I finished watching Season 4 of The Wire about a month ago and every TV show i've seen since has seemed like a poorly constructed peice of crap.

Any other Wire fans out there? WITHOUT A DOUBT the best tv show of all time. I'll give a quick synopis for those who haven't heard of it (go buy it, go download it, go beg on the streets for it, it will change your tv life forever!). I haven't spoken to anyone who has seen it and not thought it was the best TV show ever made.

The overwhelming theme of The Wire is the city of Baltimore, but more specifically the institutions that run it. Mainly it follows a police detail that use wire-taps to take down a murderous drug dealing group. But it equally follows the criminals themselves and they aren't portrayed as good and evil in the traditional sense at all, there is absolutely no moral highgrounds in the Wire, the police are as bad as the criminals and you find yourself routing for both sides. The later seasons also focus on Baltimore politicians and the education systems.

It's an ensemble cast, it's incredible realistic and many Baltimore criminals are employed actors in the show. Most importantly it has a 5 season story arch, the crime isn't solved at the end of every episode, it has been compared to a great novel and that is exactly how it feels. It has failed to become popular because it is so like a novel, you can't just drop in and out, you have to see the whole thing.

Heres some reviews and info:

Wiki Entry

Getting wired - The Guardian

They call it the greatest TV series you've never seen. Now join the cult ...The Guardian

Ohh I'm just about to start watching the 1st series of this. It looks really good.

The first and fourth seasons are the best, the other two are profoundly brilliant too though. I'm going to re-watch the whole thing before the 5th season comes out.