Discussion

• llamajockey :

  Dave,

  You are right. The Wire is the best TV show ever. Since the supposed end of The Sopranos, The Wire has finally been getting the attention it has long deserved. And yes folks The Wire is vastly better than The Sopranos. Coming from somebody who is half Sicilian that says alot.

  Another key to the attention The Wire has been finally receiving is that it really is a must TIVO series. In fact I would say that it really is the first post-Television, TV series. The Wire really exploits the possiblities of the age of the internet, the DVD format and DVRs. It is almost impossible to fully enjoy the show trying to watch episodes here and there and always being interrupted. I finally learned to place a complete season on to a dvd myself and watch them with the subtitles on. That way I watch two or three episodes at a time while I have to monitor background jobs on the computer at home.

  I think lots of other regular HBO subscribers came to the same conclusion. That is why finally after 6 years since its debut the show is finding the audience it deserved from day one.

  The bleakest thing about "The Wire" is that it's ending after the current season. "Desperate Housewives," meanwhile, is set to go on until 2011. Now that's a depressing thought.

  I would hope that after the resolution of the writer's strike that Simon and his team of writers would be able to regroup for additional seasons. I have not yet watched any of this years episodes, but I have them on disk. The series is far from showing signs of growing tired. It has only gained strength from season to season with last year's being amazing. With a greater share of the revenues coming from DVD sales it might be worth their effort.
  Same goes for the ever growing ensemble of actors and multiple crews of directors and production staff. With new SAG and Director's Guild contracts patterned after the Writers granting a better share of digital media revenue, The Wire may find new life.
  
  I also understand that in the last couple of years The Wire has found a considerable growing following overseas, it is now a hit in England and Scandinavia.

  One last thing. After watching The Wire I can not possibly imagine how anybody can waste time on the dreadful CIS, Law and Order franchises or any other formulaic TV cop show. I will still watch reality crime shows on Court TV or the A & E series The First 48 Hours or the History Channel series Gangland. But I agree with Simon, The Wire really demonstrates how lame and pathetic TV Cop shows have been.

  Posted on March 5, 2008 9:12 AM

• robert beal :

  I spent my 30s in Baltimore and loved that town.

  I got there in the first summer of Reagan and felt my world shift, into a nightmare of defunding and burden shifting.

  On night, 1985ish, walking home through the ghetto south of Charles Village, I had a nine millimeter emptied next to my head. Turns out that the young man who came my way on the sidewalk had on the previous night lost his best friend, gunned down on the corner by police.

  While I did some community organizing and stopped some City Hall cronyism, I barely had a clue of the undercurrents in that city. I'm going to buy the boxed set and learn something.

  Posted on March 6, 2008 7:47 PM