A job in any sci-fi movie or tv series is a job for life. <\/p>\n

Actors get constantly recycled within the genre. Think of the self-effacing officer from the original Star Trek turning up as the sinister Bester in Babylon 5. Officer Sun and the captain from Starscape becoming SG1 crew members. Quark from Deep Space Nine in Buffy. The Doctor from Voyager in almost everything. Even the Quantum Leap man became the captain of Enterprise (did I mention it doesn’t have to be good sci-fi?) And so on. <\/p>\n

The same applies to tv cop shows. (There is a certain amount of cop\/sci-fi crossover but I guess that probably just constitutes an acting career rather than a pattern. E.g. The blonde woman out of last year’s series with the fishy aliens is in more cop & medical shows than she was in fish episodes.)<\/p>\n

I am now going to make a mockery of my pure and true love of the Wire by sharing my personal TV trivia game. <\/p>\n

(Don’t judge me too harshly, here. I’m just following HBO’s lead. They offer downloads of “Naimond’s” choice of classic hip-hop, or such.) <\/p>\n

The original game consisted of trying to spot the entire cast of the Wire in old LawnOrder episodes. Anything from the LawnOrder stable counted (classic Law and Order, Special Victims or Criminal Intent. Or even the new spinoff, with lawyers, that’s set slightly outside the format, that I haven’t really got into. In fact even old episodes of Homicide might count, if I am feeling pushed for successes. <\/p>\n

So far, I can only really claim Avon Barksdale, Omar and the female cop for definite, because I only recently realised the gameplay was up to a really extended scoring system. Bit I think I’ve seen Stringer Bell in one. And I’m sure I started squealing with joy because Marlow was spotted in an episode.<\/p>\n

Then I thought, even with the most intense TV watching, it wouldn’t be possible to match the whole cast to Law and Order spinoffs or precursors.<\/p>\n

So the new challenge is to match every speaking part actor in the Wire to EITHER a Law and Order character – 1 point each episode – OR the most comically different role in any visual medium – 5 points, but it’s got to be REALLY funny.<\/p>\n

This lets me score points for McNulty in the 500 and Bodie in the Cosby Show. Omar scores 10 in anything, for being so extreme. Naimond’s mom would score 10 as well, but I’ve never seen her in anything else.<\/p>\n

My ambition is to find the whole Barksdale crew. Contributions welcome. All the same, it only counts if I actually see it. Shortcuts like searching IMDB cost 10 conceptual penalty points for nerdiness above and beyond the call of duty.<\/p>\n

My alternative ongoing games include:<\/p>\n

\n
• “spot the musicians turned actors” by music genre –\n\t<\/li>\n
• e.g. Method Man and IceT – LawnOrder and the Wire –<\/li>\n
• Spandau Ballet – now TV\/movie villains in a crasser version of the “Ray Winstone loveable
  \nCockney villian” archetypes <\/li>\n
• Phil Collins, ditto,<\/li>\n
• One of the bros out of Bros.. ditto..<\/li>\n
• I just refuse to count Will Smith and Kylie as I think they took the reverse direction. And in any case, people only count if they are either respected and\/or unspeakably naff in either genre.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

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      A job in any sci-fi movie or tv series is a job for life. Actors get constantly recycled within the genre. Think of the self-effacing officer from the original Star Trek turning up as the sinister Bester in Babylon 5. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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