Homicide: Life on the Street: classic or the best show ever created?

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I finally picked up the first season DVD set earlier this year. It was pretty good (braugher + kotto + beatty = asfklagklh!!!) but i think I've been spoiled by The Wire. also the last few seasons of OZ were so outlandishly bad that anything having to do with Tom Fontana instantly makes me kinda queasy.

more importantly, did anyone see The Wire's season premier last night??? I was out and couldn't catch it )): but i'm sure HBO will dedicate a metric fuckload of programming time to repeating it in the next week. It's easily the best TV drama i've ever seen (tho that assertion carries little weight since i don't see so many tv shows)

― \(^o^)/ (Adrian Langston), Monday, 20 September 2004 22:41 (nineteen years ago) link

i missed it, it will be on again either tomorrow night or wed. on hbo and again on HBO2 at some point. I like the Wire but as I've said elsewhere, it's really hard to follow for me for some reason. it's very plot driven and less character driven than Homicide which means if you miss and episode you can get lost pretty quickly. HBO also seems to have not promoted it much during it's first two years on the air and dedicated all their time to the Sopranos and 6 ft. Under, but maybe that'll change with this season.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 20 September 2004 22:48 (nineteen years ago) link

yeah, i understand HBO's plight tho bcz promotion will only do so much for a show with such a steep learning curve (also it's not a very saleable concept). I'm just glad they're sticking with it, considering that the audience seems to consist mostly of old Homicide fans and, uh, all rappers everywhere.

I've always found it hard to understand complaints about difficulty following the show, I guess bcz I was lucky enough to have seen the first and second seasons in order. The plot-driven nature of it ('it's like a novel... ON TELEVISION' etc bhlahalhglh) is honestly one of the biggest hooks for me, I have zero patience for shows like the Sopranos where NOTHING EVER HAPPENS. i need to give the other Homicide seasons a shot, but for the most part I find the characters on the Wire much more compelling and resonant. (i really shouldn't be comparing the two shows so much, they're entirely different beasts - they just happen to use the same launching pad)

― \(^o^)/ (Adrian Langston), Monday, 20 September 2004 23:16 (nineteen years ago) link

I don't think Homicide really picks up until after the first season, so yeah, definitely check out later seasons first before giving it the mehhh-of-dismissal.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 20 September 2004 23:31 (nineteen years ago) link

Seasons 2 through 4 of Homicide are the best, I think. Season 5 might be pretty good. But I think if I had to choose just one, it would be 3. But season two is when the characters really become their own entities rather than merely based-upon the real cops in David Simon's book.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 03:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Why are you NEVER on AIM?

-- adam. (adamr...), September 20th, 2004.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 03:43 (nineteen years ago) link

Because it's better that I disappoint by not showing up than disappoint by showing up. Or something like that. Sorry.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 03:45 (nineteen years ago) link

― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 04:06 (nineteen years ago) link

i missed all but the last episode of the first season of the Wire, which is why I was confused about parts of the second season.

def. hit the second and third seasons of Homicide, they are transcendent. like I said above, in retrospect, even the much-hated final season was pretty good.

― kyle (akmonday), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 16:22 (nineteen years ago) link

I have the season premiere of the Wire on a preview tape, I don't think it airs in Canada on non-digital TV. Will I be lost?

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 16:40 (nineteen years ago) link

probably

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 16:41 (nineteen years ago) link

There is no joy in my life.

― Huk-L, Tuesday, 21 September 2004 16:42 (nineteen years ago) link

the wire's incredible btw

one thing that really hits me when i watch these (homicide) on dvd now is just how much you can occasionally see the network meddling with it, well before the final season (and not just crossetti getting knocked off either).

― cinniblount (James Blount), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 16:43 (nineteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Crosetti DIED! Nooooooooooooooo!

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Yaphet Kotto smoking a cigar and wearing a leather jacket and headband on his day off = classic.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, that reminded me of Kotto in:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00003ETHD.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Mucho Classic

― Doobie Keebler (Charles McCain), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:37 (nineteen years ago) link

Wow, is that any good?

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:38 (nineteen years ago) link

So what was the story with John Polito? He left the show to become the great character actor he is now?

PLEASE NOTE: I am only halfway through series 3, NO SPOILERS.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:39 (nineteen years ago) link

It's great. Problem is, the DVD is out of print. Videos however, are reasonably easy to find.

xpost:Polito has always been pretty good. I reccomend the first season of "Crime Story" wherein he portrayed a mob boss.

― Doobie Keebler (Charles McCain), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:42 (nineteen years ago) link

On the season 3 doc/behind the scenes look/whatever on the DVD, one of the producers talks about Polito being unsure if he was coming back (that's why they kept saying he was on vacation in Atlantic City IIRC), and then, "We were like, hey, if you don't wanna be here, then fuck you, you're dead."
Or something like that.

― Huk-L, Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I really liked him. Actually the only character I don't like is the Baldwin. And that stuffy police chief guy who always plays by the rules!

Lewis is great and underrated on this thread.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:46 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm the biggest Lewis stumper! I once interviewed his sister (who's a singer) and I was all like, "I really think you're brother's great. He's the best. Are there any songs on your new album about how cool he is?"

― Huk-L, Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:48 (nineteen years ago) link

Haha! He is great. I love the sound of his voice and it was good when he cried about Crosetti.

I asked my wife if I should become a homicide detective, but I decided that I would have to be a beat cop first and I can't take that shit.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 21 October 2004 16:50 (nineteen years ago) link

i thought crosetti died in the second season. or is that because the second season was only like six episodes long or something?

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 21 October 2004 17:02 (nineteen years ago) link

exactly.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 21 October 2004 17:07 (nineteen years ago) link

I have long wished to be a detective, but could in no way handle the whole uniform cop thing. I think journalist is something of a runner-up whatever.
Hey, weren't we going to become PIs together or something, Adam?
That's always bugged me about Munch, no way would he have lasted 8 hours hoofing a beat!

― Huk-L, Thursday, 21 October 2004 17:11 (nineteen years ago) link

oh right. well. season three is really great, season 4 too; actually, these two seasons together are really the classic heart of the show. Now I want to rewatch them!

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 21 October 2004 17:12 (nineteen years ago) link

Hey, weren't we going to become PIs together or something, Adam?

YES, and North America was going to be our beat.

― adam. (nordicskilla), Thursday, 21 October 2004 17:13 (nineteen years ago) link

My nose is twitching! Someone's getting away with a crime under our watch!

― Huk-L, Thursday, 21 October 2004 17:14 (nineteen years ago) link

Also, I just saw Max Perlich (Brody) (that's like Season 4 I think) in a Young MC video the other day, "Bust A Move" I guess.

― Huk-L, Thursday, 21 October 2004 17:16 (nineteen years ago) link

god I remember Perlich being such a controversial person (as a character, and as a human being). Wasn't he involved in some kind of drug fiasco or violent-beating-someone-up thing? Whatever happened to him?

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 21 October 2004 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

So Netflix sent me the wrong Homicide DVD and I was so utterly distraught. It just goes to show how much I have come to rely on my friends from Baltimore. I also find myself bemoaning the fact that my workplace is not like the station in Homicide, full of characters and playful banter.

― adam... (nordicskilla), Monday, 8 November 2004 21:26 (nineteen years ago) link

I discovered tonight that there is a new cop shop called Hack on ITV3 with Andre Braugher. He plays second lead to the rather wet tall thin curly haired guy out of St Elsewhere. It's a pleasure to see Braugher in action again.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 8 November 2004 22:03 (nineteen years ago) link

it got cancelled after about six episodes, unfortunately

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 8 November 2004 22:05 (nineteen years ago) link

I thought there were six series? Netflix only has 5. I am starting Season 4 today...

Also! I saw this picture online today and it confused me greatly! WHO THE HELL ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE?
ihttp://members.aol.com/brendag3/KylePhotos/HomicideMovieCast_15.jpg

― adam... (nordicskilla), Thursday, 18 November 2004 19:58 (nineteen years ago) link

Anybody in that photo you don't recognize by Season Four, you don't wanna know. Believe me.

― Huk-L, Thursday, 18 November 2004 20:24 (nineteen years ago) link

haha

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 18 November 2004 21:06 (nineteen years ago) link

Stivers, actually, was okay, but Gerety and whatserface, and Falsone all suck the bag! The last seasons do have pretty good Meldrick content though. And where's Mike Giardello and Mike Kellerman in that picture? Huh? HUH?
(Kellerman has a great cameo in SWAT, directed by Meldrick Lewis) (yes I know that those are the names of the characters not the actors, but the characters never let me down by appearing in bad Canadian newsroom dramas)

― Huk-L, Thursday, 18 November 2004 21:11 (nineteen years ago) link

meldrick's mlk flick was astonishingly good

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 18 November 2004 21:14 (nineteen years ago) link

i always liked it when kay howard and frank pembleton had a scene together if only cuz they were the two best detectives in the department, and they knew it, and kay was just a little better than frank and they knew that too.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 18 November 2004 21:16 (nineteen years ago) link

i liked gerety, or at least I liked the idea of him, they didn't really develop the character the way they could have though. I think falsone gets a bad rap. Stivers was fine. What's her face though was fucking terrible. Really the only bad, bad misstep. She went on to be terrible on ER, then disappeared.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 18 November 2004 23:16 (nineteen years ago) link

At the back of that picture - is that really BAYLISS with a BEARD???

I have the fear!

― adam... (nordicskilla), Thursday, 18 November 2004 23:17 (nineteen years ago) link

bayliss got heavy into buddhism, exploring his sexuality, the internet those last couple of years.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 19 November 2004 03:27 (nineteen years ago) link

one thing watching the dvds that really comes across is how there are episodes where they're clearly at least begrudgingly paying some heed to notes from network and others where they're 'fuck it, we're gonna get canceled anyway, let's do what we want.'

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 19 November 2004 03:28 (nineteen years ago) link

I dunno, Falsone always seemed like an attempt at a sympathetic and "good-looking" Felton, just like Gerety eventually became Big Man-Lite, and they never really dealt with the stuff that his character had done when he was first introduced (though in the movie, we were reminded of his original nature) and Ballard was just, uh. Sorta good looking. No wait, you weren't talking about Ballard! I had totally forgotten about the model! Michael Michelle, what was her cop name? Shit.
How many former Homicide TV cops went on to be TV doctors? (Gideon's Crossing, the short-lived Andre Braugher doc-vehicle co-starring Ruben Blades seemed good in the pilot).

SWAT was kind of like that too. I felt there were a lot of moments where you could Johnson/Meldrick was trying to put some really cool cop drama moments into the Big Budget Summer Blockbuster the Studio had hired him to make. They're all in the first half.

Adam, the Homicide movie is one of the biggest WTFs in the history of Yaphet Kotto.

― Huk-L, Friday, 19 November 2004 05:27 (nineteen years ago) link

This is normally the part on ILX where I throw out my "YOU SUCK BELZER" story, but I'm not going to.

― Allyzay Science Explosion (allyzay), Friday, 19 November 2004 06:22 (nineteen years ago) link

no tell it

when I said stivers was fine up above, I meant ballard. again, they didn't spend enough time developing her, but she was interesting. she's more interesting on the Wire though.

I hold out hope that Belzer will bail on SVU and take Munch to the Wire but it probably won't happen

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 19 November 2004 07:47 (nineteen years ago) link

haha - she's gotten nekkid on the wire

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 19 November 2004 07:53 (nineteen years ago) link

the thing with ballard was that it was clearly a response to a memo saying 'more women' (and with network memos women = babes)(this doesn't always ruin a show; jill hennesy is still my fave l&o lawyer). alot of the scorn she got guilt by association with michael michelle, who was really awful. gerty did become big man-lite didn't he? i always remembered him as the cop who sat in his car during the 911 call so him being promoted to homicide just seemed perfect, a sorta comment on baltimore pd politics.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 19 November 2004 08:02 (nineteen years ago) link

also i'm sure this is a 'no duh' but anyone who liked homicide really needs to check out the wire. i haven't been able to watch it this season, i've missed too many episodes and that's a show where if you don't watch every episode (preferably twice) you're fucked.

― cinniblount (James Blount), Friday, 19 November 2004 08:04 (nineteen years ago) link

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