Pandemic!
While we’re on the subject of the drug war (about which Reihan and Brad Plumer are both absolutely correct), I should note that Matt Yglesias is exactly right about The Wire. It’s far and away the best show that’s ever been on television. I feel somewhat strange sometimes when saying this, because trying to compare any other show to it seems vaguely dishonest, and, at the bare minimum, completely unfair. It’s like asking, “Who would win in a race between a bunch of Olympic sprinters and The Flash?” Those sprinters are probably pretty excellent, but it’s just not a contest.
The show’s fifth season starts in January, but you really need to catch up on previous seasons before seeing it. For those who’re already in the loop, there are three short prequel teasers for the upcoming season online at Amazon. I’m actually only mildly impressed with the teasers, but they’ll do until the real stuff starts.
Not to pick on you, because this is a widespread phenomenon, but I am so, so tired of the which is best/let’s make a ranked list vision of critical engagement. The notion that you could compare The Wire to, say, seasons 2-7 of the Simpsons in any way beyond the most superficial and arbitrary. Asking for the best TV show has all the same deleterious effects that the Great Novel vision has, a vision which has absolutely crippled contemporary literature.
I can’t wait for the Time magazine list of the 100 best human virtues, where Compassion ranks just above Honesty but just below Respect.— Freddie · Dec 7, 12:35 AM · #
Freddie,
I think you’re right, but only to a limited extent. Part of making critical judgments is recognizing that, yes, some work is, at least from your perspective, better than others. There are limits to this, of course (read Armond White and his utterly ridiculous annual “better than” list), and while I recognize that those limits are somewhat fuzzy, I don’t think it stretches them much to say that, in my critical judgment, there’s no better show than The Wire.
In this case, in fact, it’s especially easy, for, as I noted, I think it operates on a wholly different plane than anything else the medium’s ever seen. It’s not always that easy. I don’t pretend to be able to say whether I think The Sopranos is better than, say, Battlestar Galactica, or whether Frisky Dingo is better than Aqua Teen Hunger Force; I like all of these shows, and trying to judge one better than the other seems foolish.
But The Wire is different, an accomplishment on an entirely different scale. It seems pretty clear to me that The Wire’s breadth, scope, moment-to-moment inventiveness, even genius, all combine to place it far, far above anything else that’s ever been on the boob tube. Admittedly, it’s not much of a critical insight, and at some point over the course of season 5, I’m hoping to expand on a few of the things that the show does well. But for now, I’m mostly just keen to share my awe at what David Simon’s done, and make every effor to convert as many people as I can into fans of something I find wonderful and moving.
— Peter Suderman · Dec 7, 04:15 AM · #