Each to Each

The last decade or so has been an impressive one for quality television. No, I'm not talking about all that reality crap that's churned out year after year. I mean the list of kickass shows that have really raised the bar for the medium: The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Rome, The Shield, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Rescue Me, Entourage. Another show belongs in that pantheon and in my opinion, beats all of them: The Wire. Last night marked the series finale after five seasons and 60 episodes, and like the rest of the series run, it was consistently excellent. Show creator David Simon wrapped up all the storylines over the last several episodes, with some truly shocking results and some equally positive ones. I'm certainly going to miss the show and its in-depth look at crime in Baltimore. I started watching in season 1, but lost track of the show after a few episodes before picking it up again the next season, so next I plan to rent season 1 and watch that in its entirety. And maybe I'll just keep it going after that by renting the other seasons. Here's some great analysis of the finale and the series itself; if you're unfamiliar with the show, I highly recommend you go back and start with season 1.

Short cuts:

• March Madness will be upon us soon, so I'll be making my uneducated college hoop picks. But here's a story I can certainly dig: American University has a player whose dad was in the legendary This Is Spinal Tap (and whose name isn't Shearer, Guest or McKean). The best (or worst, I suppose) part is none of his teammates have any clue how cool that is.
• Man, how stupid is NY Governor Eliot Spitzer? The dude was formerly New York's attorney general and a guy who was all about the high-profile busts. If anyone knew the political risks of going to a prostitute, you'd think it'd be him. And yet, he came out today and admitted he used a high-priced call girl service that was busted last week by the feds. Must be one of those "cry for help" deals.
• Ever since the so-called Winter Classic in Buffalo on New Year's Day, the NHL has been searching for the location of its next outdoor game. Chicago and Detroit have been rumored, and now Yankee Stadium is being mentioned as a possibility. The toughest part is getting Mother Nature to cooperate with some nice cold weather to keep the ice in good shape; Chicago and Detroit are probably better bets in that regard than NYC.