Damn you, OnDemand! With your amazing ability to allow customers to watch great shows like HBO’s The Wire a week ahead of time, the conversations I have with friends who watch the show just aren’t the same anymore.

We used to be able to talk about the latest and greatest moments of the past week’s show. Now, I have to censor my conversations to move around critical details and inferences laid out in the show I saw ahead of time.

Of course you’re thinking, “If the only problem is you watching episodes early, then STOP! Watch the shows at their regularly scheduled times.” I have thought about this and… I just can’t. You may consider it a weakness of character. I tend to think of this as taking advantage of the technological ability to glimpse into the future. If given the chance, wouldn’t you be so tempted to take full advantage?

Great new inventions like tiVo, DVR and OnDemand gave us the chance to one-up old tactics of networks strategically placing shows at certain times to make the world move to a single beat at their will. I enjoy the ability to walk against the grain of television viewers of the past. The networks are not allowed to win.

Granted, if The Wire was given more play with TV awards, I would be more inclined to watch the show at it’s regular time — 9pm every Sunday night. But even the show’s creator, David Simon, admitted that with Hollywood’s yearly snubs (only 1 Emmy nomination through their 4, going on 5 seasons) help them out at this point –

“Secretly, we all know we get more ink for being shut out. So at this point, we wanna be shut out. We wanna go down in flames together, holding hands all the way.”

So there, I’m stepping to the beat of the TV ratings and awards system! I should be applauded for my avant garde methods and, maybe, given some sort of award of my own. But if I get snubbed for an award — considering I can’t think of one I’d qualify for — it’s ok. I get more ink for being shut out!