Homicide: Life On The Street - General Discussion

[Stiggs]

I'm so glad this show is finally streaming! My sister and I loved this show so much we actually got into a hot water with a Baltimore cop when we visited in 1998. We saw a cop car, and idiot me (I was YOUNG, and an idiot.) sat on the car hood and told my sister to get a photo. She took a pic, and then a dude cop was like WHAT GET OFF MY CAR WHAT? He wound up taking a picture with us because he thought my sister was hot so no cuffs, lol. 

Anyway, I remember loving this show and remember elements to it (I mostly remember the characters and some of the crimes), but this is almost a new watch for me instead of a re-watch. The first 4 or so seasons are so damn good - I watched the first season like, wow, they let this grit on network TV? It's just SUCH a compelling show, and even the characters I don't like, I'm interested in. Frank Pembleton might be the most compelling cop ever on TV.   

The Law-and-Order-fication of the show was almost abrupt - I'm sure it didn't feel that way when I was taping episodes on my VCR once a week. The earlier seasons are definitely stronger, but I never minded Kellerman, and I was always a Falsone fan and wish he'd come along earlier. 

The first few seasons - we get Jon Waters twice, and I think I spotted every actor who was in Serial Mom by the end of season 3. So glad this is streaming!

[goldfish]

When I watched seasons 5 and 6 back in the day, I thought that Kellerman was justified in the Luther situation and that Stivers, Lewis, and Falsone were wrong in their condemnation of Kellerman for different reasons.  No almost 30 years later on rewatch, I am still on Kelleman's side, although some of his actions after the shooting are impossible to defend.

I remember thinking that season 7 was not as good as the first 6 when it originally aired and on rewatch, it is not as bad as I remember.  You can really see the NBC influence on the show in later seasons.  7 is almost like Homicide 90210 with all of the talk of who likes who drama

[arachne]

On 9/27/2024 at 10:48 AM, goldfish said:

7 is almost like Homicide 90210 with all of the talk of who likes who drama

I would tell a newcomer to the show that they could skip most of Season 7, except for "Homicide.com" and the finale, "Forgive Us Our Trespasses." The rest of the season, not all that memorable. But YMMV.

The other day I watched "A Many Splendored Thing" from Season 2. I heard Pembleton's monologue to Bayliss ("Virtue is not virtue until it slams up against vice") and the scenes with Bayliss and the leather jacket, and it jolted my memory: I thought, Aha! That's where it all started!