Slim Charles never looked so smooth.
Update 2: It’s been a while since news of The Wire HD first broke, but HBO is finally bringing the series into the 1080p world later this month.
The Verge says every remastered episode of The Wire — all 60 of them — will be available starting December 26th. The remasters will be pushed out to HBO Go, Google Play, iTunes, Xbox Video, and Vudu.
A Blu-ray box set is in the works, too, although that won’t hit until Summer 2015.
Update: HBOWatch heard back from HBO about the remasters, and while the fun was originally supposed to start in September, the date has been pushed due to review. Hopefully a concrete launch date will hit these mean streets soon.
Original Story: You might think there’s better television than HBO’s The Wire. But in a rare moment where opinions can be wrong…well, you totally are! (And yes, that includes Breaking Bad. Come at me.)
So we must all pay tribute to our Home Box Office god, because HBO is bringing The Wire back to its airwaves in fresh new duds. Every episode of The Wire has been remastered in HD for your 1080p viewing pleasure (or probably 720p, depending on your cable provider).
According to a promo teaser (see above) uploaded by Polygon’s own Arthur Gies, HBO will start showing the HD remasters on September 4th, specifically on its HBO Signature channel. The mini-marathon blocks will start every night at 8pm. Looking at my own Verizon FiOS guide today, the new programming has yet to be plugged into the lineup.
The Wire was originally shown in a 4:3 format, as was the norm before HD programming, and hardware became ubiquitous. Despite the tube TV-friendly showing, the Baltimore drama was shot on Panavision Super 35 cameras, which means the sides of the shots were lopped off for standard def TV. The remasters would bring chopped shots back to their original glory.
This kind of news is “EVERYONE FREAK OUT” levels of awesome, especially after Slim Charles got stabbed (in real life) last month in D.C.
And don’t forget the other reason to be excited: Remastered episodes being aired on TV means a Blu-ray set can’t be far behind.
It’s all in the game, yo.
Source: HBOWatch
