Dear HBO,
By now, I've grown pretty used to you (and just about every other TV network, for that matter), waiting until the last minute to announce your decisions regarding new season orders for a show. For that reason, I'm not panicking too much about the lack of renewal information for The Wire, the 3rd season finale of which aired last night.
However, the ending sure felt like a lot more than just a single season wrap, didn't it? McNulty back on foot in the Western, Avon back in jail, Stringer dead, "Major" Daniels, and that final scene with Colvin and Bubbles looking over the ruins of "Hamsterdam." Maybe David Simon and company know something I don't, but that sure had the feel of a final farewell. You could use Marlo as the bad guy in the next season, but that would be going over pretty well-worn territory. Cutty and Carcetti are interesting characters, but let's face it: McNulty and Stringer are/were the soul of the show. With the former walking a beat and the latter on the slab, Simon either has to introduce an entirely new group of cops and criminals or go into left field again like with Season 2.
I say this as matter-of-factly as I can, but if you cancel The Wire, I'm canceling HBO. Sure, The Sopranos is still okay, but one more half-season a year from now is hardly a reason to keep a subscription running, Six Feet Under grows progressively more angsty and annoying, I don't watch Carnivale, and Deadwood is good profane fun, but is hardly in the same class. Your movie selection is already the worst of the pay channels, which is why people tune in for your original programming. Pulling the plug on one of your most critically acclaimed shows isn't really a good way to keep viewers.
And you still owe me for letting Arli$$ run for seven seasons.
Sincerely,
Pete
UPDATE: But enough with the cutesy fake correspondence. This article really says it best:
Now, it's also quite possible that viewers just don't like "The Wire"....People say the first is too dense, moves too slowly. You know, like a book.... And if this is the case with you, well, let's just say reasonable people can disagree.
Except you're wrong.
Millions upon millions of people are wrong, evidently. Which is galling and sad and makes a certain someone prone to rage. But what does it say about our standards if "too challenging" is the death blow to quality? If intelligence isn't being rewarded on television, then it will go away.
And, yes, the knee-jerk response to that is, "It already has." But that's not true. Rent or buy the first-season DVDs of "The Wire" and "Arrested Development" for proof that people in the television business are still trying, that genius still sprouts in fields of stupidity.
HBO makes its decision some time in mid-January.
I'm just wondering if Sarah Jessica Parker is EVER going to stop getting nominated for fucking Sex and the City. Isn't that show OVER?? She is not that good, people. I feel like awards shows are just one big suck-up. Arrrgghhh