Who's still working

I am savoring Season 5 of The Wire. For the next week or so, I have access to HBO On Demand which allows me to watch every one of the season's episodes as many times as I want, and I .am .loving .it. In case you haven't heard, The Wire has been hailed for years as the best show on television (despite a total lack of Emmys). Tim Goodman, the San Francisco Chronicle's brilliant TV critic (blog connection to the right) is one of the most devoted fans and can bring you up to speed on its brilliance. I view it as the contemporary heir to the sprawling, epic works of literature. It holds its own, easily, in the pantheon of the Greek tradition, and the nineteenth century novels produced by the best British, French and Russian writers. But you can hear all of these arguments in any national or local magazine (Time, Newsweek, etc.) or newspaper, as well as Internet publications (Slate, Salon, et.al.)

The finale aired Sunday night, but I'm still steeped in the magic and scope of the multiple storylines coming together and moving towards resolution. And I'm preparing myself to say goodbye to all of my favorite characters -- Omar, the show's unlikely moral center; Bunk, the consummate Baltimore po-lice; Daniels, who's finally reached the inner sanctum of the police hierarchy, only to find he can't support the fundamentally important, necessary work of his colleagues because of budget constraints; and of course, Bubbles, the junkie who finally seems to be clean and sober. And the city of Baltimore, which I now feel I know intimately. And then there's the love for all the great new characters in the newsroom, and the deep love and appreciation for all the casting directors, the other actors, the writers, the directors, the cinematographers, and everyone else who's contributed to the authentic look and feel of the show. At all levels, this has been such an excellent production over 60 episodes -- which is why I think it qualifies as epic literature.

What will I do when all the familiar faces are gone? Well, I can take heart because some of them are showing up on other shows. There was Chief Daniels in what looks to be a recurring role on Lost, and Mr. Prezbo and Commissioner Rawls on recent episodes of Law and Order. Perhaps most surprising was coming across Lester Freamon on Waking the Dead, a British import that airs on KTEH's Friday night British mystery/suspense line-up. Hey, did McNulty get him work across the pond? Kima was on an episode of Cold Case, in a role that looked like it might turn into a semi-regular gig, but I haven't seen her lately. And I saw Carver on another cop-like show -- Criminal Minds? CSI Miami? And one of the best .surprises . ever. was Bunk as Don's shrink on Numbers! (Though nothing could rival those great Bunk/McNulty drinking scenes!) And there's Frank Sabotka playing a mechanical engineering professor on Numbers.

Well now you know too much about my indiscriminate TV watching. Hey, I need to watch something while I'm knitting. I can't read! I hope that all of these amazing actors will continue to get work, especially in fully-developed, challenging material where they can show their chops. I'm really bummed to see Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos hawking a chain restaurant in a commercial. Paulie f***ing Walnuts!! Who did amazing work through every season of The Sopranos. Someone give that man a real job!!

On a completely different note, I got to visit the BFF's eldest son's classroom today on DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) Day. This annual program in the Berkeley public schools, has adults from throughout the community visit a classroom with a book and read aloud for half an hour. I signed up too late last year, and was thrilled to get my dream assignment this year. I chose to read from one of my childhood favorites -- Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, by E. L. Konigsburg. Do you know how satisfying it is to see a classroom (in this case of 4th graders) enthralled with a story? Even the boys liked it. And what a great treat to see that a 40 year old story can still hold its own in this age of Wii, iPods and YouTube.

Who still reads? Maybe more people than we think.