More on The Wire

This Sunday is the last episode, so people are writing about it.

Matthew Yglesias writes Farewell to The Wire "Here, though, in a somewhat Wire-like irony, the show's very success may be television's downfall. After all, it's hard to imagine any future show securing substantially more free publicity in the form of critical and media attention - and yet the show was a commercial failure anyway. The very same show that taught us that, yes, episodic television can be great drama also teaches that there's no business sense in bothering to try. This is television, where greatness will not save you."

Ross Douthat talks about his favorite elements. "But having just re-watched the whole of Simon's creation, for start to (almost) finish, I do think that if you compare the show to literature, as so many of its admirers do, the first three seasons feel like an organic whole, a single masterpiece - whereas seasons four and (especially) five are interesting and imperfect sequels to the original Great American Novel."