simon Peabody Award-winning television programs Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Miniseries winners Primetime Emmy Award-winning television series Films directed by Charles S. Dutton