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

OMG DET. MUNCH IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDNET?

adam, are you there? can you hear me? can you feel me near you?

I have been GORGING on homicide these past few days

esp. seasons II and III

detective frank pembleton/andre braugher and giardello/yaphet kotto are my new gods

haha me too holmes.

pembleton > all other screen characters.

they've been showing it again, from the beginning, on itv4 but appear to be finishing at the end of series 3 (next week)

i've been writing down the names on the board as i spot them but figured it'd be on the web somewhere. a quick google for "visciglia liddell" (2 of munch's cases from 1994) gave me:

http://members.aol.com/jimking/ which is stunning.

(the last 3 i've seen have had Steve Buscemi, John Waters and Tim Russert guest starring / cameos). but the way they are showing them out of order bugs me (end of season three was episodes from before the shootings / bolander's scar, for instance.)

I have been thinking of watching this when I finish S5 of The Wire. How does it compare?

For its time, it was really about as good as it gets. C4 UK passed up on the final season, which is probably where the rot set in for them.

Having recently seen a BBC2 piece on The Wire, but never watched it, I'm in the opposite situation of feeling I should really catch up with a box set.

I don't know how much it compares as I haven't seen much of the Wire, but it's generally considered about as realistic, but more episodic. Nearly everyone I've come across who loves one loves the other.

Everyone needs The Wire in their life.

I'm just worried that Homicide will be like The Wire, only not quite as good. Only one way to find out, I guess!

well, according to the current Tivo listings, on 4th october itv4 here in the UK is showing "La Famiglia" which is episode 1 of series 7 and i think is the first time it's been aired on english tv. (is, as usual, 2:55 in the morning but...)

(last night's was 6.16 The Abduction which is roughly where they stopped the last lot of repeats)

In anticipation of this placing on the '90s poll, just thought I'd point out that Amazon at this very moment has an insane sale on the complete series. 60% off, dudes!!!

nice. the wire complete set on sale too

Pretty much best show ever created.

My husband would agree. We're only through season 1 and started watching s2. But he's hooked. And thinks it's the best show evah.

Me? I really like it. S1 was good, S2 seems even better. I did not like the Gyllenhaal directed ep, I have to admit. Hated it. Not the storyline, just the style of directing was totally off (imo)

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-simon-cassidy-20120311,0,547379.story

man why did no one ever tell me andre braugher was on kojak

https://www.facebook.com/john.mcnaughton.568/posts/874305706035374

RIP jon polito

lots of the obits will be about his coen bros parts but crosetti was his best part

in the movie, when everyone finds out about REDACTED, is the sound cut out? my stolen internet copy has silence there except a bit, somewhat out of sync i thought, with kellerman turning up the radio, and then comes back in once pembleton is informed. i thought it could be some extreme technique but maybe it was blotted out for some kind of copyright reason, who knows (the opening song wasn't, though).

huh, i guess it was a copyright thing, happens at the end too

Possibly? I haven't seen it since the original broadcast, but I do remember Beck's "Beautiful Way" appearing prominently over a montage.

hmm yes must be a copyright evasion thing, i got peter tosh 'pick myself up' in the opening and definitely no beck for the two later montages which were silent.

No idea but I'm glad to see the thread bumped because I love this show so much. "Crosetti" is the best hour of television I have ever seen.

I'm rewatching this with my wife, who's seeing it for the first time. We're about 1/4 through season 3 and she hates the first replacement character (Russert). Unfortunately, that's a pattern likely to continue.

The Robin Williams episode co-written by David Simon is even better than I remember. The resolution of the serial killer plotline that opens season 3 unfortunately is ludicrous.

This show is similar to Twin Peaks in that it's a bridge between old network TV tropes and "prestige TV," resulting in a disorientating mix of experimentation with the form and concessions to dopier network-mandated convention.

the episode with Vincent D'Onofrioeoeo in the subway is one of the best hours of network tv in history.

Russert is terrible but I like Kellerman just fine. I like his doofy voice and extreme angst.

Yeah, that three-part serial killer thing is ridiculous, but I think the third season is overall my favorite. Just so many incredibly strong episodes.

concessions to dopier network-mandated convention

where

The last episode we watched was the one where Lewis and Bayliss both fell in love with the woman who slept in a coffin. The whole tone was very sitcommy and jarring; reminded me of Twin Peaks season 2.

Thought I would remind everyone that Homicide has a really good Thanksgiving episode, "Hate Crimes." Lewis negs a redheaded lie detector technician into going out with him, Bayliss agonizes about his sexuality, Kellerman agonizes about being Kellerman, Pembleton is a badass as usual, and Munch goes skiing. It's a classic.

i miss watching this live when it first aired
felt like this amazing secret that only cool ppl knew

we're still cool

are u tho

(jk)

i… i…

:-(

I just recently realized how good this show is and binge watched almost all of it. I haven't been able to find the final season yet tho *sobs*.

I won't say it's the GOAT, personally I'm still partial to Six Feet Under but The Wire has maybe aged better than 6ft.

I'm definitely going to come back and read the whole thread asap but my hot take is that it's bothersome how the network did their best to kill the show after the 1st season (and continually disappeared great characters for not good reasons).

If you haven't seen the final season yet, you probably want to lower your expectations. There's a major drop in quality imo. The series finale is good though.

the series finale is quality and the reunion movie is good

mostly i tune out around season 6, though of course season 6 was the one with "subway" so it's not an absolute thing. i find the entire character of kellerman (he lives on a HOUSEBOAT) kind of excruciating, which is also how i feel about the "buying a bar" plotline.

i'm not sure how i feel about the "bayliss is bi" plotline. i think it's a good idea but i don't know that it was handled particularly well. still, i figure they get credit for trying. if the show was made today he'd probably be non-binary as well. the show wouldn't be made today because a show starring mostly "good" murder police wouldn't have room for non-binary characters, just like actual murder police wouldn't have much room for non-binary detectives

that's the challenge about "homicide" for me, at the end of the day i am supposed to empathize with the police, the moral heart of it is an approach to justice that, if it existed in the first place, was gone by the time "the wire" was made

I liked the "Bayliss is bi" plotline because I thought they set it up very well. Every season from Season 2 on had a "Bayliss is weird and conflicted about sex" episode, and then it got clearer and clearer that he was in love with Pembleton, so by the time he actually came out it made a lot of sense.

RIP Yaphet Kotto.

That cold open where he runs into Munch at the washateria on their day off...

rewatching (rip Andre Braugher)

havent watched it in years, not since it used to get rerun on Bravo or one of those early rerun cable channels

anyway man i think this show is the ultimate comfy pair of slippers rewatch show for me. it’s all so familliar: the patter, the characters, just so good. that first crosetti lincoln rant and i was home <3

started slowly watching this from the beginning and ffs they've got yaphet kotto and ned beatty and andre braugher doing supporting roles and it's so good. 'iguana style'? G

also lol that everyone, including pembleton, refers to bayliss as a kid, when kyle secor is five years older than andre braugher

also ned beatty would never have sent wendy hughes into mortal danger the way j-l picard did

fuck, i could just watch yaphet kotto randomly move about the room

i love how he delivers his lines, it’s like watching free jazz or something

also appreciate that it only took 1.5 episodes for me to *hate* that uniformed superior guy who shits on G

i don't even know his name, i just know i'm gonna spend like 100 episodes hating him

so punchable

haven’t even mentioned meldrick or munch

i should make a clip of ned beatty, in the premiere, declaiming ‘Detective Munch’ over and over again

Streaming release borked the music synchs: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homicide_LOTS/comments/1evyokj/well_the_original_music_is_not_intact_on_the/

the music replacements are very bummertown & it kinda pisses me off

but i still am rewatching because i am kind of hypnotized by how nice it looks?

and i still marvel that all these incredible actors were all together in this fucking show in MY LIFETIME and i saw it happen on regular-ass normcore network tv (with
original music ~sob~)

the change in aspect ratio means sometimes you see additional weird/funny unintentional stuff in
the frsm (like a crew member crabwalking the floor of the interrogation room to get out of a shot)

*frame

just finished s3

s3e20 Gas Man w Bruno Kirby & Richard Edson is still pretty godamn great, kinda like a morbid Rosencrantz & Guildenstern episode in a way, the ending w Kirby & Braugher doesn’t ~quite~ land but it’s good regardless.

the music replacements though, gah, soul-crushing. terrible. at least they didn’t sub out the Spinners ffs