Tired of summer TV? Time to get 'Wire'd

Let's face it: Summer TV sucks. Reality programming dominates, and titles like "National Bingo Night" and "America's Got Talent" are poor substitutes for entertainment. The NBA playoffs haven't brought many exciting moments since the Golden State Warriors' early exit. Even old standards like "The Sopranos" and "Entourage" are clinging to life because of reputation, not inspiration or innovative storytelling. However, the unbearable summer heat and the relative lack of events in the city make the occasional veg-out session in front of the TV a necessity. So next time you are stuck choosing between watching the 85th replay of Barry Bonds going 1-3, 2BB, or Jim Clark from Little Rock, Ark. screaming "NO DEAL!!" like he's on fire, I suggest option C: go rent or buy DVDs of "The Wire."\nYou might've heard of "The Wire" before, HBO's critically acclaimed series on inner-city Baltimore and how it is affected by the drug trade and law enforcement. You may have even started watching it accidentally On Demand when you were trying to get reruns of "Sex and the City." But if you are looking for a complex show to grab your attention and characters you can identify with on a much deeper level than your mutual love of expensive shoes, "The Wire" is the only way to go.\nIt is almost impossible to pick one point from which to begin discussing the show. Unlike typical cop and lawyer shows, gangsters in "The Wire" are much more than an evil presence that needs to be eliminated, and unlike "The Sopranos," cops on this show are much more than an unseen enemy who try to destroy the criminals. The closest thing the show has to a main character is Jimmy McNulty, a homicide detective who trusts killers on the street more than his own supervisors. He isn't in the job of solving murders because he feels sympathy for the victims, a position you might see on a simpler show like "CSI." Instead, he does it because he gets a thrill from figuring out a puzzle. Together with his partner Bunk, McNulty regularly consults drug dealers and thugs to get to the root of what he sees as the real problem facing the city: murder. Despite a knack for sticking up for what he believes in no matter what his superiors tell him to do and his beautiful friendship with Bunk that seems as genuine and authentic as any friendship you've had, he is a compulsive drinker and an unfaithful husband -- just one example of the complexity of the characters on the show.\nCops and drug dealers aren't the only important roles on the show either. Omar Little is a stick-up man and arguably the most popular character on "The Wire." While he doesn't participate in the drug trade, he is seen as a modern-day Robin Hood on the streets of Baltimore, stealing heroin from the dealers and giving it to the addicts or selling it back to its original owner for a pretty penny. Everyone is afraid of Omar, and when he is heard whistling "The Farmer in the Dell" or seen carrying his trademark shotgun down the street, word spreads incredibly quickly and people fly into back alleys. When he isn't brandishing a weapon or stealing heroin, he is a valuable informant to the police department, acting as a key witness in murder trials. In addition, Omar is also openly gay -- something that is considered a cardinal sin, punishable by death in the tough code of the streets.\nThere are at least twenty other characters deserving of a full column, such as Bubbles, a friendly addict and informant who tries to teach his nephew the value of staying in school and not using drugs, and Clay Davies, the outlandish senator who depends on campaign contributions from drug dealers. And I haven't even mentioned Stringer Bell, Ziggy Sobotka or Dookie. "The Wire" does an incredible job of showing how the war on drugs is a lot more difficult than throwing a dealer or two in jail, and how even people who want to improve the situation on the streets have to go through a lot more institutional red tape than the results are worth. It is also the clearest and rawest depiction of institutional racism I've ever seen, making city services and public schools seem like a joke compared to the secure infrastructure of the drug trade. The show's fifth and final season is coming up later this year or early 2008, so now is a perfect time to catch up on old episodes. You will learn more than you ever thought existed about politicians, police and drug dealers, and you may even become bilingual (if the West Baltimore street slang isn't a different language, I don't know what is). If you want to spend your summer watching something much more real than "reality" TV, pick up "The Wire"