The death of you know who hit me much harder than i expected

When's the viewing party?

I went on The Wire's page on HBO.com and months before they were re-running Season 3 they had the recap for the episode after that character died and I was just floored. That character was one of the best in an insanely great cast. I'd have preferred to have seen the other man get it, but he appears to be gone, too.

How the f does this not fall under Season 4 Spoiler? C'mon, dude.

Read this if you haven't yet.

it's not a spoiler...it's in the final episode of season 3 and he's gone doesn't mean that he's dead.

it's not a spoiler...it's in the final episode of season 3 and he's gone doesn't mean that he's dead.

You talking about Omar? The preview show they ran last weekend had a significant amount of Omar footage and interviews in it. Doesn't look like he is gone.

Readers kept telling me to watch this show. They implored me. They kept e-mailing me. They badgered me. I didn't listen. As I've described multiple times in this space, I hate being told that I should watch a show; I like discovering them at my own speed. And if it made me three or four years late for the party with classics like "The Sopranos" and "24," so be it. It's just that I can't willingly jump onto a show; it needs to happen organically.

For instance, here's what happened with "The Wire:" On a Tuesday night in mid-August, the Sports Gal and I were home with nothing to watch and ending up stumbling onto "The Wire Re-Up" button on HBO On Demand. I'd been avoiding this show for four years because the Baltimore drug scene didn't appeal to me unless Raffie Palmeiro and Miggy Tejada were involved. But the Sports Gal was the one who said, "Let's watch the first show of 'The Wire' and see if we like it."

Within 10 minutes, we were hooked. We ended up banging out three episodes the first night and another three the second night. Then our cable system switched to a new provider ... and all the Season 1 episodes disappeared into thin air. Now we were scrambling. None of the video stores around us had Season 1 in stock. I ended up ordering Season 1 online (two-day delivery courtesy of Amazon Prime), but we were so hooked on the show that when someone returned Season 1 to our video store, we rented the last three discs that same night. We banged out the last seven episodes in two nights before the DVD was even delivered. That's how hooked we were.

I'll go this far: I'd put Season 1 of "The Wire" against anything. The first three seasons of "The Sopranos." Seasons 1 or 2 of "24." The first seasons of "NYPD Blue," "ER" or "Miami Vice." You name it. I have never seen a show like it. Season 2 wasn't as good (if Season 1 was an A-plus-plus-plus, then Season 2 was a B-plus), and we're just about to dive into Season 3, so I don't have an opinion on that yet. Everyone seems to agree that they outdid themselves with Season 4 and that it's a legitimate masterpiece. Just know that you can absolutely start watching Season 4 without having seen the other three seasons. It's not an ideal way to break into the show, but you can do it.

Without giving too much away, four more things you need to know:

A. Before I started watching "The Wire," my four favorite TV/movie detectives of all-time were Sonny Crockett ("Miami Vice"); Jack Cates ("48 Hrs."); Johnny Kelly ("NYPD Blue"); and Nick Curran (Michael Douglas' character in "Basic Instinct"), who couldn't break away from Sharon Stone even though he knew that every time she climbed on top during sex, there was a 50 percent chance she might ram an ice pick into his chest. But Jimmy McNulty in "The Wire" (played by Dominic West) ... he might end up beating them all before everything's said and done. He might have even moved to No. 1 during the scene in Season 2 when they raid a brothel and he ends up in a threesome before the rest of the cops arrive. Not even Sonny Crockett would have done that.

B. I love any show with a slew of mostly no-name actors that bang their roles out of the park, although it was weird to see one of the leads from "Remember the Titans" playing drug lord Avon Barksdale. With that said, Alonzo Mourning gives an inspired performance as Stringer Bell (Avon's manipulative consigliere). Maybe the best athlete/Hollywood crossover since Kareem in "Airplane."

(Wait, that's not Alonzo Mourning? Are we positive?)

C. In an attempt to be gritty, they didn't cast any of those Angie Harmon/Jill Hennessey types who always seem unrealistically cute for a drug/crime show set in a place like Baltimore. And since the actresses on the show are average-looking down the line, guess what happens? It's like the Lambeau parking lot, any press box or any NESCAC keg party ... the females who do appear on this show end up seeming disproportionately hot by about the fifth episode. Absolutely bizarre. I love when this happens.

D. Omar might be my favorite HBO villain since Adebici. And that's saying something.

Anyway, I can't believe I didn't watch this show sooner. It enrages me. I'm not doing the "YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS SHOW OR YOUR WHOLE LIFE WILL BE INCOMPLETE!" routine, because that might scare you away. Just know that it's one of the five greatest shows I've ever seen. And I hope you stumble across it some day.

Organically, of course.

Season 2 was discouraging for me at first (and I HATED that Sobatka son with a passion), but halfway through it really developed some ridiculous steam.

Season 3 is awesome though. and Season 4? Fucking hell is it awesome already. I mean, jesus. I've got five weeks now to wait for the fifth show. I watched the first four episodes in 2 episode blocks. You guys are gonna love the 1st episode of season 4. Especially the first scene.

And the show is proving more and more that McNulty is not in any way important to have around. In fact, the show's better the less he's in it, surprisingly. I like not having the white guy be the big hero so far (that's not a spoiler in any way, folks).

Yeah, but McNulty's enjoyable in the wry anti-hero kinda way. He's never been a paragon of virtue.

(and we were supposed to hate Sobotka junior, weren't we? Although, when i saw him in Inside Man I still wanted to strangle him.)

Season 2 is definitely above Season 1 for me, if anything season 3 was definitely the least focused, and the whole hamsterdam thing was a little beyond believability and the buildup to the gang battle that never happens was the ultimate build w/ artificial release. The intense scenes between the Sobatkas in the last episodes of season 2 are absolutely crushing in a way season 3 never quite makes it.

Help! I've been watching S2 on demand for the past week. Just finished watching the penultimate episode, got into bed and looked for the last episode--and S2 is completely gone. Somebody please tell me what happened in the last episode. Thanks!

and I already hate Carcetti

watched episode 1 last night. is that kid with the nail gun a chick?

I liked carcetti in season 3. I mean, don't like the character on a personal level but as a role, i think he's well developed.

i'm watching the second episode of the season right now

ondemand is so wonderful

I'm baffled by why everyone seems to hate Carcetti.

I just read that HBO has succumbed to critical pressure and is going to produce a 5th season.

(I didn't check the thread to see if someone hit this off already since I don't want to read season 4 spoilers, so I apologize if this is a redundant post.)

I just read that HBO has succumbed to critical pressure and is going to produce a 5th season.

(I didn't check the thread to see if someone hit this off already since I don't want to read season 4 spoilers, so I apologize if this is a redundant post.)

09.13.2006 | HBO Renews The Wire, Acclaimed Drama Series From David Simon, For Its Fifth Season
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 13, 2006 - The critically acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning HBO drama series THE WIRE has been renewed for a fifth season, it was announced today by Carolyn Strauss, president, HBO Entertainment. Created and executive produced by David Simon, the show just kicked off its 13-episode fourth season last Sunday, Sept. 10, and debuts new episodes Sunday nights (10:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT).

"We are delighted - though not surprised - at the initial critical response to the new season of THE WIRE," said Strauss. "David Simon and his remarkable team have created a riveting and thought-provoking series that's unlike anything else on TV."

Having depicted an American city over the course of 50 episodes, THE WIRE will use its fifth and concluding season to examine the role of the mass media within that city.

The new fourth season has already prompted resounding critical praise. The New York Times said the show "is the closest that moving pictures have come so far to the depth and nuance of the novel." Daily Variety observed, "When television history is written, little else will rival THE WIRE," hailing the show for its "extraordinary depth and ambition." Entertainment Weekly called the series "a staggering achievement," while the Washington Post described it as "electrifying and disturbing...a gripping saga," and the New York Post termed it "the single finest piece of work ever produced for American TV."

Season four of THE WIRE centers on the lives of four young boys as they traverse adolescence in the drug-saturated streets of West Baltimore. The new episodes of the series examine their world through the theme of education, asking viewers to consider the world that awaits these boys, and to consider further the American commitment to equal opportunity.

The third season of THE WIRE ended its run in December 2004. The first season looked at the dysfunction inherent in the national drug war through the microcosm of a West Baltimore housing project, while the second season addressed the decline of the working class by focusing on a longshoremen's union and its struggle to survive. In its third season, the drama further developed its portrait of a fictional Baltimore by exploring the role of the political leadership in addressing a city's problems or reforming its institutions.

Says Simon, a former newspaperman and the author of two books of narrative nonfiction, "The last question we want to ask is this: For four seasons, we have depicted that part of urban America that has been left behind by the economy and by the greater society, and chronicled entrenched problems that have gone without solution for generations now. Why? What is it that we see and sense about these problems? To what are we giving attention, and what is it that we consistently ignore? How do we actually see ourselves?"

THE WIRE was created by David Simon. Fourth season credits: executive producers, David Simon and Nina Kostroff Noble; co-executive producer, Joe Chappelle; producers