TV Picks 10/29/08

As someone who enjoys his share of that nasty T-word (television) I want good things (ratings, critical acclaim, success for all involved in their future projects) to happen to the show. Sure, things like global hunger, the loss of the wetlands, or mercury accumulation in fish may matter more in terms of real importance and long-term quality of life of this planet. Honestly, I worry about those things too. Believe you me, I loose sleep over the second-by-second fleeting nature of the southern Louisiana wetlands. But I also like watching TV. Sue me.

And so, it is fitting that I start this, let's say, bi-weekly "column" of my picks with arguably one of the best shows in television history: The Wire.

Set in urban Baltimore, The Wire is an all-encompassing, engrossingly complex look at everything from politics in city hall to the politics ruling the streets, from learning in the public schools to learning in the drug filled, crime-ridden projects. We travel five seasons through the drug game, the cash-strapped and desperate ports, politics, the public education system, and the media, who see some, report even less, and spin the whole thing in the search for a Pulitzer. All throughout, though, the drugs and the streets are front and center.

You may have heard The Wire mentioned as a show to watch. You may have given it a shot, only to leave frustrated that the dialogue wasn't easier to decode or even that the plot movement was just too slow. Go back. Give it another look. This show contains some of the greatest writing, put to screen by really fantastic actors, actors that, unfortunately, won't have material this good to work with for the rest of their careers. Because they really are quite good. And a lot of actors in The Wire are not that at all: just locals picked out from amongst the streets, the "real" streets, put on camera and given lines to say. Yet another wonderfully unique quality to the show.


Whether Bodie (pictured with McNaulty), Omar, Bubbles, or Daniels, the characters make this show. You find yourself sympathizing and worrying for the safety of drug dealers. Murderers. Crooked union bosses. Thieves. But you care. You ache. You want them to stay alive and out of jail just so they'll continue in their society-corrupting ways and remain on the show.

I've been re-watching all five seasons for a little while now and it's just as good as the first time. Looking for something to do for an hour or so every few days? Watch The Wire. Download torrents of the show for free on many different torrent sites (really really easy to do and FREE) or you could rent/buy it from a store. Your call. Not quite convinced? Watch this scene, the WHOLE scene please, and tell me this isn't the best, smartest show in history: