Before I start, a Warning:
The Wire assumes you've been paying close attention, and it has very, very little sympathy for any viewer who hasn't been. It demands more of its audience than any other TV show I can think of - both emotionally and intellectually - but, if you are willing to "work" (meaning: not surfing the internet while you're watching, or texting, ect.), The Wire will make it more than worth the effort.
The Wire never fails to defy your expectations; never once does it fail to develop a character to their most satisfying extent; never once does it abandon a story-arc, or take an unsure step: it is perfectly conceived, in every way. Unlike Breaking Bad (which I've talked about here before, at some length), its symbolism and themes are never on-the-nose or obvious (that has always been my major complaint with Breaking Bad, and those flashy, superficial camera-angels, too).
The Wire is the most masterful story-telling I've ever witnessed in the medium. Much like the Greek Tragedies, The Wire affirms life without concealing its tragic nature from the audience (for further explanation, read The Birth of Tragedy, by Friedrich Nietzsche). I regard this show as an achievement on the level of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales or Milton's Paradise Lost; so important, it transcends television, and even the medium of film.
Basically: I think The Wire is the great Epic of our time.
