Lena Waithe’s The Chi is being compared to The Wire, but it has more in common with Shameless

Vulture

The Showtime series also has a lot in common with The Wire creator David Simon's acclaimed HBO series Treme, says Matt Zoller Seitz. “Like Shameless and Treme, The Chi is “mainly concerned with the lives of working class and poor people struggling to survive day-to-day, rather than the system they’re struggling within,” says Seitz. “It’s a rare drama that bothers to remind us that even when somebody in your family dies unexpectedly, you still have to work, pay rent, and drive mom around. Yet somehow, for all the occasional horror and persistent indignity, life goes on here, every day, every minute, and The Chi appreciates that as well, often pausing to take in the beauty of an intricately painted mural on the wall of a bodega, or the way the orange sunset light glints off the side of an elevated train rounding a curve.”

ALSO:

• The Chi arrives more than a decade after The Wire, “and the contours of its ambition and scope are recognizable”
• The Chi quickly carves its own niche with a concept that defies simple description
• It looks like a work in progress that shows some potential, yet also some predictable storytelling
• The Chi offers a remarkably raw portrayal of its characters’ strengths and flaws
• It needs time to grow: You end up wanting to appreciate it more than you actually appreciate it
• Waithe: “This is about showing us as people. Not perfect people. But as human beings”
• “My mission is to show these young black men are not born with a gun in their hand,” says Waithe
• Waithe invites Chicagoans to critique her show: “You get first dibs”