These shows prove the marathon-watching juggernaut’s concern for both quantity and quality.
On The Wire, everyone’s in school.
Varied as the street characters are, their African-American counterparts in the police department are just as individualized.
Joe may still get backed into a corner, but the big guy seems smart enough to talk his way out and get back to business as usual.
In such a world as the one depicted on the show, there is little place for someone like Bubbles.
In the world of The Wire, it’s the story that rules—and that may even get the great Omar in the end.
There is no pop culture equivalent of a historic landmarks commission, but at times like this, I wish there were.
Rescue Me is a series at war with its own worst impulses.
For argument’s sake, let’s say you decide to watch ‘em all. What do you have in store?
Spike Lee’s political statement is one of humanism, and the result is his most potent work in years.
The closing shot of last night’s Deadwood episode was never meant as a series-ender.
There’s been a lot of complaining about the Emmys this year, and with good reason.
Deep down, you just knew that Whitney Ellsworth was too good to live.
Vanished is, if nothing else, a seminar on just how much of a role good casting plays in the success or failure of a modern TV show.
Vice kingpin and frontier power broker Al Swearengen acted like a real prince in Sunday’s episode.
When people speak of Hitchcock, they usually refer to the Master of Suspense’s movies.
The show depicts human beings as they are—scatterbrained, selfish, myopic, sometimes viciously cruel.
The Wire is one of the finest works ever produced for American television.
Deadwood has never shied away from theatrical flourishes that make metaphors concrete.
Even when it was bad, it was great.
The episode feels like a summation of the show’s thoughts on what it means to be mortal.