April Update: I was moved by the Declaration of Independence scenes in Episode 2, but I haven’t thought much of the following episodes. Current rating: “Meh.”

The Wire is now my favorite show, maybe all-time. The series concludes with this Sunday’s finale. I’m bummed about that, as it’s been a torrid affair with the show in the last few months. Despite having been an HBO subscriber for years, the ads for the show never compelled me to watch. I think my mistake was mixing up Oz with The Wire adverts, and I remember thinking that Oz looked interesting but was probably too gritty. Also, I can only have a certain number of shows in rotation, as time is limited. The buzz caught up with me in December, and my girlfriend and I got immediately hooked. We binged on four seasons in eight weeks.

The good news is that you probably haven’t seen The Wire, according to USA Today, as it had a peak viewership of only 4 million.

One thing the falling numbers can tell you is that The Wire simply went on too long, outrunning its audience’s interest. It’s wonderful to have the luxury and ability to structure your series like a novel, and then stretch it out over a six-year span. But if Simon wanted viewers to get to the end of the story, he clearly needed to get there faster himself.

This won’t matter to you if you compress your viewing into months instead of six years by watching seasons back-to-back, like we did.

I’m guessing that a cult following for the show only grows over the years, not unlike Firefly.

The third season (Hamsterdam) was probably my favorite, but the fifth is equally compelling. I won’t spoil anything for you, head over to NetFlix and queue it up.

I just read that there are plans for an American version. Why there is a need to shard series that are successful in Europe? This original series has wonderful characters and an a gripping plot. Perhaps the success of the U.S. version of The Office opens the flood gates for more of this kind of porting (Little California anyone?).

I’m torn because I think The Office U.S. stands on its own very well–the office job experience is something that is shared across borders easily. We already have a rash of CSI clones, so I’d suggest that Life on Mars should be sold to HBO by the BBC and shown as is (a la Extras) and we can dispense of the re-creation of the series.

In the meantime, I’m keeping my eyes peeled for a DVD, or will see if I can get my stateside TiVO to capture reruns and fill out Season 1.