The Wire: The Complete First Season

All of this makes The Wire well worth watching--again and again. In my personal opinion, I rank it a notch below HBO's two best series, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, because it is sometimes confusing and hard to follow. But The Wire is far more interesting and worthwhile viewing than just about anything you'll find on network television. I can't wait for the second season to come out on DVD, too.

I was never a regular television viewer. I always preferred the VHS and later the DVD over watching a television program. Seemed like such devotion to be there every week. But what was sparked by an interesting premise, 24 hours in the life of the counter terrorist agent, and each episode in real time, lured me in. I fell for 24, than I fell for the Shield when it premiered later a few months after 24 did. I am still thankful I saw "The Shield" advertisement on the corner of 39th and 9th Avenue.

I always saw posters for The Wire on the Path Train. Had no idea what it was all about. I was chalking it up to another spy type show that ABC would produce perhaps. I heard all the critical acclaim, still didn't bite. Than I saw that HBO On Demand was showing episodes 1 through 5. So I tuned in. Watched all 5 episodes in one day. Went back and put them on a blank tape. I'm glad I didnt have to long for HBO to put a new batch of episodes On Demand. They showed 6-10 next. And that's when it got so damn hard. Episode 10 ends in such a cliffhanger and (for those who have the On Demand channels) the next set of episodes wasn't set to be available for 4 weeks or so.

And thus my life for the beginning of this year was all about when the next batch of episodes would cycle through On Demand. I thought about savoring them too, when the middle of season 2 was shown I thought of watching one a week..it could never happen though.

I could have reviewed the show and talk about the characters and the plot that just keeps going, two seasons now, with season three on the way. But it's the experience that should be the selling point. For those who have seen the show know what I mean. It almost hurts to have to wait a whole week to see "what happens next". For those who have never seen the show feel happy that you can now see all of Season 1, at once.

24, The Shield, The Sopranos, Deadwood, and of course The Wire. It's a pretty fair arguement, or rather I can arguement my point well. Does television get any better than this?