The Best Show You're Not Watching...

Now that The Wire has ended and The Shield is a wrap, the best show on television is Showtime's Brotherhood.

But that'll probably only be true for a few more days as the probable series finale airs on Sunday. And it's a shame, because Brotherhood was certainly one of the best.

Brotherhood is the story of the Caffee's, but specifically Michael and Tommy Caffee. Tommy Caffee is a Rhode Island politician and his brother Michael is a professional criminal in the Irish Mob. And that's the basic conflict of the show. Tommy doesn't appreciate Michael tainting the Caffee name and Michael isn't trying to be the black sheep of the family.

There's also Declan, a state police officer trying to do right, but torn by his allegiances to both Michael and Tommy. There's Rose, the Caffee matriarch, who manipulates out of loneliness. There's Eileen, Tommy's wife, who struggles with the boredom of being the perfect wife. And then there's the much put upon Colin, a Caffee cousin, who endures one of the worst Thanksgivings ever.

Over the course of three seasons lots of things happen. Marriages crumble while others withstand challenges and grow stronger. Daughters disappoint and mothers fail. One brother betrays another. Ears are lost and replaced. Criminals snitch for gain and tempers are lost.

Anyone who claims to enjoy media portrayals of the "gangster" life would enjoy this show. Fans of The Wire should tune in because they both strike similar chords in terms of story, particularly when the former introduced it's political quotient. Fans of The Sopranos should seek out this show to see what happens when writers focus on the show and not the hype. And anyone crying about "no good shows" being on should tune in just to be proved wrong. Plus it's the best show featuring an all white principal cast since Seinfeld.

One day you're going to fall in love with show because a friend or spouse will recommend it and possibly force you to watch it. On that day you'll say, "man, ol' Skip Serpico sure was right about this show." And since that's what's going to happen you might as well Netflix it now, so that I can get my credit for being right, because really, I don't know where I'm going to be in 15 years so it might be hard for you to track me down.