My boyfriend, Charlie, and I (finally) just finished the whole 7 season series and hour and a half movie of “Homicide: Life on the Street”.
My previous experience with cop/crime/judicial system dramas was limited to occasional reruns of “Law & Order” and a brief infatuation with “CSI”.
So when Charlie (with whom I watch many shows and movies) told me about the “Homicide” series, I was kind of skeptical that I’d enjoy it, but up for starting something new.
First episode, really hooked me right in.
This series isn’t about the crimes and cases like many other shows that share the same genre, this series is all about the characters. Although the crimes do advance the characters’ plots and overall depth, the main focus is their psychological mental states while they work within the sociologically stressful confines working as homicide detectives. (shhhh. I used dictionary.com to make sure I was wording that correctly.)
Created by Paul Attanasio with a multitude of directors and writers (such as Tom Fontana, who wrote for many other series and movies within the same classification as “Homicide”.) this series has too many story lines and riveting moments to mention.
I will, however, divulge in a very non-respectful slandering of the character called “Kellerman”, played by Reed Diamond (who I won’t link to, because in my opinion I don’t think has the acting chops to be backlinked from my site). I ultimately felt myself getting more and more disgusted at the character’s motive and morals, which was a direct reflection of the script and plot points he was involved in/keeping him around past his prime/a tad of my own personal hatred for the shoddy acting in comparison to other great actors on the show and their outstanding performances.
Speaking of which, my favorite actor and character on this show has got to be “Lieutenant Al Giardello” played by the seasoned Yaphet Kotto. The funniest repeated point, that doesn’t give anything more away than his character’s name, is the reference to “Gee” being so very Italian for an African American man, which no one can ever believe his heritage as a mixed Sicilian American and African American.
I suggest for anyone who loves intricately written, based off real life characters, whom after 7 seasons get pretty involved, with a mixture of mystery and brutality associated with the homicide department of Baltimore city, definitely this is a must see series. It will not let you down.