The Wire

'Some works of art can be so precious and intimate in their appeal that you just have to own them. That impulse is what fuels the art market and, on a less exalted level, it is what keeps music collectors searching for ever purer forms of recording. Art here becomes a private affair, something special between you and it, and the rest of the world can go hang.

But the opposite effect applies too. Some experiences are so great that you want to tell the whole world about them, so that they can share your joy. In fact you can't stop talking about them. I feel that way about The Wire , HBO's devastating police series that has just started its fifth and final season in the US.'

--Financial Times, January 12, 2008

(My view of The Wire lies somewhere between those perspectives, but the fact that I'm writing this shows I lean towards the latter...There are 4 or 5 paragraphs in the article that I think are written specifically for people like me, I recommend reading the whole thing...)

I tend to be pretty picky about what I watch on television. Prior to six months ago, I would say 90 percent of what I watched on TV was either sports or something on Discover/History channels. Joey and I got into The Sopranos while living in Japan. I think like most people, tv dramas shouldn't be edited for language and content and HBO has produced some pretty good stuff.

So when I arrived in Hong Kong six months ago, I decided (with the help of references from Bill Simmons' columns on ESPN.com) that I would get into the HBO series 'The Wire'. After much searching, one of the only places to get the series is at HMV, of which there are several around the city. If what I had heard about the series was true, then shelling out a bit for the legit collection would be a decent investment.

After devouring season 1, I moved on to season 2 then of course had no choice but to go all the way. I have purchased season 4 but will wait until I get back to the US to get into it. Everything I have read about the show contains almost nothing but superlatives. I find myself searching the web on any articles about the show, interviews with directors/producers or youtubing other material on its actors. I know that if I am ever in Baltimore, I know which streets I will google and drive down (probably in daylight).

So the first paragraph above pretty much explains why I went ahead and bought seasons 1 thru 4 (and 5 when it eventually comes out). I've contemplated selling the collection when complete, but now I've realized the episodes are just as good, if not better, the second or third time around. That, I think, is the mark of a dvd worth paying for.