Category: Television

I was minding my own business, watching Andy Barker when suddenly on the screen popped up an old acquaintance and improv acting troop member, Christopher Todd Grundy. He was playing a cop on the show and his appearance threw me for a loop (he shows up about 18 minutes in). I had to rewind to find out for sure – and there he was – with that voice, and that face, with a speaking role on a television sitcom.

And, for those not watching, Andy Barker is pretty funny stuff. Created by Andy Richter and Conan O’Brien, it has some pretty preposterous adventures crammed into a perfect half hour. I daresay it is must see television.

. . . and that is a good thing.
The Wire, on HBO, is the best show on television. period. end of discussion.
I have been saying this for four years now, mostly to closed ears from my friends. Hypnotized by the marketing lure of The Sopranos and Sex in the City, most of my friends will do anything rather than watch the troubled story lines of the drug plagued inner city Balitmore projects and the cops that try in vain to win the war on drugs.
And that is a shame.
Because they are missing some of the gutsiest and well-crafted drama I have ever witnessed, on television or film. A show with characters so real and well developed that you become invested in them and consumed in their story. They stay with your for days and weeks afterward. I don’t want to be a spoier and give it away. It isn’t that kind of show. It sneaks up on you. Written by a former Baltimore Cop and former Balitmore school teacher as well as the author of the non fiction bestseller “Homicide: Life on the Streets,” The Wire bring a depth of reality to HBO serial television that is unlike anything you have ever seen before.
Last night was the season finale of Season Four, focusing on the school system, inner city economics and plight of corner kids and stoop kids and the decisions that many on urban housing projects have to make each day.
I suggest that if you don’t have HBO, get it. If you don’t have cable On Demand, get it. Rent the first three seasons on Netflix and then jump into Season Four, availabe On Demand through December or mid January.
You won’t regret a single hour of the best show on television.
Recently HBO decided to grant The Wire a fifth season. My stop watch is ticking to ensure I don’t miss an episode.

A review of Season Four from The Washington Post

Good golly, it is like going back in time. Sci Fi channel began running all the Battlestar Galactica episodes in a mini marathon this morning. They remastered them with digital sound. A cable television heaven for this television junky. I used to love this show. It was on while I was in the seventh and eighth grades. As kids, we used to “play” Battlestar in the backyard, craft ships and act out space wars. I also used to watch the weekend-end long Star Trek marathons that would run. Mind you, this was before cable television hit the town. All we had was over the air TV. So when Channel Two in Denver would run its Star Trek-a-thons, we would try to watch them all. Now with cable, a marathon run of an old series happens so often that you come to expect it. Oh well.