I personally think 1 was the best. It was so new, so raw, so **** tense and brilliant.
I think 2 was the weakest. It verged on parody and fell into some easy cliches.
Taken as a whole, however, and you've got the best cop show of all time.
I know there's a thread about The Wire, but I'm curious to see what the numbers are among it's fans here on VT