Homicide, Life on the Street

It was a gloomy day when NBC cancelled this amazing show, but unfortunately, not enough viewers were watching. It can now be viewed in syndication - as of January 1999 it is shown on Court-TV weeknights. "Homicide" was an Emmy and Peabody-award-winning show. Because of its unique shooting style, magnificent writers, and terrific actors, it is the best show I ever watched. Other cop shows are no comparison. In fact, no other drama on network television had such a racially diverse cast. This is the only drama I have seen with African-American actors in leading roles. It is a sad fact that there aren't other shows like it out now.

This show truly did duck the "system" of other dramas, staying true to the source and portraying realistic characters. Anguish, joy, anger, humiliation, and respect are evident in the faces of the characters in assorted episodes. The first few seasons were the best, in my opinion, but the other seasons were still better than anything else on the networks. I shudder to think that "Nash Bridges" beat this amazing show in the ratings. If you are at all interested, try to find this show on television in your area. There is no middle ground with this show; you will either hate it or love it. All that I know have become addicted to it.

We all agree this was probably the best crime series ever made, despite NBC's reluctance to support and promote it. This was TV acting, scripting, and directing at it's best.

What the public could not accept, was that the stories did not have neat endings. Life, and crime stories are messy. The show reflected that. And I'm grateful for it's honesty.

On the other hand, I'm grateful they allowed the show to have a movie that ended several major story lines. At the end of it all, we needed closure, even it some of the endings weren't "happy endings". That in itself showed the quality - the truth of this show.

Fiction can be truthful, and "real". This was the best example . And NBC should hang it's head in shame for the way it treated it. I'm glad that "Munch" still lives on Law & Order SVU, but it's a shadow of a great character in a great show.

On TV you take what you get.

This show is an excellent drama of which you will rarely find on network TV(perhaps NYPD Blue in its first five or six years,St.Elsewhere,L.A.Law,Hill Street Blues might compare). This show,set in the Homicide division(of course) of the Baltimore Police Department and centered around the elite detectives of the precinct was an edgy,intense show which took some big-time chances(For example:One episode was set exclusively around two of the detectives grilling a suspect)and it's time slot,Friday nights at 10 eastern/9 central,made this a constant candidate for the cancellation blocks,but the loyal viewer-ship and the loud protestations of TV critics helped keep this show afloat for the six and a half years it ran. The acting and writing were by far some of the best on network t.v.,the characters fleshed out by Andre Braugher,Yaphett Kotto(As the chief),Ned Beatty,Melissa Leo,Isabella Hoffman,Clark Johnson,Daniel Baldwin,Kyle Secor,Reed Diamond and long-time stand-up comedian Richard Belzer,who has found his niche as a dramatic actor(and as the SAME character,Detective John Munch,in no fewer than five TV shows,now on Law and Order:Special Victims UNit)stand out maybe the most! I believe they could even revive this show someday in the future with some different characters in the roles and,with roughly the same writing and exactly the same kind of no-hold-barred risk-taking,could be at least half as good,if not equal.

Like everybody before me told, this is THE best police story ever made.

The photography, the personages, the direction and last but not least the music. It's the first series where I noticed that a song was completely played, while all the actors kept moving, doing what they have to do, but without dialogues. If you are a scriptwriter it's a dream when you can accomplish this. The action counts. But then, as a cherry on a pie, the dialogues are perfect too.

Too bad we get this only once a week and then at a past midnight hour.

I was very surprised to learn this series originated from a book. Got that information from this web-site. I'm still full of praise but on the go for the Amazon book store. :-)

I have never been a big fan of police serials, but this is my all time favourite. I have nothing to add to the earlier comments, other than that in a time with complicated racial conflicts, poverty induced crime and the problems stemming from social inequality, this show tried to comment on the real problems facing the modern society.

And it was exciting too.