All wired on 'The Wire'

I just completed the five full seasons of HBO’s The Wire and am suffering withdrawal pangs. I’m not sure why, but this show and I failed to connect when it was first shown. Fortunately, two of my current magazine colleagues, one former colleague, and both of my children urged me to give it another try, and I’m so glad they did. I’m prepared to argue that it is indeed the finest drama in television history, and an even greater achievement than The Sopranos, which is really saying something. I’ve never had television characters seep into my pores and linger in the memory like these. Bubbles, Omar, Marlo Stanfield, Lester Freamon, Stringer Bell, Major Rawls, Proposition Joe, the unforgettable McNulty and Bunk Moreland … the list goes on.

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Just finished a fine sports biography that was, unfortunately, marred by sloppy copy editing. I thought that the four or five hideous dangling participles and many unnecessary uses of passive voice would be the extent of it, until I stumbled last night on a bad misspelling (of the word camaraderie). And this from an imprint of Penguin no less. The writer, who did an impressive amount of interviewing and research for the book, deserved better. Of course, you can also say the first line of defense against such errors is the writer, not the copy editor.

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The grunts and groans I hear Christmas Eve may be from an overloaded Santa toppling down the chimney. I think old jelly-belly might be bringing yours truly the new George Kennan biography, which I think is doorstop-size. I’m on a major biography kick lately; a life of Charles Dickens might also be on the way. My colleague Jeff Reich, editor of The Writer, is very knowledgeable about Dickens and recommended the Michael Slater biography. Lots of good reading for the long Milwaukee winter. Now if I can just train our cats to make the fire and bring me a hot chocolate.

 Happy holidays to all of The Writer’s readers and contributors.  

 -- Ron Kovach, senior editor, The Writer

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