Turns out Steve and I weren’t the only ones mildly disappointed this week by the absence of The Wire’s last episode on HBO OnDemand, which previously had made each of this season’s episodes available a week early. I’m not sure if that’s a very good sentence…

Anyway, enough people raised a stink about the last episode — or lack thereof — to make it a news story.

HBO vice president Dave Baldwin said that in seasons past, spoilers about season finales and the episodes themselves had leaked onto the Web, so Simon requested a change in the schedule.

Baldwin acknowledged that there were many angry fans — some of whom are calling HBO liars — but attributed their rancor to their passion for the show. But what could he say?

“Forgive us, we thought we were doing the right thing,” Baldwin said. “And anything else that a husband would say to his wife [in] begging for forgiveness.”

The curtain of secrecy around “The Wire” finale is one Simon intends to keep tightly drawn until the show begins Sunday night.

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