sfgate Tim Goodman: Best shows of 2006? You decide.:
I can tell you straight away that these series will be on there (just not in which order): "The Wire," "The Sopranos," "Rescue Me"huh, "Dexter," "Weeds," "Entourage"oh, "Prime Suspect" huh?, "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," "The Shield," "Battlestar Galactica," something else, another thing, a show here, a show there, something ridiculous, something predictable, blah blah blah. It'll be great. Save your quarters.
Make your picks. But be savvy about it. You wouldn't want me to mock you on The Bastard Machine. And one more thing: I lied. I know my No. 1 series already. And so do you.


sfgate Tim Goodman: "Wire" Ep. 11: "It's morning in Baltimore. Wake up and smell the coffee.": Episode 11 of the best series on television was yet another master class in storytelling. It sent viewers reeling with plot changes, ongoing story development, brilliant dialog and, as usual, magnificent, understated acting. If you want to appreciate for a moment the genius of "The Wire," do it this way: Imagine what a network head would say on notes he gave back to "The Wire" writers on this particular episode. "Too confusing. Too much story. Too much going on. Too ambitious." Don't believe for a second that conversation WOULDN'T happen. The only thing fictional about it is the very notion that a broadcast channel would even attempt something as grand as "The Wire." For the same reason beach reading outsells the classics, the broadcast networks have the most viewers in this country. But to hear David Simon [creator & writer of The Wire] tell it, in his dealings with HBO, the channel remains hands off, letting the creative people it hired to deliver great television do just that. Now, it may be easy for other TV executives to mock the "It's not TV - it's HBO" tagline, but as "The Wire" wraps up this fourth season and we all sit immersed in its absolutely unbelievable creative reach and accomplishment, the question is, where else would you see this? Given the bottom line and the number of viewers, this is nothing short of a private sector arts endowment.
I'm in a thankful mood because, caught up in the density of Ep. 11, I just sat back and admired how astonishing the storytelling is, how strands from past episodes - and not just three or four stands, but a damned rope - all come seamlessly together. But beyond that achievement, something else stood out. An example of the level of quality we're watching, the trust HBO puts in its stable of creative people (and its audience) and the difference in what you get from merely good to, well, "The Wire." Remember the scene where Norman tells Carcetti that Burrell was outside the mayor's office, literally with his hat in hand. ... A minor moment in one enormous episode, but think about what happened there. Viewers were given an unclear moment. Broadcast television has no unclear moments, no gray areas, for viewers. The most intellectual rope strung out on broadcast television is the Dramatic Opposite. A scene will suggest that, say, a perp will give a confession. But no! He pulls out a gun and shoots away instead. You expected A, you got B. That's what passes for depth on most shows. In this scene with Burrell, it was so finely nuanced that viewers might come away with three or four different meanings. Something unexpected happened, but what that was is not entirely evident. And damned if more nuance may have been added to Burrell in the process.
Again, it was a 20 second scene, heavily laden with intrigue. It's a whole different playing field on "The Wire" and on HBO and if you like your Raymond Carver over your Tom Clancy, be thankful we're getting to see a show like this.
and if you like your Raymond Chandler? 8/10/07 I read this bit to rg, recently, not from here, but called up Wire post on the tim goodman blog itself and saw this. rg watching The Wire, thinking it's great.
Exhale. That was a nice bit of TV, no? I couldn't escape the feeling that it was like reading a great book and knowing by the width of the remaining pages that it's all coming together in perfection - but ending too soon. I can't get enough of this season and as the woven stories here overlap in dizzying ways, I couldn't be happier knowing there's another season ahead of us still.
Well, the next couple of weeks promise...everything you could ever want in the way of brilliant television. I just want you to know it's taking all kinds of restraint not to marathon the last three (now two) episodes. That's love, people. You feel me?