Get in the van.
David Simon’s The Wire, an HBO series.
Five seasons of The Wire on DVD have been sitting on my shelf for many months. I put off watching the show because I knew exactly what would happen. See, there’s method acting and there’s method viewing. The former could be a career, but the latter eats up entire weeks of your life. (The exception: A friend of mine watched a whole season of the TV series 24 in 24 hours. He insisted that this was the only way to watch real-time series.)
You put on a disc with the intention of watching an episode or two, then resuming your regular workday routine. That’s not what happens. If the series is as good as its reputation, you will hear yourself saying, “Just one more episode, it’s only 55 minutes long.†Then you start reshuffling your schedule in your head: “That piece isn’t due till Thursday, I can do it tomorrow.†Soon you are reassessing your personal relationships: “Ah, they’ll forgive me for not showing up, I’ll make amends another time.†Suddenly the sun is rising, you’ve done none of your chores or assignments, and your eyes feel gummy. The day hasn’t even started and you’re already behind schedule.
Get in the van (20 hours of The Wire and counting) in Emotional Weather Report, today in the Star.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 24th, 2009 at 10:12
Sheeeeee-it! You’ve finally gotten around to The Wire! I like my TV dark–Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy, The Fringe…–so this show totally fit into my world view. Actually, the DVD set should come with a label: Warning. This show is so good it will suck you into a black hole and consume weeks of your life when you will care about nothing except the fate of a family of drug dealers and the cops who are trying to put them in jail. You know you’re in trouble when your allegiance shifts between/among the lowlifes and scumbags of the drug trade and the lowlifes and scumbags of the Poh-lice.
Like you, I ended up forgetting deadlines because of the show. In one of my marathon viewing sessions, I had my version of a lost weekend when I holed up in my apartment Friday afternoon and came out for air, bleary-eyed and woolly-mouthed like I came from a drinking binge, early Monday morning–in time to take a shower and rush to the office! It was surreal.
And I’m still sore that this show never won an Emmy in its entire five-season run even when it had great acting, brilliant writing, and fantastic directing. The whole series was gut-wrenching–and riveting. This is television at its finest. One of the best scenes in the whole series had Bunk and McNulty solving a murder with no dialogue at all except for variations of the word “fuck” between them. If that isn’t great TV, I don’t know what is. I could recount a lot of moments like this, but won’t because I don’t want to spoil you or your readers. They should discover this show for themselves.
I just wish it got recognized by its peers. Then again, it’s gaining cult status, so I guess win some-lose some, right?
You know who are members of the unofficial The Wire fan club? the folks over at guardian.co.uk! The Brits are rabid fans–just goes to show they have better taste than the Americans.
I shouldn’t say Happy Watching, but it’s such a fantastic show (is it obvious yet that I’m a fan??) that I wish you a clear schedule for a month so you could watch this without interruption. Give my regards to the Poh-lice (McNulty, Kima, Bunk, Freamon, Daniels)…and the lowlifes (Omar, Stringer Bell, Avon, Prop Joe, Marlo, Snoop & Chris–these two are scary muhfuckers!). I’ll re-watch the series again soon–when I’ve recovered.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:57
hahaha! that’s so true…
July 24th, 2009 at 15:10
…i have the same feeling whenever i watch LOTR. I know it’s not a TV series but then again, each installment runs for 2-3 hours. And i used to watch the series everyday. meaning i was spending electricity for the same movie. thanks for it, i’m now banned from using our dvd…
July 24th, 2009 at 15:30
“Just one more episode…” That’s what I said when I started on Battlestar Galactica. One more episode, one more… until I’d realize it’s morning already and it’s time to go to work.
July 25th, 2009 at 01:29
Season 4 may just be the best in the history of American television.
July 25th, 2009 at 02:27
Ever tried the series marathon drinking game? Drink one beer per episode. Works particularly well with Entourage.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:08
“Just one more episode, it’s only 55 minutes long.â€
YES! I can relate. I say that to myself, one more episode, just one more. When that one finishes, I say, “let me just start the next one,” and of course I finish that one, too, until.. we all know the story^^ It was dinner time a while ago, and now it’s 3 am. haha.