"The Wire" Is Back

HBO recently decided to add "the wire" to its list of shows being shown OnDemand as a way to lead up to its final season, season 5.

anyone who knows me in the slightest should be aware to the degree of admiration i hold for "the wire". i don't just think its the best show on TV, i think it is the best show on TV ever. no other show has even come close. "the sopranos" wishes it could be the wire.

"the wire also seems to have a strange effect on people. i recently read a comment on a blog that said:

The Wire is paradigmatic of a critical darling – few people watch it (at least in the numbers typical of commercial television), but it generates adoration and evangelism by nearly all who do. Television critics have taken it upon themselves to lobby their readers to give the show a chance, asking reluctant viewers to overlook its dark and cynical worldview to see the truth and beauty offered by its searing vision into the bleak heart of the American city. Thankfully for us scattered fans, HBO has allowed the show to continue for five seasons, even without a clear sense that the show’s dedicated fandom leads to overt profitability.

this statement couldn't be more true about "the wire". hardly anyone watches it, yet all who do come in contact with it are deeply effected to the point where we feel the need to evangelize about it to everyone we know. even bill simmons got into the act. he said:

Within 10 minutes, we were hooked. We ended up banging out three episodes the first night and another three the second night. Then our cable system switched to a new provider ... and all the Season 1 episodes disappeared into thin air. Now we were scrambling. None of the video stores around us had Season 1 in stock. I ended up ordering Season 1 online (two-day delivery courtesy of Amazon Prime), but we were so hooked on the show that when someone returned Season 1 to our video store, we rented the last three discs that same night. We banged out the last seven episodes in two nights before the DVD was even delivered. That's how hooked we were.

thats how i was when i discovered "the wire". i couldn't stop watching. and now that it is back OnDemand, i have started watching again, but this time in preparation for season 5. i want to watch it all again.

i watched season 1, episodes 1 & 2 again this week. from the moment we meet mcnulty in the opening scene talking about why boogie-snot was killed you are instantly drawn into the complex world of the bal'more city po-lice, the corner boys, and the game. it is attention to detail that makes "the wire" so spectacular. you notice things like each individual character's cadence and accent, the way they dress, how they act, what their job/role in society is, their moral shortcomings, and their strengths. you meet some truly interesting folk along the way, each character, no matter how small or large of a role they play is infinately complex. names like mcnulty, rawls, bubbles, avon, stringer, omar, kima, bodie, poot, wee-bay, daniels, and herc start to sound like family names. you don't even meet some of the main characters until halfway through sometimes. marlo doesn't come around until season 3. same for bunny colvin and carcetti. omar hasn't shown up yet through 2 episodes of season 1.

there is simply no way to describe the wire, its something you not only have to see, but to experience for yourself. fortunately, HBO is making this all possible. now through the end of the year you can catch up on seasons 1-4 before season 5 debuts. season 1 is showing now through the end of october. take a watch and tell me if you aren't hooked.