Not sure if this is going to last very long past today, but the premiere episode for S5 of “The Wire” is available for free download on the iTunes store. The interesting thing about this is that the show isn’t normally available for sale through iTunes, and you can’t find the premiere by searching for it directly. Instead, you have to look for The Wire’s podcast, then subscribe to it, and then it will show up as an available download in your podcast list. Very strange way to market the thing, but I’m guessing it’s just a temporary glitch of some sort before the show’s actually offered for sale this season.

Whatever the case, it’s a bit of a hoop-jumper, but ultimately free way to sample the show if you’ve never seen it before…and don’t mind coming in to it minus 50 episodes of the densest, most rewarding back story ever created for television.

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