Wire and Mad Men, just about the best TV I’ve ever seen. I had to Lovefilm the first series 3 times before I got into it. First couple of episodes are setting things out and in no hurry to do so, I gave up and then went back to it after enduring much pleading from fanatics.
Don’t watch it with the subtitles on. You will get the Baltimore slang pretty quickly, it’s part of the fun and it gets better and better.
+1 on reading Homicide. Reportage at its best.