'The Wire,' 'Treme' Creator David Simon Wins MacArthur Genius Award

HBO’s “The Wire” may never have picked up big ratings, but it was a huge critical sucess, and now it just helped its creator David Simon pick up 500,000 bucks. Simon was awarded a MacArthur genius grant today–a no-strings-attached, half-million dollar award, doled out over five years.

Not bad.

“The great value of this award is that it will make it easier for all of us to argue for stories that might not otherwise be perceived as popular television,” Simon told the Baltimore