Another shot at The Wire The Wire isn't a "cop" show. The show has about 40 main characters, some of whom are cops. We spend equal amounts of time with *very* lower-class people; some are drug dealers, some are desperately trying to make it on little-to-no income, some are homeless, some are children living without parents. We see life in impoverished Baltimore equally as often, if not more often, than we see the inside of a police station. I would definitely count it as firmly in a lower-class setting.