EZ Streets

This show premiered during my sophomore year of high school, and I was eager to see it from the moment I heard about it. The first episode had me instantly enamored. This was the most incredible, darkly beautiful, and cinematic vision I have ever had the privilege to see on television. The writing, acting (especially that of Joe Pantoliano as Jimmy Murtha), and sheer mood created by this show was impeccable. I was incredibly excited. I tried (unsuccessfully) to convince all my friends to watch, I tuned in for every episode that CBS didn't purposefully hide from me, and I instantly declared it my new favorite show.

And then CBS killed it.

As seems to be the fate of any quality television that I show an interest in (The Critic, Action, etc.), it was completely misunderstood by the viewing public and summarily yanked. I think what still hurts the most about it is the fact that in lieu of showing the final episode, CBS ran a rerun of Walker: Texas Ranger. It was this that made me lose any interest in television whatsoever. Even the Simpsons doesn't hold the appeal for me that it once did.

Paul Haggis lovingly crafted the most perfect television series of all time, and CBS spit in his face. The world is poorer for it.

But all is not lost, I suppose. I do have my Emmy screener of the pilot episode, the VCD I mastered from this screener, my collection of all the other episodes on VHS, and the shooting scripts for two unfilmed episodes. My ideal is to acquire screener copies of every episode and have them mastered on DVD, saving this piece of art for the future. CBS has shown that they have no desire to do this, so it's up to us fans, I suppose. With that said, please get in touch with me if you'd like copies of any of this material. I'm only too willing to help out other fans.

Thanks to anyone who's read through this, and thanks to Paul Haggis and anyone related to the show. It was, and still is, appreciated.

Yeah, I bought my copy yesterday and as I was watching the Pilot, I was remembering the next line to be said, as if no time had passed since the original CBS airing. That's how often I think about this show.

Watched the first 5 minutes of the next episode on the DVD, then angrily ejected the disc... because there's THREE episodes missing!!

Whose BRILLIANT idea was it to place a 3-episode gap on an incomplete DVD compilation for a series with a running storyline, where discontinuity is LETHAL?

That's kinda like the game CBS played when they refused to re-air the first two episodes after an angry public forced them to resurrect EZ Streets from a four-month hiatus!

All the great moments we're missing...

• The "Illusion, Allusion" discussion between Jimmy and Fivers in the burned-out restaurant.

• The "Pop-Up" shower scene with Jimmy and Theresa.

• Theresa getting frisky at church.

• Theresa joyfully waking up, then retrieving her pager from under the covers and returning Jimmy's call... Jimmy: "Why won't you give me your home phone number?" Teresa: "Because I love it when you call me this way."

• The "Dog-face" discussion that ends with Jimmy heaving a glass at Mickey's head: "What kinda dog?"

I could go on...

Oh, and I really want the chance to see if there really IS a mailbox in Theresa's apartment building with the name "B. Fraser"!

There isn't much to say here, except that I agree with just about every user comment on here. This was an exceptional series that hooked me from the very beginning. It is a shame that we were given a taste of the brilliance of "EZ Streets," and then it was taken away from us in the blink of an eye. "What might have been" another comment says. Well quite possibly one of the greatest television series' ever. I am sure there would have been many Emmys, Golden Globes, etc....but we'll never know...we'll never know what might have been.

Updated on 9/15/08: There are a few more things I'd like to say about this series. First, I believe that this was still one of the finest television series' that never got to come to fruition. I also believe that it was ahead of it's time. I honestly believe that if this series had been brought to television today, it would have succeeded. I just don't think that, for whatever reason, people were ready for such gritty, dark, and violent material to occupy a spot in prime time television. Especially on the three main networks. Today Haggis would have had the opportunity to take this show to another network that isn't afraid to push the limits (i.e. FX, Spike T.V., or even HBO). I thought about purchasing the DVDs, but now that I know that there are episodes missing, I think, for the time being, I'll just continue to remember this show the way it was when it first aired. And I'll continue to think about what might have been.

OK, so when this show first aired in 2006, it blew me away harder than a pigeon feather at an airshow.

The writing, the acting, the mood created by the amazing cinematography and hypnotic soundtrack (comprised mostly of songs by Canadian artist Loreena McKennitt), everything works so well in this show to create the most amazing television experience ever had. It's better than most movies and the plot lasts for 10 hours! That is, it would have if CBS had actually allowed the show to run its full course!! But low ratings, a bad marketing strategy and short-sighted execs killed it before it had a chance to be recognized (by the public - most critics had already recognized its value, thankfully).

So now the first three episodes of EZ Streets is available in the "Brilliant But Cancelled" DVD series, which I just rented and watched and loved just as much as I did 10 years ago. I will buy this DVD and I suggest that everyone else do the same so that one day, with Paul Haggis' growing popularity, someone will bother releasing the ENTIRE series (only 9 episodes - come on, you can do it!). This gem needs to be appreciated for generations to come, as any such admiration would be well deserved.

I loved this show when it was on TV 1996-97. Great photography, scripts, acting, music. The series had a movie quality & feel to it, that was rare for TV series of that time period. In summary, it had all that was needed for it to be canceled after a pilot and 9 regular shows. IMDb has listed some info on this program that is incorrect. For example, the pilot ran for two hours. All the other episodes were sixty minutes, except, for some reason, Episode #4 (called "St. Jude Took a Bullet"), which ran for ninety minutes (all including commercials). Please see my comment on the forum for this show, for more info about viewing the episodes, & hearing some of the songs.