The Wire

I have decided to take more time out of my busy day to write to you all about my current, favorite television show.  It is called “The Wire” and it airs on HBO on Sunday at 9 ET.  For me this show stands on the same podium as The Sopranos.  Like The Sopranos, The Wire showed me a completely new world in Baltimore, more affectionately know as ‘Bawlmer’ on the show.  It shows you the inner workings of the drug trade and how things get handled in different institutions for example: the police department, the media, the government, the stevedore union, and the school system.  Each season deals with a different institution, this season’s being the media, and the characters all relate is some fashion.  David Simon and Ed Burns created the series after Simon worked as a police reporter at the Baltimore Sun and Burns was a cop and school teacher in Baltimore. 

I advise starting with season one because the show is so intricate and has so many reoccurring characters.  Some of them I thought would be gone for good, but continue to show up much to my like and dismay.  The shows are an hour long and there are usually about twelve episodes per season.  My favorite season so far has been season four, in which the show analyzes the school system in an interesting fashion.  It really puts my life into perspective when I watch the horrors of childhood in the ‘hood for these kids.  I am not going to divulge anymore about the show because I don’t want to give too much of it away, but seriously watch this show, even my mom likes it. 

Here are some other shows I have enjoyed:

-The Sopranos – really brilliant except for the sixth season I believe, David Chase tried to take the show somewhere it didn’t need to go, I’m not even sure where that is.

-Seinfeld – best comedy ever created, although there is one other show that can challenge if it has the same longevity of this Larry David creation.

-The Office – this is the funniest show I have seen since Seinfeld came off the air, can still challenge for the gold in my TV Olympiad.

- Entourage – This is a comical look at the movie industry, Jeremy Piven has one of the greatest characters ever created for television, the rest of the cast is nice, but he makes the show work.

- Law and Order – any variation works for me, but I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched an episode since Jerry Orbach died, it’s just not the same.

Still receiving votes:

Friday Night Lights – A really great show that was apparently all taped before the writer’s strike, so there are new episodes every Friday at 9 ET.  This shows constantly walks on the edge of reality because no West Texas town could go through so much drama, ever.  The family portrayals are what intrigues me and some of the characters have great chemistry.  There is a lot of tension in this show and that keeps me interested.  Girls, this show is only slightly about football.

Mad Men – Watched the first season on AMC and have mixed emotions.  It is an interesting look at the executive workplace in the post-WWII era and in the family life that surrounds it.

Weeds – I have seen the first two seasons and wish they would have made this a drama and not a comedy.  The story line is great, husband dies and wife takes up peddling pot to make the mortgage payment.  It sometimes takes these ridiculous turns that can be funny or stupid.