Great TV.

There's good TV and great TV.
Thankfully, we're living in times where great TV is more common. TV has evolved well as a media. Or maybe it's the fact that it has grown to such diversity that we don't necessarily have to look at shit anymore. Although sometimes it's hard to escape it.
Either way, the time and money spent on making good quality TV is better nowadays than it was say 20 years ago. More good actors from films are interested in venturing into TV, when some years back it meant your career was over.

Good TV is the one that entertains. The one that's not bad in content, but it's not exceptional either, but above all it has the ability to not piss anyone off. But greatness, that's different thing. Great TV is the one so realistic that you fell you'll run into the characters on the street. Like if you're eating at a hip LA restaurant and you see Ari Gold or any of the Entourage crowd. Or run into the guys from The Wire in Baltimore.

About The Wire, I know I'm a bit late to the prom on this one but it might be one of, if not the greatest show I have ever seen in my life. It might not be my favorite. But when it comes to building a smart story, with great characters and performances, well done and produced and definitely one of the smartest critiques to the system and governance I have ever see in any form of entertainment, The Wire has to be my pick.
It might just be the standard of great TV. And it's not for everyone. Greatness never is.
It's the kind of show that will make you see things that maybe you don't want to see. That will make you think when maybe you seek TV not to think.
TV has evolved to a medium that used to be the "idiot box" to shows that are pushing the envelope and are trying to be smart and entertaining at the same time. It can be done. And even when they will not find instant commercial succes, this is becoming a trend. There's obviously people to thanks for it, and they're called HBO.

If you haven't seen The Wire, do it. It will make you see a TV you've never seen. Don't expect a 24-like show, where Jack Baure saves the world over and over again. Expect to see a real portrayal of an American city and the people in both sides of the law, where you don't always tell who are the good guys and the bad guys.