The Wire

The Wire deserves a post that adequately describes why its the best television show of all-time. I obviously haven't seen every show on television but the simple departure from the traditional and the wisdom of crowds makes me feel damn secure in that position. That being said, such a post is probably not in me.

Throughout the fall of 2006, I pretty much told any peer I could that they need to watch the show especially my social worker-teacher folks given the Season 4 focus. You want to see a realistic portrayal of the challenges faced at the different levels of the societal hierarchy and how competing public policies drive the cultural forces that influence and endanger the lives of black youth then you should have turned on HBO on Sunday nights or called up your HBOnDemand.

But damn...I just re-watched the Season 4 finale and I - even on the second watch - felt genuinely depressed. For better or worse, I generally keep a level of detachment from such fiction but any wall was completely destroyed. Seeing "the system" virtually not work in anyone's favor temporarily zapped my enthusiam to talk about or even refer the show. If you liked the show you'd end up in a funk like me.

But did I mention that this is the best television show in the history of television?

(P.S. I toyed with the accompanying image featuring Bodie but I couldn't bring myself to do it.)