TV Heaven
Everyone and his blog has something to say about The Wire, but I have to add my tuppence worth. Very seldom comes the time you can genuinely say something is The Best Thing... Ever in its field, but to say this about The Wire is almost selling it short. In a nutshell, here are the main reasons why we all agree it's so good: (1) It plays like a novel - the story builds up organically with no mandatory big action sequences or cliffhangers to end episodes. (2) It's brutally honest. Nobody is perfect, pretty much every character is morally compromised at some point, and institutions never operate the way they should do. Power always corrupts. (3) Completely believable characters, and terrific performances. A lot of the supporting cast are actual Baltimore natives, many of whom have been involved in escapades on which the characters are based. (4) It's one of those works where us fans end up jealous of newbies watching for the first time - they have all this magical stuff ahead...