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W E D N E S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 1 3 , 2 0 0 6"The Wire" Begins Season Four; Renewed ForFifth And Final SeasonWell, I've given HBO plenty of grief for cancelling "Deadwood"prematurely. But at least they haven't made the same mistake twice.(And for various reasons, my rule of thumb is that you can't bedisappointed over the cancelling of a show if it's had three seasonscause three seasons is usually as far as any drama should go creativelyand clearly it had a shot ratings-wise.) "The Wire" has just begun airingSeason Four and hallelujah, HBO has already renewed the show for itsfifth and final season.The reviews for season four have been phenomenal -- and welldeserved, based on the first six of twelve episodes that I've seen. It'smulti-layered, complex, subtle, and takes a while to build, this series.You can't multitask while watching it. It's best to watch it with a friendbecause you can parse out the plot twists together or ask what acharacter has just mumbled (and if you can't figure it out and arewatching a DVD, use the subtitle function). No, it ain't immediatelyaccessible. It's just gripping, funny, unexpected, moving, depressingand real.Season One dealt with a wiretap on an inner city drug ring inBaltimore. Season Two focused on the ports and unions andcorruption. Season Three dealt with politics. Season Four is looking atthe school system. And Season Five will look at the media. That allsounds very dry -- every season revolves around a core group ofwonderful characters on every side of the law, with the principalplayers shifting from year to year. The lead character of one season --say McNulty -- will become a secondary character the next year.Literally every character is fascinating, so you are always thrilled to bedealing with whomever is front and center --but at the end of a show ora season, you'll say damn, I miss McNulty. How many shows paint withsuch a broad canvas? Almost none.It's the next step in smart, sophisticated television, the way "Hill StreetBlues" was some 26 years ago. It's that good. In the old days, if a showlike "Twin Peaks" or "24" or "St. Elsewhere" had already been on the airfor a year or two, you felt like it was too late to join the bandwagonNext Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G . C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: "The Wire" Begins Season Four; Renew...http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/09/wire-begins-season-four...
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POPSURFING.COM: "The Wire" Begins Season Four; Renew...http://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/09/wire-begins-season-four...
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