A MAN'S GOT TO HAVE A CODE: I'm still one episode away from being able to watch this week's Wire debut (will knock that one off on tonight's trip from John Wayne to Oakland), but if anybody wants a space to discuss the show in general, or the episode in particular, feel free.

Potential topics of discussion: Does Season 3 belong on a list of the best TV seasons of all time (along with Deadwood 1, Arrested Development 1 and 2, Lost 1, X-Files 3, Mama's Family 2, etc.)? In the nature of the amusing montage in HBO's The Wire: Review (or whatever that show was called), who is your favorite character, and in one sentence, why (me: Omar, of course)? If you were a Wire character or inanimate object, which one would you be (me: Prez, nail gun)? Does the show glamorize violence? Does Carcetti remind you of Gabriel Byrne or Clark Gregg? Why hasn't anybody commented on the fact that Randy and Cheese have the same last name (Wagstaff) -- is Randy Cheese's son? Why isn't everybody in Baltimore dancing to oldie-sounding records? Do you ever find yourself formulating Wire-slang sentences in your head and then feeling sheepish?

GOOSE, YES. HAWK, NO: Rich Gossage is Cooperstown's newest member. Jim Rice fell 14 votes shy, while Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven saw upticks in support. Tim Raines was the only first-year player to get the requisite 5% to stay on the ballot, while Mark McGwire's support stayed just about even from a year ago. And good old Harold Baines stays on the ballot for another season, getting 5.2% of the votes.

WELCOME TO UNCLE ANDERSON'S FUNHOUSE: Over the holidays, I got sucked into a marathon of old episodes of The Mole on Fox Reality--I'd forgotten just how good it was to watch a bunch of mistrustful people gallavant around Europe and try and unmask "The Mole," the one fellow contender who had been hired by the producers to serve as a sabatour. The show was top-notch in three key areas--casting (always culturally, racially, and age-diverse and interesting, with few, if any, hatable folks), challenges ("can a competitor spend all night in a room with a disco ball with 'Tiny Bubbles' playing nonstop without going crazy?," and the great final "Three Rooms" challenge from the first season, in which players are locked into their hotel rooms, with the information needed to get out of their room in their fellow contenders' room), and host (the snarktastic Anderson Cooper). Yes, the brand was subsequently diluted with two editions of "Celebrity Mole" with lame casting (Stephen Baldwin, Ananda Lewis, Frederique van der Wahl?), lame challenges, and a horrid host (Ahmad Rashad?). But the good news? ABC's bringing it back with the original producing team, though, since Anderson is otherwise engaged, they're looking for a new host. Suggestions?

SOMEWHERE, PIA ZADORA WEEPS: According to Nikki Finke, the Golden Globe Awards have been cancelled.

I'M A VERY NEAT MONSTER: I've been watching the first season of Dexter on DVD, and am wondering just how they're going to manage to edit for length and for content to run it on CBS as strike filler programming on Sunday nights at 10 PM (keeping it out of the FCC family programming time). Of course, much (though not all) of the gore is no worse than you might see on CSI or CSI: Miami, but the nudity, language, and length are going to be harder to cut around.

HOLY SCHNIKIES: Whether you enjoyed this antepenultimate episode of The Amazing Race depends on whether you prefer justice in the process or in the outcome. Because while the tasks were cool (robot soccer! flowers! city navigation!), there wasn't much drama to the episode -- and I believe I saw the Groanies wandering around Beijing's airport at one point.

It was what it was, and then at a late moment, it became clear that it wasn't exactly what we thought it was. We'll discuss.

SHAVE AND A HAIRCUT: I have a story again in today's Sunday Chicago Tribune "Arts & Entertainment" section, this time exploring the greatest movie barbers of all time (the hook is/was the release of Sweeney Todd).