I've written plenty about the final episode of The Wire,the excellent David Simon drama that concluded last night - but was careful not to reveal any secrets or discuss the ending. Now that it's been televised, is it fair game? Or is there still a "I've recorded it, but haven't seen it" faction in play?
And what's the point of honoring secrets anyway, if the networks don't?
Start with The Wire. Here's my position on "spoilers": A well-written preview shouldn't reveal anything that would detract from the audience's enjoyment. Once the program is televised, though, all analysis and details are fair game. If you're a Wire fan, and still have the finale put aside somewhere to watch, then put the rest of this column in the same "futures" pile. I refuse to wait.
My favorite elements of the finale? Mayor Carcetti, all but popping a blood vessel when he learns of the serial-killer scam. Drug-dealer Marlo, so disheartened by going "straight" that he heads straight from the penthouse to the street to confront, and survive, some armed punks. Gus, flashing one last knowing semi-smile from the depths of the copy desk.
And most of all, Bubbles, the heart and soul of the show, finally being allowed to ascend the basement stairs of his sister's home and join them at the kitchen table. At least the newspaper, by profiling Bubbles and changing his sister's opinion of him, did one thing right.
Saddest element? The duplicitous reporter winning the Pulitzer, and the traffic and skyline shots showing the distancing speed and disheartening disparity of city life. The Wire didn't end up offering many solutions. Salute it, though, for shining white-hot spotlights on the endemic, complicated problems.
Now for the flip side of my "fair game" argument. I had forgotten to record The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC Thursday, so I caught a rerun on CNBC a few days later. It was the episode culminating in a terrific, heated showdown between Piers Morgan and Omarosa - and before we found out her fate on the program, it was revealed on a commercial-break promo for the following week's NBC episode.
There was Omarosa with a red circle and slash across her face, and the promise that the next Apprentice would be "Omarosa-free." And now, back to our program. Guess who gets fired?
According to my own "spoiler" position, I guess I can't get too incensed about this. NBC, after all, televised the episode already. But if the only reason to rerun the episode on CNBC is to pick up viewers who didn't watch on NBC, shouldn't that climax-revealing promo have been delayed until the end of the episode, as I'm sure it was on NBC?
Why should critics play fair, if the networks won't?