(Not) On Demand
I think complaints about the first few episodes of this season of The Wire were legitimate. But I suspect the problems were mostly a result of Simon having to cram in the usual four or give episodes of setup into the first two, maybe three, hours. And if the last few shows — episodes seven, eight, and especially nine — didn’t reaffirm your faith in the show’s lasting greatness, well, you may as well just feed your eyes to zombies or something now, because nothing will ever satisfy you, and at least that way some zombies won’t go hungry.
So naturally, after last night’s episode, I was deeply anxious to see the series finale. Scratch that. I was more than anxious. I was mad, frenzied, crazed with anticipation. I worried at the office today that I’d end up having to get dentures from grinding my teeth. I lost the rest of my thinning hair. I couldn’t trace accurate masks in Photoshop because my hand was trembling so much. The wait was unbearable!
And thank goodness I wouldn’t have to wait a week, because, as HBO’s commercials advertised, every episode of this season would be available a whole week early on OnDemand. Sure enough, I checked this morning before work, and there was episode 60, waiting to be watched upon my return home. All day I labored not to read anything — anything — about the show that might give something away. When your job is to sit in front of a computer for eight hours at a stretch, that’s more difficult than it sounds, but I managed.
After rushing home from work tonight, I invited a handful of Wire fanatic friends, ordered pizza, cracked open a beer, and…
Nothing.
Apparently those commercials advertising every episode a week early were, well, fibbing. (Or, as I’m convinced: deliberately screwing with my head.) What they meant was, every episode but the finale. Which seems to me like kind of an important difference. Sure, an episode 60 shows up in my OnDemand program list, complete with that enticing little “New!” label. But when you watch it, all you get is a blurb that says that this episode won’t be available for another week, promising, along the way, that it’ll be “worth the wait.”
All I can say is, it better be, because right now I’m about as frustrated a TV viewer as you’re ever likely to find.
HBO disabled the On Demand option for the final episode because too many On Demand users were spoiling the episodes for HBO users who don’t have On Demand.
For instance, Snoop’s and Omar’s deaths were posted on YouTube many days before they aired for the first time on HBO.
And newspaper writers who had On Demand would ignorantly disclose what happened without warning HBO subscribers who don’t have On Demand.
With the final episode, HBO is letting EVERYBODY watch at the same time, so nobody will get spoiled.
— Bob · Mar 4, 06:44 AM · #
Sure, even disregarding the false advertising, it just seems silly to hide anything else at this point. SPOILERS!
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Snoop and Omar and Prop Joe are dead, Marlo’s locked up, etc. etc. The Wire always does the most damage in its penultimate episodes. Why bother to make us wait on the conclusion?
And fercryinoutloud, why not ADVERTISE that the last episode won’t be available?
— P · Mar 4, 02:49 PM · #
They did advertise it – I saw this weekend on HBO an ad indicating that the final episode would NOT be On Demand until after it airs on Sunday – it was a pretty funny spot, because after they said this, they showed a montage of Clay Davis saying “sheeeeeeeeet” on many different occasions, which was just what I was thinking when I heard the announcement – I mean, if they were going to do it, that was the way to do it.
— Disgusted Beyond Belief · Mar 4, 09:56 PM · #
I share your frustration. I was ready to stay up past my bedtime to watch ep 60- I switched to On Demand at 12:01 am and get- nothing by the lame “See it next week”. HBO should’ve made it clear from the git go they were going to do that. But seeing as how they regularly in season’s past would try to drag out the season (draw you into keeping HBO for another month when the finale always is never at the end of a month- always into the next?) with one of those lame “See the last 6 episodes in one night!” things- it wasn’t entirely surprising.
All I can say is, with The Wire finishing, the John Adams miniseries better be good enough to make me want to continue on into April or HBO can kiss my bouncy ass goodbye (lucky for them, I loves me some Paul Giamatti).
— brueso · Mar 4, 10:03 PM · #