Back on 'The Wire'

The adage "absence makes the heart grow fonder" was reinforced this past weekend when, after a self-imposed wait of three months, I began watching Season 2 of The Wire, quickly rising to the top of my "Greatest Television Shows of All Time" list.

McNulty's been shipped off to Harbor patrol (ha!  See how I did that?), Lieutenant Daniels is working in the basement, and drug lord Avon Barksdale is sitting in prison alongside sidemen Wee Bey and Dee.  Life is crummy, but then so's Baltimore.  By the end of the first episode we have a dead body in the water, a shipping crate with a false back and 13 dead women, and war between the police and the unionized dock workers over who gets the prime location for a donated stained-glass window at the church.

In other words, all the makings of another great season.

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Also while on the topic of television shows I been bugged about for so long I finally decided to cave in and watch, I'm starting the second season of 30 Rock.  My initial crush on Tina Fey has now evolved (or devolved, according to my wife) into full-blown worship.  I would probably stop watching except for the fact that everyone else on the cast is hysterical.  Tracy Morgan is funnier than he ever was on SNL, and Alec Baldwin has transformed into a God of comedic timing.

I have bouts of television overload which will turn on a dime and become television deprivation.  There are 3 seasons of Doctor Who, the second season of Burn Notice, and at least half of this season's House sitting lonely on my DVR right now.  And the deliciously evil Netflix has conspired with my XBOX 360 to stream Instant Streaming queue direct to my television, which means that I now have instant television access to  the entire run of Simon and Simon, Murder, She Wrote, and Magnum P.I.

Am I the only one who forget that Simon and Simon even existed in our universe?

Why yes, that is a scene from the memorable Simon and Simon/Magmun P.I. crossover.  Why do you ask?