Americans, on a whole, are very purtianical psychologically...

Morally, we seem to have a split personality...we are openly fascinated with sex and violence but at the same time have ridiculously staunch judgmental standards...

We flock to movies, television, and music that peddle sex and violence in copious amounts but when it happens in real life we see it in a very black and white way...we are outraged by the baring of Janet Jackson's breast and we cant handle the sight of a penis(it must NEVER be erect)on-screen but we love to strip our vixens and consume pornography in enormous amounts...we vehemently condemn people who indulge in certain behaviors and chalk it up to a defect in their humanity...

As far as The Wire is concerned, it looks at crime and violence in an entirely different way than we are used to....the lines are very blurred...some of the "good guys"(cops, politicians)are just as morally bankrupt, if not MORESO than the "bad guys"(drug dealers, addicts, thieves)...

so far, the most morally upstanding person on the show is Omar(a vicious stick up artists and homosexual), the most intellectual person on the show was Stringer Bell(a drug kingpin), the most diplomatic person was Prop Joe(also a drug kingpin), and the kindest person on the show is Bubbles(a heroin addict)...

the most vile people on the show are people like Rawls, Burrell, Valchek, Landsman, Royce, etc...all public servants...

Pearlman carries on affairs with married men...Greggs shuns her parental responsibility and cheats on her partner...McNulty is a womanizer and heavy drinker...so on and so on....the LEAST capable officer in the bunch is a young white man(Prez)...

Americans need CLEAR and distinct denotation of who is "good" and who is "bad" in their entertainment....which is why most characters in film and TV are archetypes and/or caricatures...and when the ideas about who is "good" and "bad" are blurred--much like they are in real life--its hard to swallow for alot of people...

we need bad guys to be completely rotten and devoid of humanity so we can root for their destruction and feel justified when they suffer...we need our good guys to be pretty and not have any moral flaws...for the most part...if someone else made this show, McNulty and Prez would be shining heroes and the boss of everyone...Major Cedric Daniels, Erving Burrell, and Mayor Clarence Royce would not exist...

we want to believe that the criminals in the inner city are less than human monsters that are all sick and demented and need to be eradicated/exterminated...especially so, in the case of the inner city drug dealer...

our society has ingrained in us that the people who engage in illegal activities in the ghetto are the scourge of the Earth and their existences suck away at our quality of life as a whole...

We dare not think that some of those criminals are actually intelligent, reflective, ambitious, and have qualities such as compassion, fear, and heart...we wouldnt believe for a second that some of those people have hopes, dreams, and even skills that are very close to our own...

on that note, The Wire also uncovers some truths that alot of Americans arent willing to face...

for one, the fact that the decay of our inner cities is based on games of politics.....we LOVE to blame the poor, underprivileged, and disenfranchised solely for their own situations...

politicians pretend that their hands are tied and we believe them...and we dont even consider that if a real effort were put forth by law enforcement and government things CAN change....things change based on what it means for people in power...

efforts to help are many times blocked, hindered, and thwarted...and the people in the inner cities suffer and no one cares...

not to say that people dont have a stake in their own destiny, BUT the people we choose to lead, protect, and serve us us have to match that effort...

The Wire puts the children of the ghetto in your face and forces us to look at what they have to deal with...it forces us to realize that many of their choices are based on survival purely and going against the grain in that environment is a Herculean effort....it shows us how these kids are truly left behind and unprotected from the poisonous environment that surrounds them...

a character like Dennis Wise illustrates to us how very difficult it is to turn your life around in our society...

The Wire depicts these people as they really are in these situations and it doesnt gibe with what we have been taught abt these things...

Im sure race is a factor for some viewers, being that the cast is largely Black and white viewers tend not to watch Black themed film and tv....but thats not all of it...

Im sure that the realism is a bit much to take for some viewers....like many of you have mentioned, the story arcs are not neat or compartmentalized into easy bite-sized pieces...there is very little payoff, and any of the characters can meet an unfortunate end...seeing children and civilians murdered in cold blood Im sure is very hard to watch for some....and for those murders to go unsolved and unavenged must enrage some viewers....seeing people live in squalor matter of factly is also a bitter pill...

the lack of big name actors, the non-glorification of violence and sex, and the true to life depiction of the stress and frustration of police work are factors that send some viewers to the remote...

its a shame that The Wire wasnt more popular or recognized with awards, but for those of us who could appreciate it, we love it and defend it to the death...

We need more entertainment like it...