phineas wrote: 
It's still incredibly rich on the 3rd viewing.

 I'm seriously looking at it as a major piece of art. I'd have to say that "The West Wing" and "The Sopranos" (seasons 1-5) were the best TV I've ever seen and they aren't even close to "The Wire"
 If you view it a second time, check out the commentaries.

We've been able to dig up Season 1 on DVD so we're catching up. Bought the set for Season 3.

I was listening to the commentaries on the DVD of season 1 episode 12 of The Wire. At the end David Simon(the guy who created the show) asks the guy who wrote that script if he was getting any points (% of  $)on the DVD's. The guy said no, then Simon says  he isn't either and encourages people to shoplift or download the DVD's.

 bokey wrote: 
Ha! We find the dialog almost "too true to life", especially trying to follow the drug dealers' conversations.

Another thing about The Wire.

 It's the only TV show I've seen where the people didn't have any funny accents

 

I never watched it all while it was on, but I've watched the entire series twice already this year.
It's clearly one of the all time top 5 series. Maybe The Sopranos or The West WIng were as good, but I sure can't recall ever seeing anything better.

 

 geordiezimmerman wrote: 
We've been watching the DVDs the last little bit and loving it.

Just got the box set of this, one of the best series of anything i've ever seen.

Just superb.
Edit - By the way, the bbc has just got thr righst to start showing it in the UK and they are going to start from season 1 soon.