Despite the fact that Tony already wrote about The Wire, I felt compelled to chime in, having finally reached the fourth season finale. The Wire continues to be one of the most effective and affecting “slice-of-life” dramas I think I’ve ever watched. While it may not be an easy series to get into, it’s even harder to get out of: prepare to care about these characters. The demise of one at the end of this past season was sudden, but in many ways not unexpected. And despite the fact that he wasn’t a character you’d necessarily call “likeable,” his death was no less tragic for that. Which, to my mind, is one of the marks of a great drama. One more season is planned (the theme will be the media), and when I think of how impossible it is to wrap up all the plotlines and characters, I also realize that it’s simply not that kind of story. Series creator David Simon commented that he liked working with HBO better than NBC (with whom he worked on Homicide), because NBC was always asking him for more “life-affirming moments.” To which he pointed out that the show was called “Homicide.” With The Wire, HBO seems to have demanded no such thing, which is not just a good thing for this series—it’s a great thing.

[While looking around, I found this interview on Slate with David Simon. It's a fascinating read for anyone who's watched the show (be aware there are some spoilers unless you're fully caught up to the end of season 4). Even more so, it confirms a lot of the thoughts I had about the show, and displays a remarkable amount of top-down thinking by the writers.]