Homicide: Life on the Street

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Back in 2010, I watched the entire series Homicide: Life on the street on DVD; I had never seen the show when it was originally on TV, but had heard many great things about it over the years. I am very familiar with the Baltimore, MD setting since I grew up near the city & went to college in the area as well. The downtown rowhouses, the Inner Harbor/Harbor place, the Baltimore accents, etc. brought back a lot of memories of that area.

In any case, I was completely blown away by the series. Superb characterization, great acting and plots, and I loved the documentary-style filming. i.e. the hand-held camera - this is common-place these days, but IIRC was quite innovative & edgy in the early - mid '90's...

Here is my review/comments - note the heavy spoiler tags for those who haven't seen this series yet:

Homicide: Life on the Street - The Series, Seasons 1-7 (1993-1999):

- Since most/all of the seasons blended together for me, I'm not going to go into a season by season review, but just some highlights from the series:

- This is one of those rare shows that starts off strong and kept up the momentum throughout the series. Though the first season was short (I think it was first broadcast in January of '93 and there weren't many episodes in this season), it was still amazing. The interrogation scene with Pembleton and Bayliss re: the guy they suspected for the Adena Watson m. was extremely powerful & disturbing.

- The characters on this show were some of the most fully realized characters I've ever seen in a TV drama. The dialogue/philosophical discussions the characters would have with each other had a lot to do with this, i.e. Munch with other detectives, Pembleton & Bayliss, etc.

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- I was shocked when Crosetti and later Felton passed away - I did not see either one coming.

- The episode where Munch & Kellerman investigated the death of a woman that Munch had a crush on years before (in high school) was very moving - the flash-backs were especially impressive, and gave some insight into the Munch character.

- The episode of Season 5 when Kellerman

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shot Luther Mahoney in cold blood was shocking and unexpected. This had repercussions that lasted throughout Season 6, and was one of the better & more suspenseful plot points in the series.

- Though Gharty was portrayed as an unsympathetic character early in the series, the episode in Season 7 where he and Much were arguing about Vietnman & the final scene when you found out what happened to Gharty in Vietnam was very powerful - this was also one of the best episodes in the series, IMHO.

- The scene when Pembeleton

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had the stroke while questioning a suspect was truly shocking to me - even though I saw the show years after it came out, I intentionally stayed away from reading about plot points of the show since I wanted my viewing experience to be completely fresh.

- The episode when the young detective (Falsone) had to partner with the older, retired curmudeonly detective to solve the 50-60 year old m. case was great, and quite funny at times.

- The series is an amazing time-capsule of the '90's; there are topical references made to '90's events, and the soundtrack includes a lot of amazing '90's rock/pop artists, including Counting Crows, Joan Osbourne, Matthew Sweet, Belly, Goo Goo Dolls, and Garbage (to name a few).

Homicide: The Movie (Made for TV Movie, 2000):

- Though this came out almost a year after the show ended, it was a brilliant swan song to the series.

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The beginning scene with the death of Giardello was very disturbing, but I liked how this brought all of the show's characters together (even if they hadn't been on the show at the end) to look for the perpetrator. The ending scene with Giardello in the squad room with Felton and Crosetti was extremely unexpected, but very well-done.

The song by the Smashing Pumpkins (from the 1998 Adore album) that went over this scene was perfect.

Side-note 1: from a DVD stand-point, it's interesting that the DVD of Homicide: The Movie was available before the DVDs of the series - makes perfect sense, since DVDs of TV shows weren't popular in the earlier part of the 2000's, but is interesting none-the-less.

Side-note 2: IIRC, the DVD sets of the series presented each episode in the order that they were meant to be seen in, which helped with continuity, etc. When the show originally aired, the episodes were sometimes out of order...

Side-note 3: I think H: LOTS is unfairly compared to The Wire these days, since both were created by the same people & both are set in Baltimore city. However, each show is great & should stand on it's own....

[bearcuborg]

I'm really happy to see this post. This show really stood out among some of the lousy big network dramas.

But yeah, it's amazing to think this premiered after the Super Bowl. I contributed to a fan site about the show in the dial up days. We actually got David Simon on to talk about the book (a must read) and series. He felt that Season 1 was the truest to his book, and that Reed Diamond and Clark Johnson were most cop like. And he loved that he got Sonny Boy Williamson music on primetime TV. For me the series got worse as it tried to compete with Law & Order (which never made an episode I thought was more than passable) or NYPD Blue. It was never a ratings darling, and lost often to shows like Nash Bridges - which they would joke about on the show.

My favorite character was Meldrick. Clark Johnson ad-libbed most of his lines supposedly. Yaphet Kotto was amazing too. My favorite episode is when they all have to stake out that serial killer's house and take shifts working together. It was great because it was true to Baltimore, which, as they say in the show, is a brown town. It was one of the only mostly black show that I could remember. That theme music was so badass too.

It is a great time capsule of the 90s. I got into so many bands (I'm now a hardcore Matthew Sweet fan) based on the show. I always regret not getting the file draw set, kinda the same way I didn't get the Golden Girls Sofia purse set. Oh well, I'm fine with just having the discs.

You should also check out Oz, The Corner and The Wire if you haven't already. All of them have Homicide ties. Also, read Simon's books.

And since I'm in my later 30s, and have great affection for the 90's... Cheers, Night Court, Newsradio, Daria, Dr. Katz, Newhart, Simpsons... I haven't really been able to connect with many network sitcoms or the late night shows after Johnny left and Dave went to CBS.

[flyonthewall2983]

I have a deep, deep affection for this. It was really the first "adult" television show I'd watched that made me aware TV was more than sitcoms and cartoons in my preteens.

[domino harvey]

I actually decided to work as a teacher in Baltimore thanks to my love of this series giving me the idea to apply to the local teaching fellows program, so I can say without exaggeration that this series literally changed my life. Interestingly, a lot of locals have a lot of ambivalence surrounding the Wire (its local fans are often transplants to the city) but nothing but love for Homicide, and I made some fast friends and allies by being one of the few who came out here and didn't want to talk about the Wire and instead preferred to gush about this show (it helped that I hadn't seen the Wire when I moved out here!). It's a great series and the file folder DVD case for the complete series is still my favorite DVD packaging ever-- it will always have a place of prominence on my shelf. I've been meaning to revisit it again (and Oz, for that matter), but I still remember when this would air at odd times on A&E and Bravo and sometimes in marathons to compete with the regular Law and Order marathons of the early '00s (sorry bearcuborg but while they're different beasts I love Law and Order too) and it definitely sets itself apart from other procedural/cop shows in general. The whole cast is great, but c'mon, Andre Braugher towers huge here and I think one of the hardest things to handle in the series is

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his character's stroke and rehabilitation, as this mighty unstoppable force of nature is trapped in a body that won't cooperate. It's an effective storyline but it also unfortunately robbed the series of its secret weapon for a long period

[flyonthewall2983]

The chemistry he had with Kyle Secor in particular was the heart of the show for me. They both did things together and individually that would stand out more on a lesser program, but fits wonderfully with the other top-notch performances as well.

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My favorite character was Meldrick. Clark Johnson ad-libbed most of his lines supposedly. Yaphet Kotto was amazing too. My favorite episode is when they all have to stake out that serial killer's house and take shifts working together.

It is a great time capsule of the 90s. I got into so many bands (I'm now a Matthew Sweet hardcore fan) based on the show. I always regret not getting the file draw set, kinda the same way I didn't get the Golden Girls Sofia purse set. Oh well, I'm fine with just having the discs.

You should also check out Oz, The Corner and The Wire if you haven't already. All of them have Homicide ties. Also, read Simon's books.

Glad to hear H: LOTS has so many fans. I completely missed out on the show when it first came out in '93 & never saw an episode during it's original broadcast. I was in college at the time & didn't get a chance to watch much TV, though I remember others raving about the show.

In a way, I'm glad I didn't watch the show when it first came out so I could watch the whole series all at once via the DVD sets, without commercials. The show was so well-done & suspenseful, it would have been tough waiting from one week to the next. Plus, the PQ on the DVD sets is definitely better than it would have been on my old CRT P.O.S. set in the '90's....

I'm also a big fan of The Wire, The Corner, & Oz; The Wire & The Corner both take place in Baltimore city as well. In fact, I saw The Wire prior to seeing H: LOTS, and it was interesting that I noticed some of the same actors in both series (ditto with The Corner & The Wire). The H: LOTS episode you mention with the team taking turns staking out the s. killer's house was great; IIRC, the actor who played the husband that lived in the house they used also played a police officer on The Wire (who later became a teacher on that show).

The comment about the show being a time-capsule of the '90's is spot-on; I'm a huge music fan, and followed new progressive/rock music in the '90's fairly religiously. The show captures this era extremely well. In fact, the '90's is my favorite decade for this type of music....Re: Matthew Sweet, I remember when his now-iconic Girlfriend album came out in Fall '91 - great stuff, and I'm glad they used some of his music on H: LOTS. Ditto for Joan Osbourne, Goo Goo dolls, etc.

Also, as I mentioned in the OP, H: LOTS truly captures the Baltimore City area extremely well - to the point that I honestly felt like I was right back there when watching it....

[colinr0380]

And we should also note that the style of Homicide: Life On The Streets apparently was a significant influence on Lars von Trier's handheld, jump-cut editing style!

[flyonthewall2983]

It's more of a footnote in NBC's history, but it had a bigger impact on cable, where a show like this now would have been allowed to flourish more thoroughly. It was also a big influence on The Shield. Besides Reed Diamond playing a pivotal role early in the show, Clark Johnson directed several episodes as well.

[EddieLarkin]

Having just finished my rewatch of Oz, I'll soon be starting Homicide (although it won't be a pure rewatch as the first time, nearly 10 years ago, I only ever got as far as Season 4 for some reason). The Robin Williams (and teenage Jake Gyllenhaal!) episode has stuck in my memory the clearest and I have been wanting to revisit it ever since David Simon wrote that great piece after Williams' death about his experience working with him.

During its original run, many of the episodes were aired out of order and created narrative inconsistencies (including a reference to:

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Steve Crosetti's death, before his suicide episode had aired!

Thankfully these were all corrected for the DVDs (or at least some of the various DVD releases, certainly the big filing cabinet edition which I own).

I highly recommend Simon's book to fans of the show, which I've read twice since my original viewings and I feel is a great companion. Weirdly, David Kalat of all people wrote his own companion guide for the show. I was considering picking it up for my coming run through.

[flyonthewall2983]

I went through some YouTube clips from the show the other night and this scene popped up. Been a good while since I sold the DVD set* of this I had but the line about Munch got a good laugh out of me again.

[flyonthewall2983]

Speaking of music shoegaze/industrial crossover Curve (Toni Halliday maybe in my shortlist of female voices) have a song in an episode featuring Jeffrey Donovan, appropriately a villain in this but also having more recently wrapped up his time on Law & Order.

I have to admit some fondness for the shows entire run, not just those fabled early seasons.

[flyonthewall2983]

Premieres in streaming on Peacock next month

[Matt]

August 19 specifically

[domino harvey]

Excellent! This show is so ripe for rediscovery from all the fans of the Wire who never got the chance to see the OG Baltimore show

[dwk]

Unfortunately word is that they have been cropped to 16X9.

[flyonthewall2983]

With AI assistance?

[swo17]

The Shout Complete Series set is in the correct ratio and currently $48 (56% off) at Amazon

[Drucker]

Seems as if music cues have been replaced as well.

Is the correct music in place on the DVD?

[domino harvey]

The comments suggest they do (I don’t recall myself)

[hearthesilence]

The big one I remember is NIN's “Hurt” when Felton’s wife leaves him. Lots of cuts in that scene, all perfectly timed to that recording. Sucks if stuff like that is now gone.

[beamish14]

Seems as if music cues have been replaced as well.

Is the correct music in place on the DVD?

Amazing how they totally botched this. Hulu, conversely, did a great job with Moonlighting

[domino harvey]

I thought it had music replacements too?

[beamish14]

I thought it had music replacements too?

I think the majority of it was retained. Disney did pay up for songs that were integral to scenes