The Wire: parents' guide

Frequent shootings and executions, including teens killed by peers and a child who kills a major character. Bodies are hidden in vacant houses, a girl slashes a classmate with a box cutter, a schoolgirl accuses classmates of rape, and a boy's molestation is implied.

Constant f-words and other profanity in nearly every scene, plus frequent use of the n-word and other racial and homophobic slurs. Common Sense considers much of the swearing excessive.

Strong sexual content: strip club scenes with nudity, sex scenes, prostitution and a season 2 story about trafficked women. Explicit sexual talk is frequent, and in season 4 boys have sex with a classmate at school while another stands guard.

Drugs are the core subject. Heroin and cocaine use is shown regularly, a key character lives with heroin addiction and later goes through recovery, a teen dies from poisoned heroin, and both adults and minors drink and smoke.

Bleak and disturbing: a young man's tortured body left on display, 13 women found dead in a shipping container, bodies sealed in vacant homes, a homeless teen's death, an addict's suicide attempt by hanging, and a teen's foster home firebombed.