In reply to Bjartur i Sumarhus:
The Wire was fantastic and I enjoyed it immensely but only watched it once - I definitely need to go back through and watch again.
> BTL, someone asks if this was the turning point where TV took on Hollywood and started to win?
This is the problem with watch The Wire again. There's so much more great long-format TV out there now. I'm not sure if it was necessarily any particular programme but I think the whole HBO investment in this kind of slow-burn drama really helped. As did the arrival of DVD box sets which started the whole binge-worthy content phenomenon which has been carried on by the likes of Amazon and Netflix.
Freed from the pressure to achieve huge ratings in a particular prime-time slot, and with more freedom to explore topics that might alienate some advertisers I think we're in a golden age of content.
The key thing for me that illustrates this is that I rarely ever watch films anymore, and if I do I'm usually bored by the end of the second act as they nearly all follow the same narrative arc for 90-120 minutes and I find myself just waiting for it to end. Long-form content just has so much more freedom to let things develop at a slower, but deeper pace.