Fans of The Wire, the HBO drama most people only started watching after the New York Times and Slate told them to, are surely disappointed that the show's "Dickensian realism," as its aesthetic is invariably described, doesn't come across in high definition. According to a list provided by HBO, the complete runs of Big Love, Carnivale, Deadwood, and The Sopranos, seasons three through five of Six Feet Under, seasons three and four of Entourage, and even the first season of Tell Me You Love Me (if we wanted to see senior-citizen balls, we'd rent a Harvey Keitel movie) were all given the high-def treatment, while The Wire continues to be broadcast in drab old standard definition. What gives?

According to Jeff Cusson, a VP of corporate affairs for the network, HBO's decision to film some shows in HD and others in normal definition is the product of pure happenstance. "Five or six years ago, when we started ramping up the HD program in the company, we did it on a case-by-case deal," says Cusson. "Some got it, others didn't. There's nothing more to it than that."

While most viewers would no doubt prefer to see the grimy urban streets of Baltimore with the increased clarity and more robust color of high def than, say, Adrian Grenier's oily hair, Cusson maintains that such considerations aren't taken into account by the network. He also scoffed at the notion that a show's ratings or profitability are part of the decision-making process. (The Wire, for all its critical acclaim, has never really attracted a mass audience.) "Absolutely not true. Like I said, The Wire was conceived as a standard-definition show, and that's the way it stayed. Will all shows eventually be in HD? Of course. But we're not there yet."