the buzz log

It's the best show on TV —and chances are, you've never seen it. On Sunday, HBO's "The Wire" makes its fourth season debut. And though critics hail the Baltimore crime drama as a "masterpiece" and "the best work in television history," only the smallest sliver of the cable network's subscribers have tuned in.

But this year may be different. Last weekend, searches on the show edged upwards, maintaining a decent 16% climb over the rest of the week. Buzz on "hbo the wire" also rose, while states as far from Maryland's mean streets as California, Illinois, and Texas hit the Search box for more on the gritty tale of one rust belt city and its cops, drugs, and wartorn corners.

Of course, all this buzz merely bumps "The Wire" into our top 13,500 searches, while HBO's other series —"Entourage" (top 3,000 searches), "Deadwood" (also top 3,000), even "The Sopranos" (top 5,000)—all place much higher. But addicts never relinquish hope. And, yeah, we're addicted. Count us among the fanatical few nourishing the dream that this year "The Wire" taps into a wider audience. We can hope, right?