Homicide: Life On The Street - General Discussion

[WendyCR72]

With the loss of Richard Belzer/Det. John Munch, I figured it was high time to give Munch's first "home" a thread.

Yes, Munch was known for SVU, but it is HLOTS that gave him his start. Not to mention the mega-force Det. Frank Pembleton, played by André Braugher, Det. Kay Howard played by Melissa Leo, and so many more.

Talk about the show here. Its various seasons and memorable episodes, not to mention its expansion into the world of L&O, and even actors guesting on the latter franchise and/or vice versa. (Melissa Leo, I do recall, played a villain on L&O: Criminal Intent as an example!) 

Any memories? Let's chat!

[Xeliou66]

Homicide is an underrated, very good show - I have no idea why it’s never shown in reruns on a network! The first couple of seasons were just outstanding television - a great cast of characters with interesting cases. NBC executives meddled with the show in its later seasons and forced them to add more soapy plots and sex appeal, which was dumb, but it was still a quality show. But I love those early seasons - Munch/Bolander were a great partnership, of course Pembleton was great, the boss, Gee, was a cool character, I liked Meldrick and his first partner Crosetti a lot as well - and it was cool to see Meldrick show up at Munch’s retirement party on SVU all those years later!! And Danvers, the prosecutor, was good as well. I really enjoyed the 3 L&O crossovers where Munch/Briscoe and McCoy/Danvers worked together.   
Really good show, I may have to go back and rewatch some of it, especially the early episodes. I wish a network would start showing it on tv. 

[WendyCR72]

1 minute ago, Xeliou66 said:

Homicide is an underrated, very good show - I have no idea why it’s never shown in reruns on a network! The first couple of seasons were just outstanding television - a great cast of characters with interesting cases. NBC executives meddled with the show in its later seasons and forced them to add more soapy plots and sex appeal, which was dumb, but it was still a quality show. But I love those early seasons - Munch/Bolander were a great partnership, of course Pembleton was great, the boss, Gee, was a cool character, I liked Meldrick and his first partner Crosetti a lot as well - and it was cool to see Meldrick show up at Munch’s retirement party on SVU all those years later!! And Danvers, the prosecutor, was good as well. I really enjoyed the 3 L&O crossovers where Munch/Briscoe and McCoy/Danvers worked together.   
Really good show, I may have to go back and rewatch some of it, especially the early episodes. I wish a network would start showing it on tv. 

Yeah, I don't get why it doesn't stream, either. You'd think Peacock would put it on the platform.

I know the later seasons weren't regarded as great as the early seasons, but I do know "Subway" in Season 6 actually won a Peabody. So the awards still deservedly came...

The complete series is still available on DVD. Not a bad price, either.

[Anela]

I watched H:LOTS when it aired. RIP Munch. :(

[WendyCR72]

11 minutes ago, Anela said:

I watched H:LOTS when it aired. RIP Munch. :(

Munch/Belzer really was great. He added a lot to both shows!

[buttersister]

Munch was priceless, RIP, Richard Belzer.

Quote

Subway" in Season 6 actually won a Peabody.

Unforgettable. I

Edited February 20, 2023 by buttersister
Spelling

[wknt3]

15 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

Yeah, I don't get why it doesn't stream, either. You'd think Peacock would put it on the platform.

I know the later seasons weren't regarded as great as the early seasons, but I do know "Subway" in Season 6 actually won a Peabody. So the awards still deservedly came...

The complete series is still available on DVD. Not a bad price, either.

According to what David Simon has said previously the lawyers screwed up and they don't have music rights for streaming. Sort of like what happened with WKRP. My understanding is that the contracts mentioned home video, but didn't have language that covered streaming or other technologies that might come along as other series did. And given the amount of music that was used and tightly integrated artistically (so not easily replaceable with something in the catalog) it is probably prohibitively expensive for what would be a prestige pickup and not a major draw on the level of The Office or Friends.

[Jaded]

When the Sleuth/Cloo channel was around in the mid 2000's it aired Homicide: LOTS. I wish the wiki for it had a better history of aired programs and for how long. I know they stopped airing Homicide at some point though. I watched all the seasons as they aired when they first started airing since it had been so long since I had seen the show. Sleuth then turned into Cloo in 2011 and I don't remember watching it as much after that even though it was still mystery related programming. Sleuth/Cloo was in the NBCUniversal family though.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Jaded

[AstridM]

Trying to find this so I can watch it, damn it!

[WendyCR72]

26 minutes ago, AstridM said:

Trying to find this so I can watch it, damn it!

As @wknt3 said, I guess music rights is now an issue with this. It did use a lot. Your best bet, as archaic as it is, is likely buying the DVD set linked above if you ever want to see it!

[jah1986]

I loved this show during its initial run! So many great characters. I don't remember episode titles, just more great moments. TV Guide used to have a quote of the week from broadcast shows and so many times the quote was a line from H:LOTS.  One was Pembleton to Bayliss "you can have the ER, I'll take Homicide".  A great line because so many actors started out on H:LOTS and then migrated over to the show ER.

Loved Frank not going to Crosetti's funeral but standing in the dress blues when the squad walked by. I think that was the beginning of the Pembleton love.

Gee telling Frank he put up with him because he "turned red names black". How Gee put his kids through college playing Hearts.

There were some great villains too, stand out would be Luther Mahoney.

I clearly need to dust off my dvd's and re-watch this show.

[MusubiMyHomie]

1 hour ago, jah1986 said:

One was Pembleton to Bayliss "you can have the ER, I'll take Homicide".  A great line because so many actors started out on H:LOTS and then migrated over to the show ER.

I'll never forget that scene. It went exactly like this:

Quote

Pembleton: "We just don't get the credit doctors do. We don't get the attention."
Bayliss: "All right, just forget I said anything about it, OK?"
Pembleton: "You want glory? Huh? Go work at ER. Homicide's fine by me."

And I just realized this now: Andre Braugher was also doing a shout-out to Glory, one of his earliest movies, as well as the first place where I saw Braugher act. Twenty-seven years of being a fan of that Pembleton line, and I never noticed that until now!

That's one of the many reasons why the first four seasons of Homicide were terrific. They were full of things you don't catch until about 27 to 30 years later.

Edited February 22, 2023 by MusubiMyHomie

[EtheltoTillie]

I had a brush with greatness!  In 1978 my office (in NYC) was giving a party and we hired Belzer as a comedian.  He was then the MC at Catch a Rising Star.  We paid him about $200. 

[EtheltoTillie]

 I really should add to the Belzer party story.  He was bombing with the corporate audience.  He had been recommended to us because he was getting a name for himself at Catch, but he was more edgy than our audience was.  So he ad libbed and fell into the waiting anniversary cake that was part of the celebration.  That got a laugh. 

[marceline]

Now that rewatch podcasts are all the rage, I'm hoping someone will do one for HLOTS. Belzer has passed but most of the actors are still alive and I'd love to hear from them.

[marceline]

As long as we're here, perhaps we should share our favorite scenes. I'm going to start with Pembleton's stroke.

 

[ebk57]

A fun article from the NYT this week.  I think I've gifted this, so there shouldn't be a paywall.

 

When Homicide Hit Its Stride

Edited May 12, 2023 by ebk57
condensed long link

[callie lee 29]

@ebk57 great article, thank you! Personally I think the first couple of years of H: LOTS are some of the best episodes of television ever. I always want to extend that out just so I can include Kellerman in there too. I think Diamond's character meshed with the cast so well I think of him as early cast group rather than later. They did get a little soapy with Kellerman as the show went on but honestly that's show development/writer's fault. 

 

And I too have probably read Simon's book more times than any other 

Edited May 13, 2023 by callie lee 29

[MusubiMyHomie]

On 5/12/2023 at 3:40 PM, ebk57 said:

A fun article from the NYT this week.  I think I've gifted this, so there shouldn't be a paywall.

 

When Homicide Hit Its Stride

Thank you for unlocking that oral history. I hate the NYTimes firewall. But I'm always down for behind-the-scenes stories about the making of "Three Men and Adena" and a swipe or two from Homicide alums at NYPD Blue!

Quote

Levinson said: “This is about the homicide detectives. They’re thinking cops. There’s no gun battles

Oh, really? I like how that last rule of his was broken in Season 6 with a gun battle that made the climactic mansion shootout in Beverly Hills Cop look like a Super Soaker fight.

[WendyCR72]

Another website, another arbitrary list.

Slate has a list of the best stand-alone episodes on television. Among those on the list includes the Homicide: Life On The Street episode, "Subway".

Scroll to 1997 [episodes from the shows seem to be chosen by year!], and the write up is there, if interested!

[Anela]

Andre Braugher died.  😔

[callie lee 29]

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/brooklyn-star-andre-braugher-dies-61/story?id=105608140

 

I just don't know what to say....

[WendyCR72]

André Braugher was a master class in acting.

The episode where Frank has his stroke still sends chills down my spine. And his work in the episode, "The Subway", with Vincent D'Onofrio was also fantastic.

I'm in shock. Sixty-one is too young to go.

May he rest in peace.

[Grundoon59]

Gone far too soon but what an amazing legacy of performances.  

[WendyCR72]

Rolling Stone remembers André Braugher.

[WendyCR72]

André Braugher's cause of death revealed.

[wknt3]

Some actual good news -

‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ Writer Shares Potential Streaming Update Following Andre Braugher’s Death

[Jaded]

On 12/18/2023 at 5:47 PM, wknt3 said:

Some actual good news -

‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ Writer Shares Potential Streaming Update Following Andre Braugher’s Death

It shouldn't have taken someone who played a popular character on the show dying to spur the chance of this actually happening. I guess with Andre's death it provided proof in regards to how many people would like the chance to watch this show again without having to find other avenues.