Edward Snowden’s exile TV pick? ‘The Wire’

National Security Agency document leaker Edward Snowden sat down for a lengthy exclusive interview with NBC News’ Brian Williams this month, and while the interview touched on all the hefty issues any discussion with someone like Snowden should touch on, the former NSA contracter also brought up his TV viewing habits in exile.

Since the U.S. State Department revoked Snowden’s passport, he’s been stuck in Russia, unable to travel anywhere. While he never planned to be indefinitely stuck in that country, he told Williams he’s making the best of it. And to pass the time, he’s been watching HBO’s series “The Wire.”

“Right now I’m watching a show, ‘The Wire,’ about surveillance, which I’m really enjoying,” Snowden told Williams. “Second season’s not so great.”

Williams didn’t linger on Snowden’s TV reviews, much to the newsman’s credit, but the example was given by Snowden as one of the ways he’s able to continue to live as an American, even though he’s in far-off Russia.

HBO programs only recently became available in Russia, when the film company Amedia signed a five-year deal to bring the shows to Russia beginning last May.

If Snowden’s exile continues, he may even get a chance to catch up on “Game of Thrones” and then it’s unlikely he’ll ever want to return home.

Williams’ entire interview with Snowden can be viewed here.