I am – Hercules!!

“Bunny, you cocksucker, I have to give it to you. A brilliant idea. Insane and illegal, but stone fucking brilliant nonetheless! After all my putting my foot up people asses to decrease the numbers, he comes in and in one stroke gets a fucking 14-percent decrease. Fucking shame it’s going to end our careers. But still.”

So many more of us turn to “Desperate Housewives” instead of “The Wire” every Sunday night. And that, my friends, is what is wrong with us as a nation. I was hoping our nation, if not our species, had moved beyond the likes of “Dallas” and “Melrose Place.” And look!

The only theory I can offer is that the people who think “Housewives” awesome may be the same who still buy new Madonna and Michael Jackson albums.

“The Wire,” meanwhile, is a show about big questions and less-big questions. Is legalizing drugs a fair trade for reducing the murder rate? Do some criminals covet violence more than money? Are cops like McNulty deluding themselves when they posit their life’s work does any good?

What will become of the Nation-of-Islam-lookin’ guy who just returned to Baltimore looking for Omar? What does Stringer intend to do about the bloodthirsty Avon? And why did Squeak bother to crumple up her litter before she drops it into the street?

One does hope Bunny Colvin’s creation of Hamsterdam doesn’t cost the man his pension or his retirement job. He certainly seemed to know what to do once Herc (not me! Herc Hauk!) tipped the Sun, so hopefully he’s figured out how to land on his feet.

The season finale runs Dec. 19. Take up valuable bandwidth with your predictions and reactions.

9 p.m. Sunday. HBO.

Looking for bumper stickers, plush toys and girls’ underwear covered with cartoon double-amputees? Visit The Herc Store!