Exhibit 13.11

Man, Stringer Bell sure is screwed now.

Omar comin'! Omar comin'!

Exhibit 11.14

UPDATE: It's wisely been brought to my attention that this post may contain spoilers about The Wire. I don't think there's anything that gives away a plot point here but certainly characters are referenced, etc. As I would hate to ruin anyone's Wire watching experience, I definitely should have pointed that out. I'm sorry.

More importantly, this post also gives away my preferred form of themed Uno. So now you know.





Last night we finished The Wire and there really isn't much more for me to say except that if you haven't seen it we can't be friends.

I'm not joking.

Each one of you will be presented with this simple quiz. If you pass, great, you can come over any time and play Harry Potter Uno. If you fail, not only will we not be friends, but I'll probably key your car.

'The Bunk' is:
A) A Police Bar
B) A Stash of Heroin
C) Extremely Huggable

Randy Wagstaff's father is:
A) Cheese
B) Method Man
C) Shaquan God Allah

Brother Mouzone reads:
A) Harper's
B) The New Yorker
C) Whatever Brother Wants

Omar's best boyfriend was:

A) Brandon

B) That Latin Guy Was Okay

C) Oh, It Can't Be What's-His-Name

The ex-Mrs. McNulty is:
A) Surprisingly Attractive
B) Really, She's Not Bad
C) Yeah, But She's No Beadie

Omar:
A) Fo' Sure
B) Oh, Indeed
C) (whistling)

Democratic Primary:
A) Clarence Royce (incumbent)
B) Thomas Carcetti
C) Anthony Gray

Rawls was:
A) A Regular
B) Just Enjoying the Drink Specials
C) Into It, Sure, But Not, You Know

Baltimore as a city:
A) Scares the Hell Out of Me
B) Presents Growth Opportunities for My Import/Export Business
C) I Love Ace of Cakes

Good luck.

Exhibit 9.6

So I know I'm about as late to this party as Daniels was late to fully support an investigation into Avon Barksdale's drug empire, but my god The Wire is great.

This, by the way, may just be the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone: So the first disc of The Wire had three episodes on it after which we were hooked on the show (and to dropping references to the show) like McNulty is hooked on justice. The second disc came from Netflix and we planned it so that we would watch one episode the day it came and two the next day. (By which I mean we planned it like Bubbles and Johnny Weeks planned to rob that copper truck). So it's the next night at about 10:45 when we finish the second episode on the disc and realize that even though every other disc in the season has three episodes on it, Disc Two only has two episodes. We freaked out like America freaked out the first time Omar kissed Brandon. It's honestly the most depressed I've ever been in my life. Happy ending: Heather and I drove to Blockbuster five minutes before it closed to pick up the next two discs with Netflix delivering the final disc of the season. I really wish I had a Wire reference to go out on here.

It's entirely likely that I just didn't watch a lot of TV for many years and so it's just an illusion created by Netflix and internet streaming, but there really has been an incredible increase in the amount of high-quality programming on TV. In fact, if someone argued that mainstream TV programming has eclipsed mainstream film as a place of narrative innovation, I'd agree like Judge Phelan agreed to a warrant to wiretap public phones near the housing projects.

Yeah, that's the stuff.

Anyway, it's easy to look down on television but this really is a place where some of the best stories are being told at the moment. A lot of it is certainly HBO's influence. They seemed to be the first to realize that with DVD (and now the internet) that dramas could have longform plots without losing audience. When ER was the best show on television--think about that for awhile--the show clung desperately to an episodic structure with a few loose tangents to the point that it ultimately went off the rails when storylines were exhausted and everyone realized there wasn't a plan. Same thing with The X-Files.

Comedies got onboard as well and while the ratings haven't been there yet, it's impossible to argue with the brilliant, single-camera reinvention of the sitcom done by shows like Arrested Development and The Office. There was a time when some poor souls had to watch Perfect Strangers and while we still have our share of Balkis out there, at least there's 30 Rock.

These new shows aren't trying to be mini-movies but are now free to be something closer to serial novels (any prospective Ph.D.'s reading this should feel free to jump all over that dissertation I just started for you). There are certainly problems with the comparison--I'm pretty sure Dickens never had to write around Fagin walking off the set like Mr. Echo on Lost--but by and large the work being done has space for the short and long plots like no other medium. Only a handful of movies a year are able to develop characters and set a tone with the precision of television's best. I'm too scared to even do a comparison with novels.

As scared as Pryzbylewski was when he hit that kid.