9 Easter Eggs Hidden In TV Shows That Went Over Your Head

5. The Wire Doesn't Do FakePhone Numbers

Unless you obsessively call every single real phone number presented to you in television shows, it's unlikely you were ever going to notice this fan-service easter egg hidden in a Season 3 episode of The Wire, titled "Back Burners."

See, way back in 2004, people actually used to "call"people. And they would take to them over the phone using their "voices." I know, I know, it's weird. But it was a different era.

Anyhow, because film and TV producers didn't want to provide a real person'sactualphone number, they would normally use a fake number that starts with "555." But The Wire wasnothing if not dedicated to creating a sense of realism, and the writers of the show knew that using the ol' 555 trick would immediately take viewers out of the scene. Soin a scene where Marlo Stanfield gives out his personal number, they used a real Baltimore-area line.

However, in order to make sure fans of the show didn't keep calling the phone number and bugging a real, live person, an employee at the Baltimore-Washington Telephone Company (who happened to be a big fan of The Wire, as is...everyone?)redirected callers to the then-inactive numberto a recording of Marlo speechifying about the importance of his name: