Homicide: Life on the Street (series)

The Black Oil · 19-02-2010 11:21am #1

I'm coming up to the end of series 1 on DVD. It's pretty good. You can see the similarities to The Wire - the detectives slagging each other, the tight resources, their interaction with the public/public perception of the police and of course, Baltimore.

The newbie detective (Bayliss) reminds me of Dutch from The Shield.

Some familiar faces in there as well. Robin Williams guest starring was a bit odd. Thus far it's mostly focused on the police rather then the police/dealers/city officials/community, etc.

By the way, it was on RTE 1 last night at 1:35am or some stupid hour. I didn't watch it, but ended up reading a spoiler in the episode summary. Ah well.

Johnny Storm · 19-02-2010 5:41pm

EXcellent series IMHO (except for season 7 where the quality drops off a lot).
Also the TV movie (made a few years after the series ended) is a real treat for the fans.
I watched and enjoyed it at the time. Do you find it dated now?

The Black Oil · 19-02-2010 7:25pm

I suppose it does seem a little dated, but I like it. It has that low tech 90s feel to it...or something along those lines.

The Black Oil · 14-06-2010 8:18am

I finished s2 of Homicide LOTS. Enjoyed it for the most part. My niggles, and it pains me to point them out because it's a good show, would be that there were one or two moments that veered towards sentimentality, but I think that can be forgiven because they were few and far between. Secondly, Howard and Bolander putting down cases

so quickly after returning from being shot, hmm. Beau's self-destructiveness had been coming for a while, but seemed well-handled. Finally, the second last episode of the series, Tim Bayliss, man, what a ****ing idiot re his cousin.

Interesting re the skittish relationship between the detectives, though.

The Black Oil · 17-05-2012 9:43pm

I finished this ages ago. Still haven't read the book, mind.

It's a very good show, though the quality dropped in later years. More soap opera ish, more attractive casting, network pushing for changes, etc. I thought they wrapped things up pretty well in the end,

didn't go over the top and they investigated cases as normal. Another day at the office, really. Started with Bayliss, ended with Bayliss.

I didn't think much of the film, tbh.

Dandelion6 · 18-05-2012 6:56am

It is dated now but I watched it from when it started (living in US at the time) and it was almost revolutionary for its time! Probably safe to say there wouldn't be a Wire if there hadn't been a Homicide.

mikemac1 · 19-05-2012 1:13am

It's very good but yeah, it does look a bit dated

Detective Pembleton by far the best character

Like the Wire you see the politics and policies from the police top brass.
Low life drug dealer killed and meh, who cares

But a tourist is killed and wow, overtime and double shifts and everyone cracks down hard to get it solved
I suppose that's accurate

Homicide: Life on the Street (series)

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