Yes, I remember reading this point brought up quite a lot when I first watched the show–Stringer is a big fish in a small pond, then goes from being that to being a guppy in the ocean. I thought it was a nice touch to have him reading old books about capitalism and taking classes and trying to quote Adam Smith to a bunch of street guys, and found it even funnier that NONE of them care, or are impressed, with what he’s learning in his “classes.” Then after he’s dead, McNulty finds some of his books and asks “who did we kill?” because he’s still impressed with Stringer Bell.

I agree that the show’s reputation as perfect realism is a little overblown (a lot of fans of the show, however reluctant they are to do so, have admitted that cops not knowing about Hamsterdam, or McNulty trying to pull that serial-killer fakeout in season 5, are not very realistic) but people coming to the show not knowing what it is and being put off by it may have a lot to do with people binging something far more fictional and entertaining like oh, say, Breaking Bad, then thinking “wow, this whole TV thing is actually pretty amazing!” then looking for other classic shows to binge, and what’s at the top of every greatest-TV-shows list…yup, The Wire. And then they find it boring. (I binged it after Breaking Bad myself, but your mileage may vary)

I rewatched 12 Years A Slave recently and somehow managed to recognize neither Michael K Williams (RIP!) or Sarah Paulson.