David Simon obsessive?(fake shocked face) There's some McNutty in that man.

Ricky Gervais topic-ness: Loved "The Office Special" complete with cheesy-stuck-in-the-eighties Harold Melvin cover video.

And, bullcrap, that good stories can't come from spleen...the mess of the Mahoney shoot came because DS was like "Tell me how to write, willya? Take that!" after NBC insisted Mahoney. Must Die. (cause, you know, Drug Dealing Is Evil and Wrong) So our man Simon boosted our catharsis. And he'd do it again. So, fifteen years later(!), score one on the pissy upstart. Shall I suggest that Mr. Plotz(real name or street name?) remain silent?

And, call me partisan("What are you, some kind of Democrat or something?" but I never trust any writer sticking up for some poor corporation.) But then, if David Simon decided to write about the process by which phonebooks got to Baltimore, I'd find something to watch in it. So I've drunk the kool-aid there,I suppose.

The Directory: What's on the pages is only part of the story.

I would watch it.

And it would be compelling and fascinating.

Have I mentioned how excited I am about the prospective New Orleans series? I know it isn't definite yet, but if it happens it will be so what I want.

The Directory: What's on the pages is only part of the story.

This made me laugh harder than anything today.

Thanks. Guess who watched HBO just a bit too much? Re: the NOLA show. I hope Simon gets Wendell Pierce, who as you might know if you liked the Spike Lee NOLA doc, is from there and apparently hilarious in real life, too.(If you haven't seen it, it's awesome.) And, of course, will not get the Best Actor in A Comedy emmy he deserves for playing Bunk Moreland. So another job on home turf is not too much to ask, imo.

I haven't been able to bring myself to watch When the Levees Broke, yet. Glad to get your rec for it, erika, that'll help next time I try to talk myself into it.

Just mainlined all of Extras in the last several days. Good stuff! I'll have to work my way back to The Office, now, but it's not conveniently instantly available. Probably for the best for my leaving the house plans, really.

It is a great film, with a surprising amount of humor in it. And finally, Spike's level of perma-pissed? Seems to fit the crime. Grim humor, at times, but as a Wirehead, that's kinda how I roll.(And I can say that and be more literal than anyone in the world. Ha!) Mr. Pierce's segment was a highlight though.

Sheeeeeeeeeeit. I've finally seen a Wire episode that wasn't very good.

Really? I kind of loved it. Especially the cameos by the Laura Lippman characters!!! (the detectives from the County)

I haven't read her books, but there was a lot about this episode that seemed uncharacteristically heavy-handed and flat.

Such as:

1. McNulty tampering with evidence happened awfully fast. Sure, he's on a big decline and all, but being a good police has always been the one thing he held sacred.

2. Evil Editor Man really sucks as a character. The critics are right that he's easily the flattest character the Wire has produced, more of a moustache-twirler than Marimow (and I realize that he's based on the real Marimow). When he overruns Gus on the Orioles story, he might as well have stopped to cackle. I mean, seriously, consider the differences between him and Burrell. Burrell's self-serving assholish behavior is all about his ambition, right?

3. I realize they're trying to show the growing reckless disregard of Chris & Snoop, but seriously? A hit on a guy turns into a massacre of everyone around the guy in broad daylight? What happened to the ruthlessly efficient Chris & Snoop who dropped guys almost surgically in the dark of night?

4. Evil Editor going meta: "I don't want some amorphous series detailing society's ills. If you leave everything in, soon you have nothing." DON'T WINK AT ME, DAVID SIMON. AS AWESOME AS YOU ARE, IT'S NOT AWESOME WHEN YOU FLATTER YOURSELF.