Just finished watching "The Wire", the entire series.

I don't think I've ever seen a multi-season story arc so perfectly written.

Hey HBO, this is the kind of art that can be produced when you commit a definitive amount of time and money to a good writer.

The greatness of this series accentuates just how much of a royal screwing David Milch got with the early cancellations of "Deadwood" and "John from Cincinnatti".

Is it any wonder that we're seeing series now (especially on broadcast TV) with very strong pilots and first seasons that subsequently seem to just fall apart by year two?
No writers want to spend the time fleshing out an entire series when early cancellation is the norm.

Instead, about the time second seasons roll around, we're treated to gratuitous, overly long back stories on every character, the introduction of an endless supply of minor characters and subthreads, and creaking, cheezy plot devices to sustain a story arc that hasn't been thought out.
See "Lost" and "Heroes" for examples of this.

Be prepared to rewind some scenes.

One of the reasons I loved it was because there's not the usual "exposition moments" in the dialogue and plot that lay everything out nicely for you.
That, and you'll just want to watch some stuff again because it's cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1HUlTKvDUI

D'Angelo Barksdale explains chess to the other runners from the projects, and draws analogies to the drug game.

One of the best examples how this truly was such a groundbreaking show.

It's very novelistic, and each season could be considered a novel, while each episode is a chapter -- there's no cliffhangers or quick resolutions, per se -- it unfolds slowly and methodically instead.

And it got very little recognition from the Emmys despite that. But it just takes your breath away how realistic the dialogue and the story lines are and feel (with the possible exception of the Season 5 "McNulty invents a serial killer" storyline, which was a little bit of a stretch).

to put it in Al Swearengen terms

My boss gave me 2 seasons of "The Wire" to watch, but my SO won't let me, because he kept getting called to auditions AND call-backs down in Baltimore, and then not getting a part, (all of his friends have gotten parts). So he's bitter.

It's a shame the Phils are on tonight -- SO is out, and I could have a Wire-a-thon.....