A big call, but accurate

This is what David Simon, creator of The Wire, pitched to Carolyn Strauss, then of HBO, in 2001, when he was trying to get them to make the show:

It is a significant victory for HBO to counter program alternative, inaccessible worlds against standard network fare. But it would, I will argue, be a more profound victory for HBO to take the essence of network fare and smartly turn it on its head, so that no one who sees HBO’s take on the culture of crime and crime fighting can watch anything like “C.S.I.” or “N.Y.P.D. Blue” or “Law & Order” again without knowing that every punch was pulled on those shows. For HBO to step toe-to-toe with NBC or ABC and create a cop show that seizes the highest qualitative ground through realism, good writing, and a more brutal assessment of police, police work, and the drug culture — this may not be the beginning of the end for network dramas as the industry standard, but it is certainly the end of the beginning for HBO.

It's true. I can't watch other crime shows with the same eyes anymore. The line about "knowing that every punch was pulled" is true. Once you've seen a show that so deftly brings reality and real-life tragedy to the screen, it's hard to go back to watching the regular shows that seem to miss the point.

The Wire pushed the envelope, but not in the way that some producers think it needs to be. Not in the "more sex, more violence, crazier plotlines, more cleavage" way. The Wire pushed the envelope in that it made the everyday struggles of police officers - and homeless people, politicians, journalists, schoolteachers, children, and even drug dealers - into fully-developed stories, viewed from multiple angles to create a larger picture. The result was mostly tragic, occasionally uplifting, and definitely something new for television. There was some sex, definitely some violence, and some crazy plotlines. But that wasn't why people watched it. They watched it because the drama was real and different to anything they'd seen before.

Sure, it started slowly. It took me until halfway through the second episode to realise that I really, really enjoyed it. Some people it will take longer. But I loved it. You're lucky. You can buy it on DVD in Australia now. When I started watching it, I had to borrow the dvds off a mate, who had had them imported from America. We had to wait for season three, then season four, and then wait an eternity for season five.

I haven't harped on about this show in a long time, so cut me some slack. If you haven't seen it, give it a go. Find someone to watch it with you so you can talk about it, or just watch it by yourself (and go crazy trying to find someone to talk about it with who is up to the some point as you).

We are living in a Golden Age for television. America is producing some of the best entertainment the world has seen; clever, shocking, insightful, memorable and interesting. One day it will end, and all our shows will be 80 seconds long and posted on Twitter. But for now, enjoy living in a time when people are trying hard to make great entertainment.