Slate.com's editor-in-chief on why the Wire is "the best TV show ever broadcast in America."

"The Wire, which has just begun its fourth season on HBO, is surely the best TV show ever broadcast in America. This claim isn't based on my having seen all the possible rivals for the title, but on the premise that no other program has ever done anything remotely like what this one does, namely to portray the social, political, and economic life of an American city with the scope, observational precision, and moral vision of great literature."

It's about a month old, but like most of the links here, it's new to me, and maybe, to you as well. I know most of you who watch the Wire already agree it's a good show, but I think like a good movie or book, it's rich enough that I enjoy reading why other people think it is as well.