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Nostalgic
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Curious
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Weird
Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: September 6, 1972
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: There was a time before Idris Elba was winning SAG Awards or showing up on Sexiest Man Alive lists or getting campaigned to be the next James Bond. There was a time when Idris Elba was just one cast member on a pay-cable series that wasn’t getting nearly the viewership that it deserved. The Wire didn’t end up becoming the phenomenon that it became — the thinking-man’s cable drama of choice; a marker of high-end discerning and more importantly important TV taste — until it hit its third season. By then, Idris Elba and his character Stringer Bell were gone. Ironically, it was Stringer’s death at the end of season 3 that seemed to provide The Wire with the jolt in attention necessary to jump start the show’s Best Show You’re Not Watching reputation. We didn’t know what we had in Idris Elba until Stringer was gone.
Ever since, Elba has made an incredibly interesting career for himself, and even as he started making movies, he’s kept to TV to keep his profile high. Even when it doesn’t work out as well as we’d all have liked —like, for example, Elba’s short stint on The Office.
Even by that point, Idris Elba had quickly gone from “guy who played that character everybody liked on The Wire” to “shorthand for incredibly sexy male actor.” And while he hasn’t been cast as James Bond yet, he almost doesn’t have to be. Start a brand new action franchise with Elba as the center. If he can hold up Luther, year after year, after all, he should be more than capable of owning his own movie franchise.
So happy birthday, Idris Elba. We hope you’re spending it doing literally whatever you want, just like all the other days.
