TV series– Homicide life on the streets

TV series– Homicide life on the streets

Score : 6/10* 

Seasons & running years : 7* (1993-1999). 122 episodes 

Additions: 1 tv-movie (2000)

Music: Multiple 

Country: USA

Language: English. Occasional dialogues in other languages.

Duration: Each episode lasts about 49-50 minutes in early seasons, down to about 42 in the latter ones. 

Writers:  Multiple (IMDB)
Created by : 

On dvd, seasons 1 (9 episodes) and 2 (4 episodes) are joined into 1 season, and the others are full-length, about 20-23 episodes each. 

This crime/drama/mystery/cop show follows a Homicide Unit which investigates violent crimes in Baltimore, the majority of them being, as the name suggests, murders. 

Sometimes, though, other violence crimes occur, and the unit still has to investigate. 



The show was created by Paul Attanasio, and was inspired by David Simon's book Homicide: A year on the killing streets, based on his experiences following real detectives in 1988. He approached Barry Levinson, a Baltimore native, and this gave birth to the series. The first 2 seasons comprise stories from real cases. 

Casting is usually good, and the biggest guest stars aren't always the culprits, living a lot of unexpected results to cases - which at times are twisted and weird, very rarely predictable, but sometimes, downright annoying - especially from one detective both my wife & I felt was the worse written tv-detective! 

Acting is also usually quite good, believable, and many characters become quite attaching. Very few seemed to me over or under-acted. 

Kuddos to racial and ethnic diversity, and raising a lot of important social and exitential topics, but sadly, like a lot of tv shows of its period, this show seriously lacked in female characters (not enough parity, which wouldn't be unrealistic in one aspect, but still, needed to be improved), and characterization wasn't equal between the genders. Most female characters could have used more even writing, but I have to take into consideration the 1990's as a frame of cultural reference here.

Music : 
After a first season (early 1993) with very little music, more and more episodes contain one or several instrumental, or most frequently, songs to accompany specific scenes, or episode endings - once or twice even from the start. 
The songs chosen tend to have at least a line or more pertaining to the scenes they accompany ; I didn't like their majority and missed the rawer aspect of the show from its earlier season. The same goes to the opening and ending credits, which were altered after cast changes ; my favorite remain the early 2 seasons from 1993-94 in this regard, with raw tune, though the others aren't too bad, and all of these denote rhythmic drums and action. 

Cinematography and directing : in attempts to set itself apart from other 1990's cop shows, Homicide tries too hard. Camera work is often shaky and many scenes have unnecessary twirling which can give a headache, and are logical in only a handful of occasions. At times, an apparent cheaper camera is used for some scenes, which may or may not be an artistic choice to represent the raw aspect of police work on daily basis. 

Stories : they include, as I said, many murder investigation, sometimes involving drug addicts and sellers and many triggering material which I'll detail further down in the parental guide section. Never let your kids watch this, it's TV-MA14 for many a reason!

I will say this : the stories aren't always predictable and can be quite varied in resolution, and which cop or duo (or the whole team) investigates. Only those stories pertaining to the character we didn't like tend to be sappy and lack in originality, and also appear to portray unprofessional activities which should've cost this character quite a few reprimands. 

Lastly, relating to this character and others, there is a whole arc that should have been shortened to its resolution. 

In view of the serious topics, which often involve human depravity in their criminal actions, the show uses dark humour and existential topics are also raised as a result, as the detective's job is grim. They can be at times, crude in dialogues about sex, death and more. 

Episode format varies. There is no predetermined sequence of events, contrary to Law & Order where the crime is discovered, police called, investigation, and about half point the legal aspect taking over,  in Homicide, any of these can occur, once or several times in the same episode, and in fact, court scenes are quite seldom shown.

Also, take note that Homicide had cross-overs with Law & Order on several occasions. One particular story must be viewed in the first part, as the second in Homicide makes no sense without it. I'll post an entry on the cross-overs later. 

The series is rated TV-MA14 because of graphic content and topics at hand, and which I'll discuss further with trigger warnings for the most sensitive viewers. I'll add that contrary to Law & Order which started in 1990, and where crime scenes tend to be limited to the first few minutes, in Homicide, this isn't always the case. Each episode is different and there is no specific formula to when graphic elements (shootings, crime scene, medical examiner's office comprising most of these, and just a few ER-type surgery scenes, as well), so if you are sensitive to such content, I advice you to do what I did : watching with someone and preparing to hide from these scenes, to be told when. 

Starring : 

Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher, Reed Diamond, Giancarlo Esposito, Michelle Forbes, Peter Gerety, Isabella Hofmann, Zelko Ivanek, 
Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Melissa Leo, Toni Lewis, Michael Michele, Max Perlish, Jon Polito, Kyle Secor,  Jon Seda, Callie Thorne, 

Guests include : 

Robin Williams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Steve Buscemi, Elijah Wood, Neil Patrick Harris, James Earl Jones, Bruce Campbell, J.K. Simmons, Paul Giamatti, Chris Rock, & more (but I suggest you don't check who done it !) 

Conclusion and why I gave this show a 6 :

As I disliked most of the musical choices ; higher graphic content than I could watch ; trying too hard to set itself apart and never truly finding it's own identity ; the lack of consistency is camera work, and far too many twirling motions ; and one particular character + arc, all combined into lowering what should have been an 8 or more, into a 6/10. 

& now, to parental guide/triggering content in the show:

First, to fellow vegetarians and vegans : though infrequent, food is mentioned and sometimes shown, especially Baltimore's cuisine which involves seafood.
Second, two episodes involve dog's deaths ; one is early on, which I preferred to stop as soon as they shown the dog's corpse in the morgue, though my wife told me it would be fake, I still couldn't deal with it, and she filled me in about the conclusion. It didn't have a sequel, nor did the other episode, much later in the show, involving dog fights, which aren't shown, but the context was disturbing as well. 


Wounds, corpses and blood is shown, either for a short while in the early episodes, to longer on-screen presence as the show progresses. 

Several episodes are particularly violent and graphic, with shootings and blood spatters visible and over the course of several minutes each. 

Bodies are shown in the morgue ; sometimes these scene are long, and even organs are shown being weighed or washed (I hid from these just like the other graphic stuff).

Characters (main and guests alike) may discuss bullying, child abuse ; rape ; there are frequent mentions of suicide, murder, death and the afterlife ; religious belief and faith ; poisoning and killings of elderly persons, babies and significant others alike. Some cases are drug-related. 

Injuries are sometimes described in gruesome ways. 

There are racists and sexist comments and arguments throughout the show, but aren't the focus on episodes. Hate crimes and prejudices are also present. 

Characters sometimes suffer from depression or anxiety. Some go though surgery and other medical issues. 

Some of the scenes are easy to spot, due to musical cues (especially surgeries), but others are totally out of the blue, such as someone having a stroke.