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The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood by David Simon and Ed Burns. It chronicles a year in the lives of the real McCullough family as they navigate heroin and cocaine addiction and the drug economy in West Baltimore. Themes include drug addiction, poverty, family tragedy, the cycle of poverty, and the impact of the drug war on a community. It is a true story done documentary style with the real people played by good actors. Some of those real (non-actor) people were given roles in Simon’s next TV series in 2002, the iconic The Wire, which The Corner was a precursor to.

Charles S Dutton directed all 6 episodes. Interestingly Dutton, who went on to many roles in TV, film and theater, grew up in Baltimore and did time when he was young for manslaughter. No doubt that he really understood the place, people and material.

The Corner won three Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Miniseries in 2020 and also for directing and writing.

I am so happy that I finally caught up with this. I loved it. I couldn’t find it anywhere; not on any streaming service including HBO Max which has all other David Simon series and where The Corner originated. I couldn’t find it on DVD either. Finally, of all places, I found all six full episodes on free You Tube. It was great.

Now the only David Simon shows that I haven’t seen yet are Generation Kill and Homicide:Life on the Street. He is one terrific writer, writing about complex important things with compassion and fairness.