The Wire is coming ....... back to HBO, but still under the radar.

So now that we're getting back into TV season -- with no end to writers strike in sight -- there is a show that has gone largely unnoticed on HBO called The Wire. It is better than anything else I have seen on TV in the last 10-15 years, including The Sopranos. It has really slipped under the radar. To describe this show is actually really hard; it's a cop show, but it is SO MUCH MORE. One of the head writers, David Simon, has been a driving force of the creative team behind the series, which includes many of the same folks from the excellent series Homicide on NBC in the 90s, which was based on Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. The writing, characters, story lines, plot development, acting, directing, production value, editing, is all outstanding. It has really great depth, and you cannot not watch it passively; you have pay attention. You have to have some willingness to get involved in it. Each season has also explored different topics as a background and subtext to the plot lines and characters. Last season it was the failure of public education, in Baltimore specifically, but also in the much broader context of the failure of public education in general. The season before that explored drug reform in an urban environment, approached from a variety of perspectives.
Really great stuff.
Starts Jan. 6th.
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