WIRE!! SOUTH PARK!! PALIN!! DC SUPER-HEROES!! SYN!! CURB!! FUTURAMA III!! STARLOST!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

“Some Spider-Man shit there!” Emmy voters may not like HBO’s “The Wire,” but everybody else seems to. The critics can’t stop raving. Entertainment Weekly picked it as the 11th best series to debut in the last 25 years. “Watchman” author Alan Moore picked it as the best American series of all time. “The Wire’s” fifth and final season, streeting today, may be my favorite. It took a cue from sister drama “The Sopranos” by trafficking through its final season in wholesale whacking, bringing to grisly ends some of the franchise’s most familiar and beloved creations. And as someone whose spent some time in newsrooms I may have been more engrossed than most in the storylines that depicted Gus Haynes’ Baltimore Sun floundering in the shadow of the World Wide Web. Many a character introduced in prior seasons – Marlo Stanfield, Omar Little, Jimmy McNulty, Tommy Carcetti, Beadie Russell, Lester Freamon, Bunk Moreland, Cedric Daniels, Rhonda Perlman, Kima Greggs, Ellis Carver, Herc Hauk, Leander Sydnor, Jay Landsman, Bill Rawls, Ervin Burrell, Proposition Joe Stewart, Norman Wilson, Dukie Weems, Michael Lee, Snoop Pearson, Chris Partlow, Bubbles Cousins – remained central to the fifth lap around pay cable, while others – Prez Pryzbylewski, Nick Sobotka, Avon Barksdale, Bunny Colvin, Stan Valchek, Cutty Wise and The Greek – just stopped by for curtain-call cameos. The series-ending montage is a corker, leaping ahead months to reveal the fates of Carcetti, Haynes, Valchek, Daniels, Pearlman, Dukie, Michael, Chris, Bubbles and ethically challenged journalist Scott Templeton. Stellar storytelling. Hopefully everybody saw the first four seasons on sale yesterday.

“Balls so dry, they explode like dust.” Its cover depicts a scene from “Guitar Queer-O,” but the eleventh season of “South Park” will inevitably be remembered for its already-separately-issued “Imaginationland” trilogy. Extras are limited to mini-commentaries: * “With Apologies To Jesse Jackson.” (Commentary length: 4:42) Learn that series mastermind Trey Parker wanted to do a “nigger episode” for years, but didn’t have a compelling catalyst until a “Seinfeld” regular started screaming the n-word on stage at the laugh factory. The boys confirm that the dwarf Cartman beats up is based on the twin dwarf millionaires famous for their late-night informercials. * “Cartman Sucks.” (Commentary length: 4:08) Learn that the idea of Cartman photographing himself doing gay stuff to a sleeping Butters emerged from material cut from the much earlier episode about skiing in Aspen. * “Lice Capades.” (Commentary length: 3:35) Learn that in the original version, the lice didn’t speak English, let alone Bruckheimer-style dialogue. * “The Snuke.” (Commentary length: 4:25) Learn that Trey Parker started watching “24” with season five and the arrival of Charles Logan. Learn that Cartman approximated Jack Bauer’s voice by always being out of breath. Learn that the whole cast and crew of “24” watched this episode from the CTU set. * “The Fantastic Easter Special.” (Commentary length: 5:07) Trey reveals this is one of his five favorite episodes ever. Learn that Parker did not enjoy “The DaVinci Code” but did watch it several times to research this episode. Learn that series producer Anna Garafino is a devout Catholic. * “D-Yikes.” (Commentary length: 4:38) Learn that Parker doesn’t like this episode much. Learn that when this episode was written plans were already afoot to restore Mrs. Garrison’s penis. Learn that both Parker and series co-creator Matt Stone hated “300,” directed by Zack Snyder, which they deem really light on story. Learn that they loved the remake of “Dawn of the Dead,” also directed by Snyder, and ultimately credit “Dawn’s” greatness to its writer (James Gunn, who did not work on “300”). * “Night of the Living Homeless.” (Commentary length: 4:45) Learn that Parker has seen Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead” remake 25 times. Learn that Parker lives in Brentwood but hates nearby Santa Monica because it’s overrun by homeless. Learn that when Parker and Stone were roommates in Los Angeles, they were witness to an entire homeless begging business set up on an 405 on-ramp outside their window. * “Le Petit Tourette.” (Commentary length: 4:20) Learn that, due to language issues, Parker considered making this into a special episode that could only air on Comedy Central after midnight. Learn that Parker liked NBC’s “To Catch A Predator” but thinks host Chris Hansen should no longer have a job in journalism. * “More Crap.” (Commentary length: 2:55) Learn that Parker’s dad loved this episode, which was inspired by “King of Kong.” Learn that if this episode (which prominently features Emmy statues) causes the show to never win another Emmy, Parker believes it was worth it. * “Imaginationland.” (Commentary length: 3:00) Learn that the “Imaginationland” trilogy surprisingly features commentaries different than the one long one recorded for the separate “Imaginationland” DVD. * “Imaginationland Episode II.” (Commentary length: 3:35) Learn that Parker’s favorite shows include “24,” “Lost” and “Battlestar Galactica.” Learn that Comedy Central took out an ad billing this as an “exciting conclusion” because Parker decided only very late in the process to expand the story into a trilogy. * “Imaginationland Episode III.” (Commentary length: 1:52) Learn this episode’s recap was inspired by “Return of the King.” Learn that Parker tells people he believes in both Jesus and Santa Claus. * “Guitar Queer-O.” (Commentary length: 3:20) Learn that the New York Times published a story about this episode’s worth in terms of product placement for Guitar Hero. Learn that the scene in which Randy picks up and plays a real guitar was inspired by a real incident involving series sound producer Bruce Howell. * “The List.” (Commentary length: 3:25) Learn that this is a favorite episode of Stone’s girlfriend. Learn that Abraham Lincoln was added to the story two days before the episode aired.

“Aliens! A winged man and a bird!” DC Super Heroes: The Filmation Adventures compiles the earliest non-print appearances of some of DC’s iconic superheroes, as they appeared on CBS Saturday mornings as part of 1967’s “Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventures.” These turn out to be considerably more watchable than Hanna Barbera’s later “Super Friends.” Disc 1 The Atom Cartoons Invasion Of The Beetle-Men (1967) The Plant Master (1967) The House Of Doom (1967) The Flash Cartoons The Chemo-Creature (1967) Take a Giant Step (1967) To Catch a Blue Bolt (1967) Green Lantern Cartoons Evil is as Evil Does (1967) The Vanishing World (1967) Sirena Empress of Evil (1967) Disc 2 Hawkman Cartoons Peril from Pluto (1967) A Visit To Venus (1967) The Twenty Third Dimension (1967) Justice League Of America Cartoons Between Two Armies (1967) Target Earth (1967) Bad Day on Black Mountain (1967) Teen Titans Cartoons The Monster Machine (1967) The Space Beast Round-Up (1967) Operation: Rescue (1967) The line-up for the “Justice League” cartoons was the silver-age versions of Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman, and The Atom. No Batman, Wonder Woman or Martian Manhunter, with his disturbing bald head. Aquaman is glimpsed in the introductory titles but is inexplicably absent from the action. Jericho fans will be disappointed to learn the Teen Titans line-up was limited to Aqualad, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl and Speedy. No Robin either. Batman and Robin – stars of a live-action ABC series at the time – wouldn’t make their animated debuts until the following season, when CBS launched Filmation’s “The Batman/Superman Hour” immediately subsequent to the live-action show’s cancellation. The set comes with a 40-minute documentary, “Animation Maverick: The Lou Scheimer Story,” a look at the Larry Harmon Studios vet who launched Filmation with “The New Adventures of Superman,” which apparently revolutionized Saturday morning television. He turns out to be a surprisingly witty and likeable fellow.

The 20-episode first season of “Tru Calling” didn’t know what it was doing. It was created Jon Harmon Feldman, a terrible writer who earlier scripted “Dawson’s Creek” and “American Dreams,” then went on the completely horrible “Reunion” and “Big Shots.” For the six-episode second season, Fox hired much better writer-producers – Jane Espenson (“Battlestar Galactica”), who had worked with star Eliza Dushku on “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” and Richard Hatem, creator of ABC’s “Miracles” – and, boy, did the show get a whole lot better just before it died. Do those final six episodes justify this set’s current $41.99 pricetag? No, sir, they do not. For those keeping track, the show was about a morgue attendant (Dushku) who would keep traveling one day back in time to prevent untimely deaths. The great Zacharius Galifianakis, one of the Comedians of Comedy, played her boss.

Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry

If you’ve longed to examine what Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen were up to between “Freaks and Geeks” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” the price for the hilarious Undeclared: The Complete Series has just fallen to $25.99.