[QuikSand]

I agree that The Wire can be very funny - but it's not cheap one-liners, it all rises up from the character development, which has been woven for a long time. There are countless scenes where all we get is a look, a word, or a simple situation -- but if you know the characters, their history, and the relationships they have, that look can be a laugh-out-loud moment. In that sense, I think a fair analogy is that this show is like real literature, rather than reading a magazine -- the depth is what makes it so enriching.