Homicide: Life on the Street

Homicide: Life on the Street
File:HLOTS title.jpg Homicide: Life on the Street title card (Seasons 5–7)
Created by	Paul Attanasio
Starring	The Main Cast (See Below)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	122 (plus TV movie) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 1 hour (per episode)
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	January 31, 1993 – May 21, 1999; TV movie February 13, 2000

Homicide: Life on the Street was an American police procedural series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons (122 episodes) on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by the TV Movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale. The series was originally based on David Simon's factual book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Many of the characters and stories used throughout the show were based on the events depicted in the book, which was also used for Simon's own series, The Wire on HBO.

Despite featuring an ensemble cast, with the "Starring" Roles being given to Richard Belzer, Daniel Baldwin and Ned Beatty, Frank Pembleton's portrayer, Andre Braugher emerged as the series breakout star. . Homicide won Television Critic's Awards for the outstanding drama in not only 1996, but also in 1997 and 1998. It also became the first drama ever to win three Peabody Awards for best drama in 1993, 1995 and finally in 1997.

The show also inspired spin-off Homicide: Second Shift, which was shown exclusively online.

The Regular Cast

A Selection of cast members from throughout the shows run

Character	Portrayed by	Rank	Seasons (as Regular)	Seasons (as Guest)	Fate
John Munch	Richard Belzer	Detective	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	—	Transferred
Meldrick Lewis	Clark Johnson	Detective	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	—	Active
Al Giardello	Yaphet Kotto	Lieutenant	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	—	Deceased (Shooting)
Tim Bayliss	Kyle Secor	Detective	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	—	Resigned
Frank Pembleton	Andre Braugher	Detective	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	—	Resigned
Kay Howard	Melissa Leo	Sergeant	1, 2, 3, 4, 5	—	Transferred
Beau Felton	Daniel Baldwin	Detective	1, 2, 3	—	Deceased (Shooting)
Stanley Bolander	Ned Beatty	Detective	1, 2, 3	—	Retired
Steve Crosetti	Jon Polito	Detective	1, 2	—	Deceased (Drowning)
Mike Kellerman	Reed Diamond	Detective	4, 5, 6	7	Resigned
Megan Russert	Isabella Hofmann	Detective	3, 4	5	Resigned
Paul Falsone	Jon Seda	Detective	6, 7	5	Active
Julianna Cox	Michelle Forbes	Chief Medical Examiner	5, 6	—	Fired
Stuart Gharty	Peter Gerety	Detective	6, 7	4, 5	Active
Laura Ballard	Callie Thorne	Detective	6, 7	—	Active
J. H. Brodie	Max Perlich	Crime Scene Filmer	5	4	Resigned
Terri Stivers	Toni Lewis	Detective	7	5, 6	Active
Rene Sheppard	Michael Michele	Detective	7	—	Active
Michael Giardello	Giancarlo Esposito	Officer	7	—	Active

Overview

Homicide: Life on the Street was adapted from Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, a non-fiction book by Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon, based on his experience following a Baltimore Police Department homicide unit. Simon, who became a consultant and producer with the series, said he was particularly interested in the demythification of the American detective. Although detectives are typically portrayed as noble characters who care deeply about their victims, Simon believed real detectives regarded violence as a normal aspect of their jobs. Simon sent the book to film director and Baltimore native Barry Levinson with the hopes that it would be adapted into a film, but Levinson thought it would be more appropriate material for television because the stories and characters could be developed over a longer period of time. Levinson believed a television adaptation would bring a fresh and original edge to the police drama genre because the book exploded many of the myths of the police drama genre by highlighting that cops did not always get along with each other, and that criminals occasionally got away with their crimes. Levinson approached screenwriter Paul Attanasio with the material, and Homicide became Attanasio's first foray into television writing. Subsequently, all episodes of Homicide display the credit, "Created by Paul Attanasio" at the end of their opening sequence, a credit which both Eric Overmyer and James Yoshimura dispute on the DVD audio commentary to the season 5 episode, "The Documentary," claiming instead the show was created by Tom Fontana and Yoshimura. The series title was originally Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, but NBC changed it so that viewers would not believe it was limited to a single year; the network also believed the use of the term "life" would be more reaffirming than the term "killing streets". The opening theme music was composed by Baltimore native, Lynn F. Kowal, a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

"The greatest lie, I think, in dramatic TV is the cop who stands over a body and pulls up the sheet and mutters, 'Damn' and looks down sadly. To a real homicide detective, it's just a day's work."

David Simon

Homicide's purpose was to provide its viewers with a no-nonsense, police procedural-type glimpse into the lives of a squad of inner-city detectives. As opposed to many television shows and movies involving cops, Homicide initially opted for a bleak sort of realism in its depiction of "The Job", portraying it as repetitive, spiritually draining, an existential threat to one's psyche, often glamor- and glory-free—but, nonetheless, a social necessity. In its attempt to do so, Homicide developed a trademark feel and look that distinguished itself from its contemporaries. For example, the series was filmed with hand-held 16 mm cameras almost entirely on-location in Baltimore (making the idiosyncratic city something of a character itself). It also regularly used music montages, jump-cut editing, and the three-times-in-a-row repetition of the same camera shot during particularly crucial moments in the story. The episodes were also noted for interweaving as many as three or four storylines in a single episode. NBC executives often asked the writers to focus on a single homicide case rather than multiple ones, but the show producers tended to resist this advice.

Despite premiering in the coveted post-Super Bowl time slot, the show opened to lackluster ratings, and cancellation was an immediate threat. However, the show's winning of two Emmy Awards (for Levinson's direction and Fontana's writing of the pilot episode) and the success of another police drama—the more sensational NYPD Blue—helped convince NBC to give it another chance beyond the truncated, nine-episode-long first season. (Incidentally, Homicide's four-episode second-season renewal ties it with Seinfeld as the lowest number of episodes ordered in network history.) Homicide consistently ranked behind ABC's 20/20 and CBS's Nash Bridges in the Nielsen ratings. Despite the poor ratings, reviews have been consistently strong from the beginning of the series. Commentators were especially impressed with the high number of strong, complex, well-developed and non-stereotypical African American characters like Pembleton, Lewis and Giardello.

The police department scenes were shot at the historic City Recreation Pier in the Fells Point neighborhood in Baltimore. Although NBC occasionally pressured the show's producers to write happy endings to the homicide cases, the network gave an unusual amount of freedom for the writers to create darker stories and nontraditional detective story elements like unsolved cases where criminals escape. Nevertheless, in its attempt to improve Homicide's ratings, NBC often insisted on changes, both cosmetic and thematic. For example, by the beginning of the third season, talented but unphotogenic veteran actor Jon Polito had been ordered dropped from the cast. At around this same time, the network also began clamoring for more on-screen romance and violence. In order to have episodes NBC considered more eye-catching air during "sweeps" periods, it sometimes aired them out of order, often to the detriment of story arcs that had developed over several episodes or even entire seasons. Probably the most infamous of such gaffes was NBC's decision to broadcast an episode featuring the program's first sex scene ("A Model Citizen") prior to the airing of the much acclaimed episode, "Crosetti". (The detective, Polito's character, had been in Atlantic City on vacation since the end of the second season's four episodes; for reasons never fully explained—but perhaps not difficult to surmise—he returns to Baltimore and drowns himself rather than return to his job.) As a result of this deviation from the producers' intended order, viewers of "A Model Citizen" found out from a comment made by his ex-partner, Detective Meldrick Lewis, merely that Crosetti had died but not how or when.

Considered by critics to be one of television's most authentic police dramas, as well as an excellent dramatic series propelled by a talented ensemble cast, Homicide garnered three straight Television Critic's Awards for outstanding drama from 1996 to 1998 and was the first drama ever to win three of the prestigious Peabody Awards for best drama (1993, 1995, 1997).

The reality of Homicide's negligible Nielsen ratings hovered over all things, however, and always left the show in a precarious position, cancellation-wise; it also had a harder time gaining a large audience because fewer viewers are at home watching TV on Friday nights. To NBC's credit, though, the network managed to keep what TV Guide referred to as "The Best Show You're Not Watching" on the air for five full seasons and seven seasons in all. In July 1997, NBC gave the series producers an ultimatum to make Homicide more popular than Nash Bridges or face cancellation. When this goal was not reached, the studio began serious consideration to canceling the show, but a number of unexpected shocks at NBC increased Homicide's value. Among those factors were the loss of the popular series Seinfeld and the $850 million deal needed to keep ER from leaving the network.

Homicide was at one time syndicated on Lifetime and Court TV. While these networks no longer air the program, it is now on the all-crime television cable station Sleuth, and airs occasionally on WGN America. Episodes of Homicide also air on TNT as part of several crossovers the series had with Law & Order, which TNT owns broadcast rights for; in these cases both crossover episodes air back to back. All seven seasons are available on DVD. One DVD set combines the first two seasons. Additional sets contain the complete third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons. A boxed set shaped like a filing cabinet features an additional disc containing the Homicide TV movie and the relevant Law & Order crossover episodes – those without this disc had to rely on Law & Order recap clips on the season DVDs. Significantly, the DVDs contain the episodes in the producers' intended order, not the order in which NBC aired them.

The show has spawned changes in the real life Baltimore homicide unit. As seen in the show, the unit originally used a dry erase board in order to visually track detectives' progress at solving crimes. After the show began to air, the Baltimore Police Department discontinued the practice, believing the board, which concentrated on "clearance rates" for crimes, had a negative impact on publicity. It was brought back later at the insistence of the detectives.

Plot synopsis

Seasons 1 and 2

The first season saw the introductions of Detective's Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher), Stan Bolander (Ned Beatty), Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson), John Munch (Richard Belzer), Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor), Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) and Steve Crosetti (Jon Polito), as well as Commander, Lieutenant Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto).

The First departure came in the second season, when Jon Polito was cut from the show, marking the end of Steve Crosetti, a departure that would be explained in the third season.

Season 3

The Third Season dealt with the death of Crosetti, who made his last appearance in the season 2 finale. Isabella Hofmann joined the cast as Lieutenant Megan Russert, the commander of the other Homicide shift, it also dealt with her promotion to Captain, and saw the last appearances of Felton and Bolander (Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty).

Seasons 4 and 5

The Fourth Season saw the departure of Daniel Baldwin and Ned Beatty, who play Felton and Bolander, who had both been given a suspension. Bolander went onto retire, and Felton to be killed, they would not return until the movie. This season also sees Mike Kellerman (Reed Diamond) join the cast. Isabella Hofmann (newly demoted, Detective Meg Russert) left at the end of Season 4, but returned in the Season 5 finale, in which she, Kay Howard (Melissa Leo) and J.H. Brodie (Max Perlich) would make their last appearances.

Season 6

The Sixth season was the first not to feature Leo as Sergeant Kay Howard, and the last to feature Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton. Jon Seda, Callie Thorne and Peter Gerety joined the cast as Detective's Paul Falsone, Laura Ballard and Stuart Gharty. Max Perlich is no longer present, nor is Detective Meg Russert (Isabella Hofmann).

Season 7

Following the events of the Season 6 finale, Detective Frank Pembleton (Braugher) and Detective Mike Kellerman (Diamond) are no longer regulars, Braugher would not return until the movie, while Diamond made a 2-episode guest appearance. Giancarlo Esposito is cast as Giardello's son Mike, who is assigned to Homicide as an FBI Liason.

Homicide: The Movie

In 2000, following the conclusion of the show, a TV Movie blandly titled Homicide: The Movie was shown on NBC. The squads former Lieutenant, Al Giardello, was running for mayor on a controversial pro-drug-legalization platform, and is close to victory when he is gunned down. The assassination attempt inspires the return of the entire unit, past and present in an effort to apprehend the gunman.

Crossover episodes

Homicide crossed over four times with Law & Order. In three of these episodes, a case would begin with L&O (the higher-rated show) in New York City for Part One before moving the action to Baltimore for Part Two:

• In the pre-credit sequence of the episode "Law and Disorder" (H:LotS ep 3x15), Chris Noth appears as his Law & Order character, Mike Logan, handing off a prisoner (portrayed by Baltimore native John Waters in a cameo appearance) to Frank Pembleton, while they engage in friendly banter about which city, New York City or Baltimore, is better.
• "Charm City" (L&O ep 6x13) /"For God and Country" (H:LotS ep 4x12)—A terrorist attack targeting African-Americans kills 20 people in New York, and the Baltimore cops connect it to an earlier racially-driven attack that killed six people. The cops, including Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) team up to find a militia leader with vile plans before he gets away with murder.
• "Baby, it's You" Part I (L&O ep 8x6) /"Baby, it's You" Part II (H:LotS ep 6x5)—A teenaged supermodel dies after being sexually assaulted. The dual-city investigation focuses at first on an obsessive fan and later on her father, before a stunning revelation closes the case.
• "Sideshow" Part I (L&O ep 9x14) /"Sideshow" Part II (H:LotS ep 7x15)—A murder investigation in New York leads cops in a maze of intrigue that includes a lesbian hitwoman, gang members, and political machinations both for and against the current Administration.

Law & Order producer Dick Wolf is a good friend of Tom Fontana, and named the Law & Order character Joe Fontana after him. Detective John Munch would later move to New York and join the NYPD's SVU (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).

"A Doll's Eyes" [ep 4x04] contains a cameo crossover with the CBS Series Chicago Hope. In the episode the organs of the murder victim, a young boy, are shipped to various hospitals across the country. The heart is placed in a cooler with the destination label "Chicago Hope Hospital", and during a montage is received in Chicago by a heart surgeon played by Mandy Patinkin, who also plays surgeon Jeffrey Geiger in Chicago Hope; although the character is unnamed in Homicide episode, the implication is that he is the same character.

Homicide also references the show St. Elsewhere: The Homicide episode "Mercy" features Alfre Woodard reprising her St. Elsewhere character, Dr. Roxanne Turner, while Ed Begley, Jr. has a cameo as his St. Elsewhere character, Dr. Victor Ehrlich (who is unnamed in the movie's dialogue, but identified during the closing credits) in Homicide: The Movie.

Besides this, the character John Munch, played by Richard Belzer, has appeared in several other shows, such as The Beat, The X-Files, Arrested Development, The Wire and Law & Order: Trial by Jury

Other Cast Members

Recurring Cast Members

In addition to the regular cast, Homicide featured a number of recurring characters, who starred alongside the ensemble. Wendy Hughes (Carol Blythe), Ami Brabson (Mary Pembleton) and Željko Ivanek (Ed Danvers) are possibly the most notable, with the former appearing in Season 1, and the other 2 appearing in Seasons 1-6 and Seasons 1-7, respectively. Clayton LeBouef played Colonel George Barnfather throughout the run. Ralph Tabakin also played Dr. Scheiner in all 7 seasons. In addition to them, the recurring cast also included: Gerald F. Gough as Col. Burt Granger (seasons 1–3); Lee Tergesen as Officer Chris Thormann (seasons 1, 5); Sean Whitesell as Dr. Eli Devilbiss (seasons 1, 3–4, 6–7); Michael Willis as Darin Russom (seasons 1–7); Sharon Ziman as Naomi (seasons 1–7); Judy Thornton as Judy (seasons 2–7); Herb Levinson as Dr. Lausanne (seasons 2–7); Gary D'Addario as Lt. Jasper (seasons 3–7); Walt MacPherson as Capt. Roger Gaffney (seasons 3–7); Harlee McBride as Alyssa Dyer (seasons 3–7); Rhonda Overby as Reporter Dawn Daniels (seasons 3–7); Kristin Rohde as Officer Sally Rogers (seasons 3–7); Mary B. Ward as Beth Felton (season 3); Christopher Meloni as Bounty Hunter Dennis Knoll (season 7); Erik Dellums as Luther Mahoney (seasons 4–5); Mekhi Phifer as Junior Bunk (seasons 5–6); Hazelle Goodman as Georgia Rae Mahoney (season 6); Ellen McElduff as Billie Lou Hatfield (seasons 5–7); Austin Pendleton as Dr. George Griscom (season 7) and Jason Stanford as Joe Ryblack (season 6-7).

Notable guest appearances

A number of well-known actors and celebrities appeared on the show, including Joan Chen, Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Stoltz, Tate Donovan, James Earl Jones, Moses Gunn, Robin Williams, Lily Tomlin, Steve Buscemi, Alfre Woodard, Marcia Gay Harden, Peter Gallagher, Chris Rock, Pat Hingle, Wilford Brimley, Steve Allen, Joe Perry, Bruno Kirby, Richard Edson, Charles S. Dutton, Kate Walsh, Edie Falco, Vincent D'Onofrio, Kathryn Erbe, Christopher Meloni, Luis Guzmán, Steve Burns, Elijah Wood, Fisher Stevens, Jake Gyllenhaal, Lewis Black, Bruce Campbell, Paul Giamatti, J.K. Simmons, Terry O'Quinn, David Morse, John Glover, Terry Kinney. Tony Todd, Charles Durning, Isaiah Washington, Jeffrey Donovan, Jena Malone, and Jerry Stiller, among many others. Jason Priestley joined the cast in the climactic television movie, during which his character referred to Pembleton and Bayliss as "legends." Typically, well-known actors making guest appearances on Homicide were cast in fully-developed roles central to the episode in which they appeared. Robin Williams's sensitive portrayal of a grieving widower and father in the early episode "Bop Gun" is a notable example, as is Steve Buscemi's role as a suspected gunman in the third-season "End Game."

Recurring characters of particular note include the Mahoney crime family. Luther Mahoney, a recurring villain throughout seasons four and five, is a crime and drug kingpin who uses others to do his dirty work and masterfully manipulates the law to repeatedly escape conviction and hide his connection to the crimes committed by his underlings. At first, he is depicted as an almost friendly rival, with both Mahoney and the police mutually amused by Mahoney's antics. Gradually, however, the police—particularly Kellerman and Lewis—grow frustrated with Mahoney, until Lewis viciously beats him during an arrest, and Kellerman fatally shoots Mahoney under questionable circumstances.

In the following season, the Mahoney organization is taken over by Luther's sister Georgia Rae, who seeks both legal and illegal forms of revenge against the Baltimore Police Department.

Mekhi Phifer makes several appearances as Junior Bunk, a dim-witted street thug who is initially depicted as someone with the potential to go straight. His crimes grow increasingly violent, however, and in his final appearance he is revealed to be Georgia Rae's son, with the real name of "Nathaniel Lee Mahoney". Junior's final appearance takes place after the character has been hardened by jail time, and the once minor criminal deals the homicide department a major blow with a multiple shooting in the police station, killing three uniformed cops (extras) and injuring two of the main characters. In retaliation, the police declare all-out war on the Mahoney crime organization. Several cops, including Bayliss, are injured, and several criminals, including Georgia Rae, are killed as a result; in addition, both Pembleton and Kellerman turn in their badges.

However, some celebrities made essentially cameo appearances which were more lighthearted in nature. Director (and Baltimore native) John Waters appeared twice, once as a nameless bartender listening to a disconsolate Detective Bolander, and another time as a talkative prisoner awaiting transfer from New York to Baltimore (escorted by Det. Mike Logan, played by Chris Noth). Out traveling on his motorcycle, Jay Leno stopped in at the Waterfront to have a beer, quickly departing after finding his bartenders strangely silent. In one particularly self-referential episode, journalist Tim Russert appeared as himself, bickering about Christmas presents with his "cousin", Lieutenant Megan Russert. Film director Barry Levinson, who also executive produced Homicide, acted as himself directing an episode for a show-within-a-show called Homicide in the episode, “The Documentary.”

Both the mayor of Baltimore (Kurt Schmoke) and the governor of Maryland (Parris Glendening) made brief appearances in the episode about the death of Beau Felton, appearing at the memorial press conference for Felton's death in the line of duty.

Episodes

For a list of the episodes, see List of Homicide: Life on the Street episodes

all episodes have been released on DVD, A&E Home Video has released all 7 Seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street on DVD in Region 1. In addition to this the TV movie Homicide: The Movie made after the regular series ended was released on DVD in Region 1 by Trimark Pictures on May 22, 2001.

DVD Name	Episodes	Release dates
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
The Complete 1st and 2nd Seasons	13	May 27, 2003	February 26, 2007 (Series 1)	June 30, 2009
The Complete 3rd Season	20	October 28, 2003	July 16, 2007 (Series 2)	September 30, 2009
The Complete 4th Season	22	March 30, 2004	September 24, 2007 (Series 3)	December 2, 2009
The Complete 5th Season	22	September 28, 2004	February 4, 2008 (Series 4)	February 2, 2010
The Complete 6th Season	23	January 25, 2005	May 5, 2007 (Series 5)	TBA
The Complete 7th Season	22	September 1, 2008	June 2, 2007 (Series 6)	TBA
Homicide: The Movie	1	May 22, 2001	N/A	N/A
The Complete Series	122	November 14, 2006	March 29, 2010	N/A

Impact on African American cinema

Homicide was noteworthy amongst network TV shows in its multi-dimensional depictions of various African Americans throughout the show. While not specifically an African-American-themed show, it was set in majority African-American Baltimore, Maryland and would naturally display various issues and characteristics of the city's African-American community. Homicide managed to cross several racial barriers that were not crossed on previous television series, and portrayed by and large a more progressive depiction of African-American characters than other previous television series. The show was commended at several award ceremonies themed to African-American cinema, such as the NAACP-sponsored Image Awards which would nominate both the show itself and its major cast members such as Yaphet Kotto, Andre Braugher, Clark Johnson, Toni Lewis, Michael Michele, and Giancarlo Esposito for various awards.

References

• Bobby, J. (c. 2000). "The Homicide: Life on the Street Glossary". Retrieved 2007-09-24.

External links

• Template:Tv.com show
• Homicide: Life on the Street at IMDb
• Homicide: The Movie at IMDb
• script of Homicide: The Movie
• Homicide: Links on the Sites — News links, web sites, merchandise

Preceded by 60 Minutes and 48 Hours 1992

Homicide: Life on the Street Super Bowl lead-out program 1993

Succeeded by The Good Life 1994