Tonight, The Sopranos begins cable syndication on A&E while The Wire does the same on BET (wonder how viewers will receive its white-centric second season).

Fellow HBO properties Sex and the City and Six Feet Under currently air on TBS and Bravo, respectively.

I fail to see the appeal of secondhand programming that you can torrent or watch on DVD uncensored and uninterrupted.

Sex and the City repeats perform well for TBS, but it's a sitcom, not a serial drama. The Sopranos and The Wire require viewer commitment for proper impact, commitment that's simply more efficient via DVDs or torrents.

An hour-long episode of The Wire runs 90 minutes on BET. Why devote 90 minutes for 12 Thursdays when you can devote half of one day?

Moreover, even if you use a DVR to render commercials and broadcast time irrelevant, what is The Wire without Clay Davis' "sheeeeeeeeeeit"?