I scored the companion book The Wire: Truth Be Told for Xmas, and just started hacking into it. Its great. Beyond the sypnosis for every episode and a season overview, its got a bunch of articles on different facets of the show and interviews with the creators and actors.

FWIW, I agree with Celebel (great post BTW) Sure Soprano's is/was awesome. Sure it covers the "Italian American Experience", as it may be. But The Wire tells a story far more typical of most big cities. Sure its "Bal'more", but its far more relevant to inner city life anywhere than Soprano's was. It paints a more universal picture.