HBO’s gritty series about the nexus of Baltimore drug dealers, local politics and the police force, the schools and the news media, "The Wire," is to become the subject of a course at Harvard, the New York Post reports, citing Harvard’s student paper, The Crimson.

Sociology professor William J. Wilson is developing the course. At a panel discussion at the school featuring some of the show’s stars, he said the five-season program "has done more to enhance our understanding of the challenges of urban life and the problems of urban inequality, more than any other media event or scholarly publication.”

Other colleges have previously offered courses based on the program.

–Elizabeth Jensen