How great a show the wire was can't be understated. The lessons that were taught, the excellent writing, and the thing I struggle with the most right now, the dialogue.
There is something you can go back and watch, just a particular part that you just happen to remember and needed a refresher.
While writing this novel, I had an idea of somebody following someone through the hospital without looking like they're following. I immediately thought about the scene in the wire with McNulty and his kids following stringer Bell (Season 1, Episode 8). "Spy game, front and follow."
I borrowed that little snippet, and in my research I came across a line that Lester Freamon said:
“A life, Jimmy, you know what that is? It’s the shit that happens when you’re waiting for the things that never come.”
If that ain't prophetic. You can apply that to your life and work, and anything, really.