The Corner (Season 1)

"The Corner" (2000) is an HBO docudrama miniseries you can watch online on iFILM — written by David Simon and Ed Burns, adapted from their own 1997 non-fiction book about Fayette Street in West Baltimore, six years before "The Wire."

Six episodes, real names, real addresses. The story follows Gary McCullough, a former engineer who lost everything to heroin; his estranged wife Fran Boyd, trying to stay clean; and their teenage son DeAndre, already out on the corner selling. Clark Peters and Glenn Plummer anchor the cast without any of the usual TV-drama scaffolding — no score cues telling you how to feel, no redemption arc running on a schedule.

Anyone who finished "The Wire" and wanted to know where that world came from will find "The Corner" answers the question more directly than any making-of documentary. Stream it online on iFILM.