"the wire" and encoding/decoding

i came across an interesting criticism of the show, "the wire", formerly of HBO and now cancelled/ended. as a preface, the show, without doing an injustice to the plethora of issues it covers, is an investigation into the extent that corruption invades all walks of life in Baltimore. season 1 explores the drug trade in relationship to police and other institutions (such as the court system, ports, and school system), with the idea being that if you follow drugs, you have a drug case, but if you follow the money then you find a hydra.

while reading on wikipedia, i found a criticism of the show stating, "Despite the critical acclaim, The Wire has received poor Nielsen Ratings, which Simon attributes to the complexity of the plot, a poor time slot, heavy use of esoteric slang, particularly among the gangster characters and a predominantly black cast.[2]" 

Essentially this criticism is that, because of the coded dialogue, heavily influenced by actual code (systems for how to call another drug dealer b/c of fear of a wiretap) but also a perverbial code of slang about and because of drugs, it is hard for viewers to decode this encoded language. Ironically, one of the major attributes of the series is the need for the viewers to actively participate in this decoding of language, to engage in critical investigations through the characters that allows the viewer access information they would not otherwise have given to them; information concerning typologies and idiosyncrasies of characters that helps to explain actions that are otherwise inexplicable. As Professor Jha has mentioned at times, we live an anti-intellectual climate that stifles insightful or difficult discourses, coded explicitly or implicitly. The direct reference to the nielsen ratings, which do not rate or value HOW viewers participate in and through the show, just that they have the tv tuned to a particular channel, also illuminates an example in our current cultural/social/intellectual terrain of a lethargy that now is manifested into a real refusal to engage language as a chain of signification, in any forms.

below is an example of how this decoding/encoding plays out and involves the viewer- do not watch if you have a particular grudge against the f-word. sorry i couldnt post the video directly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQbsnSVM1zM