January 6, 2008 is my New Year.

In an age where it's impossible to truly know if the guy sitting next to you is a person of integrity or a unbelievable douchebag, it's refreshing to know that, for some, there are still a few benchmarks.

We create our own, usually closely tied to our own predilections, quirks or spitting hatreds, but the instant recognition of something in someone, however small, swings the pendulum almost immediately. A certain clarity emerges, the questions fade away and the path of future interaction is settled. You now know where this person stands in your own small little world.

For me, it's the answer to the question "Do you like The Wire?"

Created by David Simon, a police reporter for the Baltimore Sun covering the crime beat for 12 years, the show chronicles the decay and deprivation brought on by drugs and the war on drugs from nearly every angle relating to the city of Baltimore.

It is taut. It is deep. It is nuanced. It is paced, powerful and as meta as it get.

There is no lead character. No stand-alone episodes. No pandering to a comfort zone.

It does not believe the viewer is stupid/slow/inattentive. In fact, it expects the viewer to pay the fuck attention. Everything's critical. It challenges you in a way the discerning mind has been screaming for all this time. Never do you feel a false note and never will you be able to put it in a box. In short, if you complain about the inanity of television and haven't watched The Wire, you are no longer part of the discussion. Go now, please.

Here's a snapshot of a famous scene (do not play in office):



The fifth and last season wrapped recently in Baltimore. The New Yorker wrote a great piece that sums up the show and David Simon quite nicely. It's a great read and makes you admire the hell out of the show and Simon in particular. Read this interview (Part I & Part II) as well for further insight into his motivations behind the writing.

I've bellowed from the highest mountaintops for people to watch this show. Of the few that took the advice, the accounts were almost identical in nature. They watched the first episode and instantly set aside the next month to watch the next 40 episodes, handing over whole days to the viewing of the show. It's exactly what happened to me.

It's simply the best show ever put on television and if asked what my favorite movie is, I qualify it by saying it still comes after The Wire.

On January 6, 2008, the fifth and final season begins on HBO, plenty of time to catch up if interested. Netflix and Blockbuster.com have the first three seasons available with the fourth season being released on December 4. If you are supremely interested, DeepDiscount.com recently reduced the first three seasons, bundled together, to a silly-low $77 (update: they caught their error and now sells for $140).

It will be the best time and/or money you ever spent.