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Rating:  -
I really don't have terms glowing enough to describe this season of Homicide. Smart, funny, heartwrenching and thought-provoking, this season is television at its absolute best. Of all the shows I've seen over the years, nothing is better than this.
Rating:  -
When I first caught the season 3 episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, I thought it was the second coming of the drama series, unlike anything I'd seen. Now, more than a decade after its airing, I'm not so sure that's true - it's far more conventional than I ever gave it credit for. Plotlines like Russert's discovery of her ex-partner's spousal abuse ("Partners"), the watering-down of dark/light-skinned African American racism a la Spike Lee's School Daze ("Nothing Personal") or the lame Frank-vs.-beauracracy plotline ("Cradle to Grave") all seem to come out of the affecting-social-melodrama handbook. It means, I think, that Homicide hadn't quite come into its own yet, not in the sure and galvanizing way it did in seasons 4-6. Perhaps it was still unsure of what to do with the fact that it had accidnetally stumbled onto one of the best performances in the history of television in Andre Braugher, and felt the need to set him off as much as possible. Or perhaps it was a need to give their most recognizable face, Daniel Baldwin, more screentime (who could care about the Beth-kids debacle plotline?). Some episodes are rightly considered classics - like the devastating "Every Mother's Son" and the gorgeous send-off "Crosseti," which features work of magestic grief and strength by both Ned Beatty and Clark Johnson. Those episodes prove that Homicide was on the right track, but I disagree with most fans that think it had already entered its glory days - the best were ahead.
Rating: -
I say maybe because I'm only now, in 2005, discovering this show and going through, season by season. Seasons 1 and 2 were obviously amazing, but I had a sense watching Season 3 that the creators and cast had hit their stride and I was probably watching the show's peak. I'm now on Season 4 and there was a noticible lag (though by midseason I would say it picked back up to Season 3's level).
I can't add much to some of the excellent consumer reviews in terms of detail. I can just say that I rarely like a television show. I can count them on one hand: NYPD BLUE, Twin Peaks, The Guardian, The Wire... and now I'm discovering this amazing TV series. I got into it through becoming a fan of the Wire and looking for past work of the show's creators. I thought NYPD Blue was the apex of the cop drama done artfully. And now I'm discovering that there was ANOTHER Cop drama airing COCURRENTLY that I had no idea of, that was actually BETTER. Why better? It simply reaches further. Blue's strength was its realism via understatement. Homicide LOTS could not be more different. There is nothing understated about this show. There is great overacting. Some of the moments from Pembleton, Giordello and Bayliss are so over the top in a wonderful way. This isn't realism to be illustrative of humanity. It's more like a play where the characters deliver wonderfully scripted lines that are ILLUMINATIVE of humanity in the way that few examples of this kind of writing do. It's also more creatively experimental. Blue found a look and a feel that was groundbreaking and fresh and stuck with it. On this show, though, I like that you can feel the constant change in directors and the non-stop tinkering with the form. And one thing that can't be overstated is how FUNNY this show is. The characters are all really grouchy and the interactions make some of the best dry humor I've ever seen.
This is a truly brilliant series and one of its best seasons.
Rating: -
I won't get many this review was helpfuls because I'm not going into any detail of plot and characters etc.. I'm simply saying for any fan of drama, comedy and pathos - this is simpley the best tv drama ever produced. I followed its' journey from beginning to end during its original broadcast - despite the time changes and interuptions in scheduling. You cannot buy better television at any price - buy them all and enjoy.
Rating: -
I'm not going to add much more to the terrific reviews of the series - it is the best show you never watched, and since I managed to watch most of them (and caught up on the rest!), it is a terrific blast from the past.
I am going to add one scolding, and its the reason I gave this DVD set 4 stars instead of 5. Unlike several other reviewers, I thought that the commentary track ("The Gas Man") was rather thin. Yes, great, we got the writer and director of the show. But would it kill them to spend 47 minutes watching said show at least once before commenting on it? C'mon guys! You had a couple of interesting bits. Saying several times in essence "wow, this is so great, wish I would have seen this before, lets watch..."...well, I can do that.
Study for the test, dudes!
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