We all know the phenomenon, with a TV show airing first in the US and the prevalence of the web, it is so easy to stumble across future plotlines. Personally I imposed a complete Wire web blackout on myself, save for our weekly season five blogs.
But regular reader and commenter TrudyKockenlocker (aka Louise Richardson) had a couple of spoiler disasters which made her question our viewing experience:
The Wire should have been watercooler TV, it should have been on BBC1 or Channel 4 at 10 o'clock on a Thursday. Productivity throughout the land should have plummeted on Friday mornings, as secretaries and CEOs alike discussed their favourite moments from the night before. Questions should have been asked in parliament. The National Grid should have been on standby for a kettle-boiling surge at the end of each episode. We should have enjoyed it as a nation, united in our love for Omar and Bubs and McNulty and Kima and Mike and...
Instead, watching The Best TV Programme in History was a lonely and sometimes scary experience. Lonely because it was just so hard to find other people watching it: whether you caught it first on FX, downloaded it or bought the DVDs, chances were you watched with only a partner or housemate for company. Scary because it was so damn hard to avoid spoilers: the internet was a minefield and if you did find someone in your circle who was also watching, you rarely got past the "don't tell me, don't tell me" stage of the conversation.
I personally had two shocking spoiler experiences this year.
Spoiler #1 came earlier this year, when I was mid-way through S2. I'm chatting with my friends about Rose's imminent return to Doctor Who. One of our number - let's call her Gwen - thinks this is a bit lame, a Dallas-style character resurrection that smacks of shark-jumping. Gwen says "if they're going to bring back Rose why can't they bring Stringer Bell back from the dead?"
I have only recently started speaking to Gwen again.
Spoiler #2 happened just as I'd finished S4. I noticed Jay Landsman played Mello, so went to check him out on Wikipedia. Admittedly a bit of a risk and boy did I pay for it - the last line of the Landsman Wiki entry talked about him referencing his Judaism during Jimmy's eulogy. I mourned Jimmy throughout S5 - and felt like a right fool when I saw the final episode.
I have only recently started speaking to Wikipedia again.
What was your worst spoiler nightmare? And how do we avoid them in the future? And why didn't Channel 4 broadcast the Wire?
Our previous debates about the Wire - including season five, episode by episode - can be found here.
And if you want to see all comments on one page, just like the old days, then click on the "all comments on one page" link below.
There are still plenty of Wire blogs to be posted, but for the time being, this weekly blog is going to become a monthly posting, on the first Monday night of each month. See you soon, hoppers.
