Fox's Shamelessness

At the Emmy awards the other night, Fox's Family Guy characters performed an admittedly funny and witty song:

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Fox's broadcast was shameful for two reasons. First of all, typically the network that hosts the Emmys doesn't participate in bashing shows from other networks, as a courtesy. This was particularly ironic given Fox's history of lowest-common-denominator television. And has anyone even watched "Family Guy" recently? That show has gone rapidly downhill since its return.

Second of all, Fox famously censored Sally Field's anti-war statements during her acceptance speech:


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Fox has never been particularly fair and balanced in its news coverage or its programming, but this recent moves takes it down to a new low.

Peep Show: "Seinfeld" Meets "The Office" Meets "Being John Malkovich"

On the recommendation of some friends from San Francisco, I added this BBC Comedy to my Netflix queue. My life has never been the same. I honestly think this show is as brilliant as "Seinfeld" or "The Office," and I now feel obligated to tell everyone about it.

The premise is simple. Mark works at a credit agency and his friend, Jeremy ("Jez") leeches off his resources. Together, they embark on the exciting adventures of near-middle-aged single men (i.e. constantly trying to have sex with the women around them) but are continuously frustrated by their own insecurities and, inevitably, doomed to stay unhappy. The show's unique conceit is that every single episode is shot in first-person perspective of the characters' while the audience hears that character's inner monologue. At its best, it offers a troubling, insightful window into the darkness of the male mind.

Like "Seinfeld," one of the show's overall messages that of modern sexual alienation. But the situations and thoughts that the character's get themselves in are so relatable that the ensuing disasters are nothing short of hilarious.

This scene should give you a good idea. Enjoy:


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The first season is available from Amazon here.

The Difference Between The UK Office and the US Office Explained In Two Videos

I finished watching the UK version of the Office recently and I would highly recommend it. Both hilarious and profoundly moving.

I'm not going to get into some silly argument about which one is better but certainly it's not a crime to point out the differences in the two. There have been many comparisons made between the US Office and the UK Office. I for one think that both are totally brilliant, with the UK one emphasizing a dark tone of desperation in the modern workplace, while the US one is more silly and laugh-out-loud funny than it is cringe-worthy.

That being said, I thought that there were two scenes that, when compared, show this contrast rather clearly.

Part 1:

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Gervais is a great performer, but when he does the dance as Brent, combined with the environment and situation, it reeks of desperation. He's trying to prove that he's a better than his supervisor, Neil, for the purposes of a charity donation and he does so with disastrous results. It's pathetic and just a bit sad, even though you're laughing like crazy.

Part 2:

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Meanwhile, Carrell's dance happens on the "Booze Cruise" and instead of trying to prove he's better than someone, he's just trying to get everyone into the mood...again with disastrous results. But unlike Gervais, you can completely tell that Carrell is having a ball while doing it (Gervais is probably having fun too, but the mood is just different). And therein lies the crucial difference: The knowledge of their self-awareness, not perceivable, though probably present, in the British version but there in spades for the American version.

Coming To Terms - Why The Shield Makes All Other Shows Look Bad

[This is part 3 of a 3-part series. Go here for part 2 on the sopranos and here for part 1 on 24.]

This is a LONG overdue post about Season 6 of the Shield. But hey, I had to show some love to my favorite show on TV (other than maybe the Wire).

Awhile back, I read Heather Havrilesky's fantastic write-up of the finale of "The Shield." She puts it ever-so-eloquently, as usual, when she writes:

If "The Wire" is a symphony and "The Sopranos" is a haunting blues refrain, then "The Shield" is a gangsta rap with a beat so infectious it makes you get up and dance in spite of its filthy lyrics. Surveying Mackey's shiny, bald head and his merciless grimace, we don't know why we love the bastard. All we know is that when he asks, "Are you ready for this?" the answer is unquestionably, "Hell yes!"

I've been watching "The Shield" since its debut season on F/X, when Michael Chiklis revitalized his career with his breakout performance as supercop Vic Mackey. Since then, the show has explored a wide range of issues relating to the police force, from unnecessary brutality to homosexuality; from intra-office romance to planting evidence. And every single week, those crimes...those horrific, terrible, worse-than-your nightmare crimes that Claudette and Dutch would solve, not to mention the gang wars that Vic would mediate. There was the sadomasochistic couple that cut off an innocent girl's arm (while she was alive). The mouth-raping Hispanic gangster that would eventually get a skull-full of iron in prison. And the child-molesting rapist father. The audacity of those crimes allows you to experience vicarious excitement when their perpetrators are brought to justice. And boy, is it ever satisfying.

Here's the thing: I thought Season 5 was amazing. Forrest Whitaker should have taken home an Emmy for his performance; instead he got an Oscar for "Last King of Scotland." Fair trade, I guess.

But Season 6, remarkably, was even better. How they did this, I don't know. But "The Shield" is a show that seems to have mastered the art of storytelling, in its own little way. Plotlines are in the process of being expertly tied up, and Shawn Ryan (the show's creator), seems to have complete control over what's happening (unlike on a show like, say, "Lost" or even "24"). Character development that's been in place for years has finally paid off; the tender kiss between Dutch and Danny serves as a shining example of capitalizing on the groundwork the show has already established going back to season 1(!).

And week to week, always...the crimes continue. Somebody has to stop them. But it's okay. I know a guy:


[WARNING: The video (link here) is VERY Graphic]

Coming To Terms – Dealing With The Worst Season Finale of 24 Ever

[This article is part of a three-part series. Go here for part 2 on The Sopranos]

[Again, much inspiration, as well as some of the videos, were drawn from this Progressive Boink article]

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR 24 SEASON SIX

In the season finale of 24, Karen Hayes, Bill Buchanan, and Jack Bauer risked everything to save…Jack’s supposed nephew. There was no nuke, no biological weapon, no assassination attempt; just a blond whiny kid with a rice bowl haircut. After they were done with this ridiculous and unsatisfying storyline, Jack headed over to Heller’s house (conveniently just a few minutes away) to chew him out about his insouciance from earlier. In the show’s final scene, Jack looks out at the waves, reflecting on the sociopath he’s become and his own mess of a personal life. The audience wept, but not out of sadness for Jack; rather, for the 24 hours we knew we would never get back.

This was the worst season of 24 ever, often painful to watch. Even the President of Fox thought so. I’ve already written at length about why this season was awful and I stand by my points. But rather than rail endlessly about how bad it’s become (although that will happen during this post), I thought I’d channel my energy into thinking about five things that can make the show better next season. In no particular order, they are:

1) Don’t Set It In Los Angeles – In Season 1, the possibility that presidential candidate David Palmer might be in LA for the day was extremely plausible. In Season 2, the possibility that terrorists might try to nuke LA was vaguely believable. By Season 3, the idea that LA would be the place where terrorists would want to launch a biological attack began to make LA seem like one of the unluckiest places on Earth. And by Season 4-6, the idea of using LA again just made our eyes glaze over in disbelief.

As this article by Cracked can attest to, it’s no real mystery why they set the series in LA. But it’s killing the series, taxing our suspension of disbelief to the breaking point, and basically disrespecting the audience to an astonishing degree.

(From Flickr user Kaptain Krispy Kreme via CC)

To paraphrase Seinfeld, it's flattering to think that your city is bomb-able. But we've had enough of Hollywood's self-indulgence in this matter.

2) No More Office Romance – The last compelling office romance in 24 was in Season 2, between Tony and Michelle (do we even want to remember Kim and Chase’s baby adventures in Season 3?). Since then, office romances have been a waste of time, reaching their nadir this season with the insufferable Milo and the witless Nadia (and to a lesser degree, with Morris and Chloe). When Tony and Michelle worked at CTU, you rooted for them because they were really good at their jobs and they fought for the right thing (i.e. Jack Bauer).

Nobody cared about what happened to the characters this season because more often than not, they were shown to be incompetent, bickering, and petty, to an extent never before seen even for 24. There was no reason to care why they got together or not because most of the time, they pissed you off more than they endeared themselves to you.

Witness the painful awkwardness of this scene:


3) No more CTU – Every year it's a target for hostile takeover by Division or Homeland Security. Also, it's full of moles.

Every single season of 24 has involved the same premise; either Jack is the head of CTU, leading a team from CTU, or is made to lead a team from CTU after he proves his competence.

I understand the need for Jack to use CTU; it allows him access to government-grade weapons and gives him the opportunity to continually bark “I need that information NOW” over the phone. But it’s become clear that CTU, plot-wise, has become an encumbrance to the series, with its bureaucratic redtape, its murky and sketchy superiors from “Division,” and its tedious personnel disputes.

(From Flickr user Phantasmak via CC)

Get rid of CTU next season (from the plotline, at least). Please.

4) Stop Killing Characters…Or Do It Better – This season saw the loss of President Logan and Curtis (not to mention Kumar from “Harold and Kumar”!). It seems as though just as we’re beginning to care about someone, 24’s writers take great pleasure in killing them off for us. As I’ve written before, when you do this respectfully, it pays great dividends; when you do it like 24 does it, it makes the deaths seem senseless and wasteful.

For example, what was the point of this:

or this:


And from this season, what, for the love of god, was the point of this?:


Although it gave him a nice story arc, Curtis was basically black Jack Bauer. By killing off Curtis, unceremoniously, the writers of the show killed off a lot of fans' good will. And by having Jack recover from it almost instantly (despite a 2-minute cry) is another example of the writers' continuing disdain for the emotional intelligence of its audience.

Look to Season 3 for a character's death done right:


(And Chappelle wasn't even a character we cared that much about!)

5) Bring Back Jack – Jack Bauer is the reason we watch this show. Season 6 introduced a bunch of new characters, including a potential Jack Bauer replacement (Doyle), then asked us to be emotionally invested in them without telling us why. But really, the only one person we care about on the show is Jack Bauer and he was getting crowded out (screentime-wise) by all of these nobodies.

Whether Jack is being a detective, doing some plain old killing, or physically and mentally torturing suspects, Kiefer’s performance is a joy to watch:



Proof positive - One of this season's most intense, amazing scenes was this climactic fight between Bauer and Fayed:


Even when Kiefer is showing his weaker side, Bauer remains an extremely compelling character. See the end of Season 3, when Bauer breaks down (something we should have seen slightly more of this season):

The problem was, Season Six didn't give us nearly enough of any of this.

Please give us more of Jack doing what he does best. As intense as ex-Scrubs nurse Doyle is, he can’t hold a candle to Bauer.

**

I’ve recently finished re-watching Season 2 of 24 on DVD and the difference was palpable. Despite Kim’s antics, Season 2 was one taut, nerve-jangling season (and as much as I hate to admit it, even the various situations Kim found herself in were directed with skill and intensity). There were suspenseful situations in which the split screen and real-time conceit were used to great effect. There were fantastically evil and chilling villains. And there were touching moments like this one:



NONE OF THESE ELEMENTS WERE PRESENT IN SEASON 6. [For any fan, I’d urge you to go back and watch Season 2 again; it will remind you why you fell in love with this show.]

The series needs a reboot in the way “Casino Royale” kicked the 007 series back into high gear. Hopefully they’ll surprise us with something completely new. Otherwise, I’m really going to have to stop watching, which makes me sad because the Jack Bauer Power Hour used to be one of my favorite weekly events back in the day. It looks like Executive Producer Howard Gordon has already gotten the message; let's hope he brings it home for Season Seven.

[Edit: Changed some of the language/videos in the "Bring Back Jack" section]

The Importance of Being Bruno

In "Da Ali G Show," Sacha Baron Cohen deftly portrays three completely different characters: 1) Ali G, a white "gangster" from the suburb of Staines that thinks he's black, 2) Borat Sagdiyev, a journalist from Kazakhstan, and 3) Bruno, a gay Austrian fashion caricature. His chameleon-like transformation into each of these personas is a marvel to watch in every episode of the show.

Yet whenever you hear these three characters mentioned, Bruno is always the one that people take a crap on (metaphorically). Whether I'm talking with people at work or reading a review online, everyone is always careful to mention how awesome Borat and Ali G are while saying that Bruno is the character that is the least interesting and/or most unbearable.

Borat and Ali G are brilliant because they demonstrate how vastly different people, from antique store owners to United States Congressmen, struggle to communicate with someone that's so far removed from our culture (and apparently, our level of intelligence). Bruno is ostensibly supposed to reveal to us how shallow the fashion industry is:





Yet while these clips are mildly amusing, it is the way Sacha Baron Cohen takes on gay stereotypes that makes Bruno the most socially trenchant character. Essentially, Bruno's schtick consists of interviewing conservative figures and playing up his "gay" attributes to make both interviewer and interviewee incredibly uncomfortable. Here are the best examples:

Bruno at a gun show:


Bruno interviews Pastor Quinn:


Bruno at a football game in Alabama:


In an interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air, Cohen commented on this last scene, saying that he felt his life was in danger with thousands of fans booing him and many of them ready to go out and literally give him a brutal beating. In this way, Cohen said, the scene revealed how anti-homosexual tendencies are actually one of the last remaining widely-accepted forms of bigotry in our society. By allowing us to see this, Cohen's Bruno character rips many of us out of our progressive, liberal cocoon and plants us, front and center, in a strange and foreign place where tolerance and acceptance have yet to take root. It forces us to stare at the visceral fear and (sometimes) hate that still pervades much of the country surrounding homosexuality. And perhaps, just a little, it has the potential to challenge us to revisit our own deeply-held stereotypes.

Despite what some people say, I still think it's a message that needs to be heard, and one that's not heard often enough.

But of course if you're not buying any of this at all, Bruno's still just really good at making people look like morons:




[Update: More audacious Bruno clips -

"Do you wish her a benign tumor or a malignant tumor?":


Bruno on Spring Break in Daytona Beach:

The Office: Season Finale Mini-Review

[Spoilers Ahead]

After much political discussion, it's time to get back to what I love the most: Talking about TV and movies :)

I love "The Office" dearly (own the 2nd season on DVD, still watch through a bunch of episodes every now and then), but by all accounts, the third season has been a bit bumpy. Episodes like "Gay Witch Hunt" and "Phyllis' Wedding," while at times hilarious, showed Michael Scott at his absolute worst and most cringe-inducing and displayed almost none of the heart that makes the show great. On the other hand, there were also some very touching episodes, such as "Business School;" the final moment when Pam hugs Michael is still one of my favorite moments in television this year.

So what to say about the Season Finale? I don't have much time so I'll just break it down to likes and dislikes.

What I liked:

Dwight's breakdown in Michael's office - Proof that Rainn Wilson deserves an Emmy nod just as much as Jim Krasinski.
Schrute-bucks
Michael's Interviewing Skills - A subtle commentary on the cliches of job interviews, and how to subvert them.
Creed Thoughts - Because sometimes, even hobos need a blog to get their thoughts down on.

What I didn't like:

Pam Becomes a Bitch - I realize that last week's walking-on-coals was supposed to be a transformative moment for Ms. Beasly, but the 180 degrees they took her character in was, to me, very unbelievable. You can convince me that Pam has courage and tries to speak her mind now; just don't try and convince me she has courage and is now a bitch.
Karen Gets The Shaft - Karen was a good girlfriend: Cute, intelligent, and understanding. She had a lot to put up with, in terms of Jim's history with Pam, and how did she get treated? We all knew it was going to end like this, but I guess a small part of me hoped that Karen wouldn't get completely shafted due to Jim and Pam's will-they-or-won't-they sexual tension. Jim's drive home alone after the interview seemed to indicate that she did not avoid this fate.
Jan's Breakdown - Jan has been in a bunch of episodes by this point, and in almost all the episodes, she has always been calm, collected, and struggling for professionalism in the face of her relationship with Michael (despite her at-times insatiable sexual appetite). Part of the whole appeal of her character is seeing how she gets so flummoxed by Michael's wildly inappropriate repartee. No more of that. Jan's Breakdown was an arc that was sudden, virtually inexplicable, and basically a quick way to flush the character down the toilet for some cheap laughs.

***

So yeah, I disliked it more than I liked it.

Did anyone else see it? And if so, what'd you think?

[Update: Several people responded to this review by asking: "WTF?" Specifically with regards to my comment that Pam became a bitch. Upon further re-evaluation, I think I definitely exaggerated how she came off (to me at least), but let me explain.

What many people read as Pam being sweet and her ol' self and finally breaking free of her emotional cocoon, I read as an active attempt to subvert Jim and Karen's relationship, a sentiment that is characterized completely in Karen's comment that Pam is "Kind of a bitch." I happened to side with Karen on this one; it seemed like for the last two weeks, and for the season finale, Pam had been slyly, passive-agressively trying to plant seeds of doubt in both of their minds about the irrelationship, which reached a climax in the season finale when Karen asked Pam to xerox the stuff and Pam put that sentimental message in there, as if to say "I'm going to do you this favor, but I'm going to try and win Jim's heart at the same time."

As with all things on this blog, this is just my opinion and people are free to disagree. If I had to change anything I wrote above, it would simply be how strongly I characterized her transformation, and not necessarily that such a transformation occurred.]

Why The Sopranos Is Incredibly Overrated

[Update: Thanks to http://blog.nj.com/sopranos/ for linking to my blog! The link can be found here. ]

[Update 2: Now that the series is over, this post has been updated at this link.]

In an SNL sketch many years ago, there was a satirical commercial for “The Sopranos” in which critics spouted hyperbolic reviews about the show, such as “The Sopranos will one day replace air as the thing we breathe to stay alive.” It was a commentary of the ridiculously over-the-top accolades the show was getting at the time. I remember that sketch fondly, as it seems that even today, people have been so busy falling all over themselves in praise of “The Sopranos” they haven’t really taken a look at all the ways the show falls short.

First let’s start with the facts: “The Sopranos” is one of the most popular shows in the history of television. It has helped to transform television in several ways and was at least partially responsible for the rise of the serial drama and the establishment of HBO as an outlet of exciting, creative television. I’ve enjoyed many aspects of this show greatly, including the promos(!), and I think Gandolfini and Falco get all the praise they deserve, but I also think the show is horribly overrated. Here are a few reasons why:

1) Déjà vu - If you think about it, more seasons than not, the Sopranos has been about one thing: Made men misbehaving and doing things they’re not supposed to do. Think about the list through the years - Richie Aprile (and to a lesser extent, Jackie Aprile), Feech La Manna, Tony Blundetto, and most recently, Vito Spatafore.





Spread through all the seasons, these guys did stupid, stupid things and forced Tony to resolve their issues in increasingly painstaking ways. Whether it was starting an unauthorized side business or whacking a guy they weren’t supposed to (or in Vito’s case, whacking off a guy he wasn’t supposed to! Shoot me), these guys’ storylines transformed “The Sopranos” into “Variations on a Theme of Wayward Mobsters,” for better or worse.

2) Contrived plots – Paulie’s aunt is his real mother? A hot Hispanic chick, quickly and implausibly falling in love with AJ at a construction site? Chris hooking up with that Jamba Juice woman who he coincidentally met at a support group meeting (which by the way, it seems, is a plotline that has been completely dropped [See #3])? “The Sopranos” has always been fueled by a strong dose of soap-opera, but sometimes, as Lisa Simpson once put it, it watches like something that came out of Charles Dickens…or Melrose Place.

This was clearest in the Season 4 plotline in which Assemblyman Zellman starts dating Tony’s Russian ex-girlfriend. What are the odds that a) Zellman would actually meet this woman in the course of daily events, and b) Upon meeting her and finding out she was Tony’s ex, would decide to sleep with her without thinking of the consequences? If there’s even the chance that you’d piss off a mob boss, wouldn’t you try to get another girl? Certainly someone Zellman’s government position and his dashing good looks could land another beautiful woman. I mean just look at the guy:
Hot. Anyway, this gave us a one-episode arc for Zellman which ended with Tony beating Zellman with his belt. How dramatic.

C’mon “Sopranos,” you’re better than this.

3) Unfinished Storylines –

I recently saw this 7-minute video, which made its rounds on a bunch of major outlets:


(From Youtube user palgy83)

The video is brilliant, summarizing all the major plot developments in the Sopranos while simultaneously giving some sly commentary. But while the video does actually motivate you to watch this show, it also reveals what I call one of the show’s greatest flaws: Unfinished subplots.


This is best demonstrated by one of the finest episodes of Season 3, “Pine Barrens.” Whatever happened to that Russian guy? Why was his body never found? What happened to Chris and Paulie’s car? Many will argue that these unanswered questions are what makes the Sopranos great. Not everything is brought to a conclusion, just like in real life, and any show that does answer all the questions is being too convenient. I strongly disagree.

In movies (and to a similar degree, in TV), I’ve heard that scenes generally exist for one of two purposes: 1) To move the plot along, or 2) For character development. The best shows on TV, like “The Wire” or “The Shield” (both of which I think are superior to “The Sopranos) are able to deftly use episodes and scenes to accomplish BOTH of these things. Despite my problems with season 4 of “The Wire,” I still think it is the one of the only shows on television able to masterfully juggle dozens of characters’ storylines, and do so in a way that’s responsible and that gives resolution to each one. “The Shield” has also managed to deliver on almost every single one of its storylines, with very few exceptions.

In “The Sopranos,” many characters drop in, sometimes only to disappear or die just a few episodes later. When Eugene Pontecorvo made a big appearance at the beginning of Season Six only to hang himself shortly afterwards, it made me feel manipulated and cheap. Here was a man who just wanted out, and the show makes us feel for him by giving us glimpses of his dysfunctional family. But rather than build this character up and afford him the decency of screen time, they killed him off unceremoniously (in the most unceremonious way possible, actually), to drive home its broader point of how inescapable the mafia is.

I could go on and on about this point about characters’ subplots. Artie and his wife constantly pop up every now and then for an episode or two, then vanish. Paulie’s cancer storyline went nowhere. Whatever happened to that guy that was stealing from Artie in Season 6 (Doogie Howser’s old friend)? AJ’s panic attacks? Melfi’s rapist? Do we even care anymore? The list goes on and on. It’s gotten to the point where if an intriguing plot is introduced, you can have no confidence whatsoever that it will be brought to a logical conclusion.

At best, all of these untied loose ends are unsatisfying. At worst, it’s lazy writing.

But I will give credit where credit is due: One of the most satisfying plotlines has been Chris Moltisanti’s, precisely because they’ve stuck with it throughout all the years. Moltisanti was being bred to be Tony’s successor, then turned his back on it to pursue his Hollywood dreams. His story is given room to breathe and is given a resonance that other storylines sorely lack.

**

All that being said, I still like the show and look forward to watching it to its conclusion (Last Sunday's episode was incredibly powerful). But let’s try to be realistic: “The Sopranos” has substantial flaws, just like many other shows on television, and it should be evaluated as such.

BONUS VIDEO: A&E recently bought the rights to rebroadcast “The Sopranos.” Here’s a take on how the show might look on television, edited.


(From Youtube user noscha)

Forrest Whitaker Is The Man

If you didn't see The Shield last night (Season 6, Episode 2), then don't read on.

But if you did, you saw the resolution to one of the most intense, gripping, and compelling plotlines on any show, ever. Lieutenant John Kavanugh was caught for planting evidence and framing Vic. He was arrested for obstruction/interfering with a police investigation. And in the course of a few minutes, he went from being one of the most hated and reviled characters on The Shield to being someone you almost felt sorry for.

Who could take you through this dramatic range of emotions in such a short period of time? None other than Forrest Whitaker, who I firmly believe is one of the finest working actors today. No matter who he plays, whether it be a ruthless dictator ("Last King of Scotland"), a desperate locksmith ("Panic Room") , an Irish prisoner ("The Crying Game"), or a relentless police officer, he manages to disappear into the role, to make you utterly believe that he is that person:


(From user "shamtaker")

I'm so glad this man finally got some love at the Oscars this year. May your star shine brightly and proudly for years to come, Forrest.

Five Reasons Why "Twenty Four" ("24") Has Fallen

Before we begin, please take a look at the following posts if you can:

- My original post before Season Six began
- http://www.progressiveboink.com/archive/24100/1.html
- http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=1498
(those lasts two links have given me a lot of inspiration, not to mention the videos you'll see in this post)

Before Season Six of 24, Kiefer Sutherland gave many great interviews (here’s one of them) in which he promised the following:

“We've had five years of him saving a large thing; this one's much more about him saving his own ass. He'll go from being the one who hunts people down to the one who's being hunted, so that in itself turns the show around.”

Season Six was supposed to be the season that turned “24” on its head, the season that delivered something fresh after the first five seasons of the same ol’ thing. Indeed, the first four episodes positioned the season to deliver on that promise. After having been tortured brutally for 18 months, Jack Bauer was released from a Chinese prison and forced to sacrifice his life in exchange for a terrorist’s location. But when his captor turned out to be the real mastermind behind everything, Kiefer Sutherland chewed off a guard’s neck and escaped to get the word out just in the nick of time.

Then a nuclear bomb went off near Valencia. Wow. We were left to wonder: What will be the consequences of a mass-casualty attack on American soil? How would our freedoms be affected? What implications would the atomic explosion have, both physically and emotionally, on the people in the blast radius? These were questions with dozens of potentially exciting storylines that could have unfolded as the season went on. This could have been one of the best seasons of 24 ever, if not some of the most compelling material on television.

How far the show has fallen.

I think it’s pretty safe to say that this season of “24” has been the worst season ever. For a variety of reasons which I’ll get into shortly, the show wasn’t doing that well for the first half of the season or so, but “24” unquestionably reached its nadir two episodes ago (Day 6, Hour 15), when a mentally challenged/autistic/Rainman-like character was introduced in a brazenly manipulative subplot that found Jack Bauer coaching him through a dangerous exchange with a terrorist. It’s as if the writers knew we didn’t care about any of the other characters (whose fault is that?), so they shoehorned in a mental disability to MAKE us care. I'm sad to say that it worked, but it made me feel dirty afterwards.

If two episodes ago was the low point of the show, then last episode (Day 6, Hour 16) was when the series officially jumped the shark. A Supreme Court that convenes within minutes and hears cases within the hour? A blond, sexy assistant that is willing to drink the Vice President's Kool Aid, only to be blackmailed by a spying Chief of Staff? And a preposterous storyline in which Gredanko CUT OFF HIS OWN ARM and bled out on a beach, rather than cooperate with the US government, even with the slight risk of Jack Bauer getting medieval on his ass? It's like the show decided to throw any last vestige of reality out the window and go for broke as the most insane and cringe-inducingly-campy-but-unaware-of-its-own-campiness show on television.

I’ve seen every single episode of “24” when it has originally aired. I’ve always been a huge fan of the show, but this season has taxed my devotion more than anything else. Here’s why:

1) We've seen the same thing before...really

Many shows ripoff other shows. "Twenty Four" brazenly rips off itself, to an extent rarely seen in television. You may have gotten a strong sense of deja vu this season; that's because we've already seen "Unstable woman unexpectedly kills domineering man" (Season Four, with the sex slave). We've already seen "Cabinet invokes 25th Amendment to unseat President" (Season Two, with David Palmer). We've already seen "Terrorist somehow manages to slip through CTU's sieve-like perimeters" (Seasons 3-4). We've already seen "Wrong woman from CTU get accused and interrogated for being a mole" (Season Four). For that matter, we've already seen "Mole suspected in CTU" (Seasons 1-5). The only thing we've seen before that we're not tired of seeing is Jack Bauer kicking ass, and he hasn't even been doing that as much! (See #4)

Fans need to see something fresh, or else they won't be tuning in again next season.

2) Increasingly less believable political figures

For the first few seasons, Dennis Haysbert played David Palmer as a firm, dignified president who was commanding, yet gentle; idealistic, yet wizened. Last season saw Gregory Itzin portray the delightfully slimy President Logan, and although he was a character we all loved to hate, his ascension to the presidency was at least believable. This was partially due to some of the plot dynamics at the end of Season Four, but also because of Itzin’s amazing performance.

This season, we’re led to believe that Wayne Palmer is President of the United States. Let’s pause for a minute to contemplate this development. First of all, wouldn’t Palmer’s connection to the murder/suicide at the end of Season Three have virtually eliminated his political future? (Then again, this is a world in which David Palmer won the Presidency as a divorced, single man). And secondly, Wayne Palmer wasn’t even the most popular character on 24; how could he possibly have been the most popular character in a presidential campaign? Can you honestly imagine him giving a stump speech? The man has the charisma of a withered tortoise.

But Wayne Palmer’s ascension is nothing compared to Vice President Daniels, who is so cartoonishly evil that I would wager he has no soul. Although I suppose he could just be a ringer for Dick Cheney…

In any event, the America in “24” has plunged past the realm of “Banana Republic” and into the nether regions of “Wildly Insane.” The show has taken our courteous suspension of our disbelief and run it straight into the ground at 100 mph.

3) Killing off characters…poorly

In Season Three, the killing of Chappelle (from Division) was one of the most moving and powerful moments that year. Somehow, the writers had found a way to provoke a reaction from the death of a character who was basically a non-character. Chappelle’s duties on the show mainly consisted of trying to slow things down with bureaucratic red tape and generally being a jackass, yet when Jack is finally forced to pull the trigger, you could almost feel a tear come to your eye.



All of that emotion, that consideration, that respect that was given to character deaths is gone now.

At the beginning of Season Five, they offed David Palmer, Michelle Desslar, Edgar, and Tony Almeida, all within a short period of time and for no real discernable purpose. But it was Almeida’s death that was the most pointless of all; he went out like a wimp at the hands of Henderson. Fans far and wide complained that there was no silent clock for him, a dignity which even Chappelle got. And Tony’s death seemed to be forgotten by Jack as quickly as it was by the writers. This season, Curtis’ death was forgotten equally quickly, and Ex-President Logan’s death wasn’t even mentioned in the next episode (!)

Killing people off is a perfectly good way to advance the plot, to grab your audience’s attention, and to deepen their connection with the surviving characters (See: Last episode of Season 1). But when you do it so quickly and the characters don’t respond to these deaths in any believable way, it lessens the impact considerably.

4) Where is Jack Bauer?

The writers made a bad decision when they decided to take Jack Bauer out of the “Twenty Four” equation this season. Season Six has seen less of Jack Bauer than any other season. Instead, we’ve been given an insufferable Morris/Chloe subplot, a lame romance between Milo/Nadia, and way too much of a dead-end plot involving Regina King and Walid (what a waste of my time and life). We've seen more of Tom Lennox than we have of Jack Bauer. And that, my friends ia shame.

Let’s face it: Jack Bauer is been the reason everyone, male or female, tunes into this show. It’s not to see Wayne Palmer wax ineloquent on the dangers of a nuclear bomb going off. But even what little we’ve seen of Jack has been unequal to his previous antics.

Remember in Season Four when Jack just up and decided to storm the terrorist stronghold, rogue-like?



Aside from the episode when Jack ate a man, this season has given us nothing close to a siege that audacious. Where has Jack Bauer gone?

5) The heart is gone

In Season One, Jack Bauer was just a normal man put into extraordinary circumstances. Even in the face of conspiracy theories, hot lesbian assassins, and Dennis Hopper’s Serbian accent, the core of the season remained Jack’s emotional connection to his wife and child. The impact of this was felt very clearly in Season One’s finale episode:



In Seasons Two and Three, the same thing applied. Despite how annoying Kim Bauer was, I will argue that she was important to the series in that she imbued Jack with some sort of humanity and kept him grounded in the real world as a family man.

But after Season Three, Jack seemed to become more and more superhuman by the episode, shrugging off injuries (even rising from the dead…twice), and enduring and inflicting countless brutal torture sessions including one on his own brother. Jack was no longer the skillful but desperate head of CTU we saw in Season One; he was an unstoppable relentless killing machine.

This has ultimately been what the show has been losing, and continues to lose: its heart. Jack Bauer is the guy we all want protecting our borders and foiling terrorists plots. But he’s no longer a guy we’d want to ever spend time with because he’s no longer a person that can exist in the real world. He’s not the type of guy you’d want to grab a drink with at a bar, or share a meal with (because he doesn’t eat). Also, he’d probably kill you with his pinky if you spilled on him by accident.

As bad as the cougar-licious Season Two was, it still brought us this intensely moving scene between Jack and George Mason:



This one of those times when it's okay for men to cry. Nothing since then has really come close to having the same emotional impact, this season least of all.

**

In the above post, you might think that I’ve argued that Jack doesn’t do enough killing and yet also argued that he has killed too much. This may seem contradictory, but let me explain: I don’t mind Jack going on unstoppable killing sprees so much as I mind the fact that he no longer appears to have any relatable motivations to go on those sprees. In Season One, we could relate to the fact that Jack’s family was held hostage and he was pushed into an extraordinary situation. But now we don’t really have a firm handle on what his motivations are and I think the show has suffered greatly because of it. You can argue that he has an undying commitment to this country and its values, but even if you could articulate what those values are, how can we relate to a man whose commitment is so total, so all-encompassing?

At its best, “24” has been a campy, streamlined, wildly unrealistic thrill ride that has wowed us with Jack Bauer’s badass-ery and caused us to think a little more deeply about the political world around us. At its worst, it’s a lame soap opera in which we care about none of the characters and where there's a complete lack of tension, despite the attempted use of real-time format. This season it has edged ever more towards the latter. I honestly think the show can still be salvaged but it doesn’t look like it’ll happen anytime soon. I’m still holding out hope for a Season Seven in which a CTU-less Jack just goes on a revenge killing spree to find Audrey’s killer. The show desperately needs something fresh to keep loyal fans excited to be coming back. We can always hope….

(Note: This is an update of an earlier post)

Five Things To Make 24 ("Twenty Four") Better For Season Six

I still remember the first time I watched the Jack Bauer Power Hour. I was a freshman in college and at the behest of a dorm-mate, I gave the show’s first episode a shot. Instantly, I was hooked by the real-time format and fascinated by how they could maintain it from week to week, even from a technical standpoint. Not only did they pull it off, they made it immensely addicting; what really got me were the little moments at the end of each episode, the hooks that would ensure you’d tune in next week to find out what would happen in the next moments of Jack’s Bauer’s longest day (though of course, by now we know he’s had several ‘longest days’)

Ever since the first season, I have watched every single episode of 24 when it has aired for the first time on Fox. I have re-arranged study session, put off homework, neglected work-related and familial obligations, all to watch Kiefer Sutherland kick some terrorist ass from week to week. I have been, by turns, breathtakingly amazed and crushingly disappointed by some of the plot developments. Season Two, for example, had Kim Bauer getting trapped in the forest with a cougar, only to be taken hostage by some creepy underground bomb shelter guy, only to be taken hostage by an unstable convenience store robber. On the other hand, Season Four’s first ten episodes, which chronicled a terrorist cell masquerading as the family-next-door had some of the finest, most riveting television ever (Shohreh Aghdashloo’s performance as Dina Araz was particularly moving…and whatever the hell happened to Behrooz anyway? I think the last we saw of him, he was getting his homing chip removed from his neck, forcibly).

Anyway, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the show, with the four-hour premiere almost upon us, and without further ado, I present to you five things I think would make Twenty Four better for this upcoming season…call it a “wish-list,” though of course by this point in time, many of the decisions have already been made, though with Twenty Four, you never know. (It should be noted that I have read no spoilers for the upcoming season, so I don’t if they’ve divulged that any of these will/will not happen…):

[SPOILERS FOR “TWENTY FOUR”, SEASONS ONE THROUGH FIVE, TO FOLLOW]

1) Characters We’d Like To See More Of -

Curtis Manning – Curtis is pretty much the only potentially worthy successor to Jack that we’ve seen thus far, yet he’s been relegated to the thankless role of black/minority sidekick. Can we please, please see more of Curtis destroying some terrorists, possibly alongside Jack if the opportunity arises? Thanks.

The Logans – Gregory Itzin’s portrayal of the President you love to hate was something that got me riled up, week after week. Jean Smart also gave a spine-tingling performance as the beleaguered First Lady. I’ll never forget that episode when she basically gave up her body to distract the President while the plan to take him down was executed; I was overcome with a horror I rarely experience while watching TV. Logan may be rotting in some prison by now, but hopefully they’ll find some way to bring him back into the show. The anger he inspires is completely unparalleled.

Morris O’Brian – He was delightful in the short time that he was on-screen for Season Five…and I need some more insight into the psyche of a man that would marry Chloe. Perhaps he can teach patience and endurance to all of us men…

Please also leave out characters and plotlines that have no bearing on the main plotline and exist only to generate false tension. As I type this, I’m giving the evil eye to Chase Edmunds’ baby and Erin Driscoll’s mentally unstable daughter (Did you even remember these characters before I mentioned them just now? Honestly?)

2) Institute a Strict Maximum of ONE Double-Crosser This Season - Nina Myers. Mike Novick. Gael (kind of). The President of the United States. The list goes on and on…double-crossers, whose ulterior motives are introduced midway through the season to the surprise of both viewers and the actors that portray them. It’s in these moments through which the show demonstrates that it does still, indeed, make up the story as it goes along (Seriously, the Nina Myers double-cross makes less and less sense on repeated viewings. If she was really on the terrorists’ side, then what the hell was she doing for all of Season One?! Am I the only one who thinks this?). Capping the number of double-crossers at one would ensure more creativity in generating tension. Necessity is the mother of invention and revealing that someone is a mole gets kind of old and lazy after the 8th time you’ve done it.

3) Let Jack Do His Own Thing – Every single season of Twenty Four has seen Jack Bauer frustrated by the bureaucracy of CTU and the federal government, which he fights so hard to protect. Even Season Five, which started out with Bauer being officially dead, eventually ended up with him getting the keys of CTU handed back to him. For Season Six, let’s please have Jack breaking away and doing his own thing, maybe going rogue and taking out some people that have hindered his efforts in the past, or otherwise flagrantly disobeying orders with no consequences. An unencumbered Jack is a happy, violent, and deadly Jack.

4) Split-Screen Is Good – Remember early on, when almost every episode of Twenty Four had numerous instances of this:



You may not be able to tell from these screencaps, but what I'm trying to demonstrate is that early on, split-screens weren’t just placeholders for the ticking clock, nor were they clumsy transitions (which is what they’ve become); they were exciting ways of driving the action and/or tying the four stories together, simultaneously. Seasons Four and Five had hints of this, but never really exploited it to its full potential. Hopefully Season Six returns the split-screen to its former glory.

5) End The Show – This one is a long shot; it was big news awhile back that Kiefer had signed on for two more seasons, not to mention a movie deal that, while sure to be a blockbuster, would break from the show’s real-time format. But could it all have been a red herring for Kiefer's imminent demise this season? Here's hoping...As much as I love the show, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. When the show premiered in 2001, its first episode made the bold move of having an airplane being blown up by an assassin. In the wake of 9/11, executives didn’t even know if the show would last till the end of its first season, let alone go on to become a huge cash cow for the network and spawn countless imitators. While this unexpected success blessed us with five additional years of Jack Bauer, it became obvious how unexpected this was as season after season, writers have tried to draw out the series and to make Jack’s day ever worse and worse.

Early trailers of the new season have teased that Jack will sacrifice his life for his country this season. I can think of no nobler way for Jack Bauer to go out. It would certainly be better than going out by sucking every last drop of revenue from the withered teat of commercial success.


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Why The Wire: Season Four Wasn't As Good As Everyone Says It Was

[Update: This is a blog essay about The Wire: Season Four. If you like what you read, feel free to come back again. You can also subscribe to my blog feed using this link. Thanks for reading!]




For awhile now, television critics have been saying that "The Wire" is the best television show ever made. Anyone who's seen the show in its entirety would be hard-pressed to disagree.

By now, fans have probably already read all the adjectives and descriptions that have been trotted out in the glowing reviews of this HBO Original Series. "The Wire" has been described as a "60-hour novel," a "brilliant," "addictive" piece of work, and a trenchant social commentary into American life. I love this show deeply and have encouraged people to watch it, lending them my DVDs if necessary (I own all three seasons). A little part of me dies inside every time the show is completely ignored during awards season.

In the first season, I was dazzled by the intricate world of drug dealers that the show portrayed, in what was probably an unprecedented look at the methods, procedures, and lives of both drug dealers and the cops that hunted them. Avon Barksdale was a kingpin that was larger than life, a myth as much as a man. His right hand man, Stringer Bell, carried an air of brilliance, cunning, rationalization, and Machiavellian coldness that would eventually lead to his undoing. And that's not even mentioning the brilliant portrayal of the cops, all of whom have memorable roles. The second season did the unthinkable by adding in a dozen or so more characters, while retaining many of the old ones. We were riveted by the tragic decisions that faced Frank Sobotka, by the street-smarts of his nephew Nick, and by the frustrated masculinity of his son, Ziggy. Finally, season three crystallized Creator David Simon's thesis: We, as citizens, are trapped, in profound and significant ways, by our institutions. Major Bunny Colvin's ill-fated decision to strive for reform paralleled Stringer Bell's attempts to do the same; by turning part of Baltimore into "Hamsterdam," he boldly faced off against a system that did everything in its power to take him down.

In short, seasons one through three were virtually flawless. They introduced us to memorable characters, juggled complex storylines in a satisfying way, and made us think about our place in American society in a way that no television show has ever been able to make us do. Upon repeated viewings, my preference is for Season Two, whose story embodies so much pathos and gravitas that exerts an undeniable power over the viewer. But I wouldn't hold it against anyone if they had a different season that was their favorite.

[THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE WIRE: SEASON FOUR]

Which brings us to Season Four.

Where Seasons One through Three brought us into the drug trade, the working class, and the political system respectively, Season Four sought to bring us into American's urban education system, which is basically broken and apparently made worse by the Bush Administration's draconian "No Child Left Behind" act. Having worked in a variety of school settings myself, I can say, with my exremely limited experience, that the show's portrayal of the urban school environment rings true, with its well-intentioned teachers and administrators heavily burdened by an overbearing bureaucracy and forced to "teach to the test." But it's the show's portrayal of four students which make up the bulk of the new season and which ultimately make up the season's emotional core.

Randy, Michael, Namond, and "Dukie" are four kids based off of real students that the show's creator once knew, amalgamations certainly, but their lives are all chillingly plausible. As with previous seasons, the show gives us time to learn about these kids, to watch them mature, and to root for each one as they take their individual path towards a fate that may or may not be of their own making. The results are tragic, heartbreaking, and rarely uplifting.

David Simon has said that there's a myth in this country that if you work hard enough, no matter what your circumstances, you can go on to achieve great things. This is the politically conservative stance, the position that "poverty is a choice." "The Wire: Season Four" tries to give the lie to this myth, and paint a different picture of America, an America where the kids are surrounded by overwhelming violence, where even if they achieve at school there's not much of a future ahead of them, where money can be made quickly and easily by dealing drugs, and where cooperation with the authorities (be they school or police) is met with disproportionate punishment on the streets.

There were many things to like about Season Four. For one thing, the acting continues to be top-notch; I can honestly say I have never seen such masterful acting from teens before in my life. It never occurred to me that Randy, Michael, "Dukie" and Namond were actually being portrayed by actors. The show retains its ingenius method of letting the characterization happen naturally, at least at the outset. We are given subtle hints about these kids lives, from Randy's doting but firm foster mother to Dukie's complete inability (due to family circumstances) to maintain his personal hygeine. The characters are all memorable, with Jamie Hector doing a chilling turn as the ultraviolent Marlo. The Snoop and Chris characters also deliver amazing dialogue that manages to be humorous as well as blood curdling. Omar continues to be a complete badass. The show's portrayal of institutions is also at its best, as we see incompetent policemen rewarded, and effective teachers punished. Finally, the parallels it draws between teachers in a variety of settings is clever and interesting. In one sequence we see a shockingly ineffective Homeland Security briefing parallel a drug soldier training session in the techniques of killing. Great stuff.

I've seen lots of coverage on "The Wire" recently. I read articles in "The New York Times," cnn.com, as well as online magazines Slate and Salon. It heartens me to see the show finally getting the coverage it deserves. But in lavishing so much praise upon it, I fear that critics have ignored some of this season's flaws. Here are some of the flaws that I saw:

1) The show spread itself too thin - whereas previous seasons were able to introduce a plethora of new characters without detracting too much from previously running storylines, this season introduced four new characters, each with their own storyline, and focused on them intensely. There are also numerous other new characters, which took the form of school administrators and other students that each had a bit of a story arc. Consequently, every character necessarily got less screen time, and we learned less about them all than we would have in previous seasons.

This was clearest in Cutty's storyline. Whereas in Season Three, Cutty had a convincing and gripping story arc which took him from hardened soldier to kind-hearted gym trainer, his arc in Season Four seems cut dramatically short. We saw him searching for Spider over the course of many episodes, and only when he finds him does he begin to realize that his philandering ways could have a dramatic impact on his students. Spider's belligerent response in which he says something like "No one's gonna hurt me" is one of the most heartbreaking moments of the series, but Cutty never really comes to terms with the consequences of his actions. He makes a cringe-inducing and half-hearted apology to the kids at his gym, but there's not much more that he does to come to terms with the fact that to be a role model to these kids, he must be a role model in every aspect of his life. In the season finale's montage, we see that Cutty is now with the nurse that took care of him with the hospital; are we supposed to believe that he has seen the error of his ways and changed? I got the feeling that's what we were suppoesd to think but the show didn't earn it from me.

All of this also took away screen time from the police angle of busting Marlo, which arguably was the ultimate driving force of seasons 1-3. The Marlo storyline was a compelling one and although it was meant to be incomplete, it had a far less satisfying ending (I would argue, an almost completely unsatisfying ending) than Season One's ending, which itself left lots of loose ends open regarding the Barksdale crew but managed to reward you and give you some sense of closure.

The other two flaws that I'll detail ultimately stem from this first one.

2) Characterization - I'll just come right out and say this: I didn't buy Michael's transformation from shy and obedient schoolboy (who lovingly took care of his little brother) into Marlo's street soldier. To order the hit of his pervert father seemed like a tortured, but plausible, decision, but for him to shortly afterwards become a cold-blooded killer, offing a street dealer and coldly disposing of the weapon, was a stretch that I wasn't ready to make and that I didn't feel the show deserved. The only interstitial step we really see are a couple encounters in which Michael is more violent than usual as he beats up on a few kids. This transformation bore several similarities to Catherine Zeta Jones transformation into drug kingpin, which we witnessed in the American version of Traffic: Both were fairly implausible and both would have benefitted from a lot more time to flesh out the changes. In the case of "Traffic," we can see the immense difference that a few hours make, as the British miniseries "Traffik," (on which the US version is based) has a far superior portrayal by Lindsey Duncan of the painted-into-a-corner housewife forced to take matters into her own hands. Unfortunately, we'll never know what would have been with "The Wire", and although Michael's character is incredibly well-acted by Tristan Wilds, the changes he makes ultimately don't ring true.

3) Implausibilities and lame plot devices - "The Wire" is almost Dickensian in the way it plays with its plot and this is clear throughout all the seasons. Warrants are typed up just minutes too late, murders are committed completely out of the blue that affect the case at hand in dramatic ways. But whereas in previous seasons these plot devices seem well-incorporated and well-thought-out, in season four they seem tossed off and lazy.

The biggest example of this in the way which Bodie is disposed of, and how that plot device is used to drive McNulty's return. Bodie was always one of my favorite characters, a constant source of comedy relief as well as a fascinating look into the psyche of a street soldier. Near the end of Season Four, Bodie is eating in a diner and McNulty randomly bumps into him. They share a short meal in which few words are exchanged, but this apparently leads to some sort of connection which causes Bodie to confide in McNulty in an attempt at taking down Marlo. Rather than build this relationship from the beginning of the season, as the show usually does, it is made into a short chance encounter and the result feels like just a convenient way to shoehorn McNulty into the next season (who I definitely want to see more of, for the record).

And that's another thing: I can buy that Marlo is ruthless but the degree of ruthlessness on display here is wildly implausible. He's offing people left and right "just because he can," as Bodie puts it...just becuase somebody might have been possibly seen with the cops. You'd think after awhile there'd be an uprising of some sort; a man can't rule by fear forever, I would think, even on the street. If this was the degree of indiscriminate killing going on, wouldn't Snoop and Chris start to get suspicious of each other after awhile?

Finally, I was shocked to see how the Namond story was resolved. Thematically, it seemed like Namond should have somehow died as a result of his incompetence and weakness, but the show takes a baffling turn by having the Colvin adopt him. This is confusing and unbelievable on a number of levels. As I mentioned, the show seems to want to say that the street eats kids alive if they can't cut it. Namond is shown, on a number of occasions, not to be made of the material that is necessary for survival. For him to be shown mercy, while Randy gets completely screwed over, seems pretty inconsistent with everything else in the season, as well as the series.

Furthermore, though I can believe that Wee Bey would want to have the final say over how and where Namond ends up (and his berating of Namond's mother comes off as utterly plausible and very satisfying), to see him agree to surrender custody to a former policeman is completely unbelievable. Though Wee Bey's character is extremely likable and a fan favorite, he is still cold-hearted killer and I would think that from his perspective, for him to give up his child, especially to a former cop, would be to somehow surrendering his masculinity (even if this is not the case). I definitely did not think it would play out like it did in the show, in which Bey confides "You're asking too much" and then an episode or two later, he gives Namond up.

The final shot of the season, in which Namond literally sees his past driving off into the distance of the peaceful suburbs, encapsulates what was so wrong with this plot development; "The Wire" desperately wants you to believe that there is almost never a happy ending, and for this to be one of them, let alone one this implausible, feels like a betrayal of sorts.

**

There is much more to say about the series and in particular this season, and if people respond ot this blog, I'd love to engage in further dialogue about more of the things I loved and hated about Season Four.

Ultimately, "The Wire: Season Four" feels like half a season, in much the same way "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" felt like half a movie. But whereas the latter was a bunch of mindless action and eye candy, the former tried to stimulate thought in a nuanced way (for the most part) and should definitely be applauded for the effort.

Though I thought Season Four was vastly inferior to the other seasons, I'm willing to wait for Season Five, the final season before I pass judgment. "The Wire" remains my favorite show, perhaps still the best show on TV. I hope it goes out with a bang, and not the whimper that this season went out on.