Appointment Television

In many ways we are currently witnessing the golden age of American television (reality TV included – the concept of that, at least, is brilliant. No expensive actors, no expensive production and/or location costs and no headaches of storylines and script coherence. Of course, for most of us this is one of the signs that civilization is in decline). On Sunday last, one of the best TV series ever, “The Wire”, ended after 5 seasons on HBO. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s probably the best TV series ever – in terms of topicality, believability, acting and dramatic thrust. The first 2 attributes might not be apparent to someone without a basic awareness of the peculiar brand of American urban decay that is intimately linked with the underground drug economy that powers inner-city life (in this case, the city of Baltimore). But in different shapes and forms, these problems have been faced, or will be faced, by most major cities around the world. One of the things that makes “The Wire” great is that while showing on a premium cable channel, it actually built up a vast following amongst people who otherwise might not have cared for the characters that make up its cast. Maybe it’s the “train-wreck” mentality at work, maybe deep down viewers felt empathy, maybe it was just good old, old-fashioned storytelling (though story-telling of the highest caliber). Whatever the reason, while watching this series one felt that this was the work of somebody (David Simon, the creator and writer for many episodes) who had spent a lifetime preparing for this show’s 5 seasons.

HBO has redefined TV series. Along with their no ads policy on their TV shows, it just makes it almost impossible for one to watch regular television once one has got hooked onto these channels and/or their shows. The novelistic quality of the programming is a great stand-in (and I emphasize, its just a stand-in) for actually reading the Great Authors. With shows like “The Sopranos”, “Deadwood”, “Rome”, “Oz” (in its first 2 seasons), even “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and of course “The Wire” this has been television like you never imagined it could be. If that sounds like a promotional bit for HBO, then I blithely admit to it. Like B’bay Addict maintains, TV series, done right, gives the writer/director that much more space to really explore different subjects in depth, over a longer period of time and hence do more justice to his storyline than movie directors/movie scriptwriters. As its TV commercial says: “It’s not TV, it’s HBO”.