Homicide: Life On The Streets
Having followed David Simon backwards from the Wire, I've been working my way through the Homicide: Life on the Streets season sets these last couple of months. It's an excellent show with a fine cast and, much like the Wire, quite different from the usual police procedurals.
I'm currently on the Season 3 box and last night found that the second episode I was set to watch began by saying 'Previously on Law and Order'. I had read brief mention of the crossover episodes between these two shows where one show starts a story that is continued in the other show but not thought too much about it till last night. I gave what was effectively Part 2 of a story a couple of minutes before deciding I'd rather try and read up online with what happened in the Law and Order episode first, or see if it might be shown on tv anytime soon.
Incredibly I have discovered today that the Law and Order episode was shown on Hallmark at 8pm last night (and then again at 2am this morning). Out of over 400 episodes of Law and Order, the one episode I was interested in was shown on tv just 10 minutes after I'd abandoned watching its Homicide follow-up.
What are the chances?
- More from andrew.
- Login or register to post comments
Episode number on series 3?
My dad has the Homicide box sets and I'm taping Law and Order off the TV.
Are you sure 8pm is correct, as I'm sure it's on at 7pm.
You're right
Checked again and it was/is 7pm it's on.
Episode numberings for Homicide can get confusing. It's episode 11 on the Season 3 dvd set (strictly speaking that's episode 11 from the Season 4 of course) titled 'For God And Country' which is follows on from Law and Order Season 6 episode 'Charm City'
I've never watched Law and Order. How does it compare to the like of Homicide?
Law & Order is very underrated because...
... it's a) so formulaic and follows the same pattern nearly every episode, b) because it's been around forever and has so many spin-offs, and c) in today's "long-story-arc" world, these one-off dramas seem quite quaint.
BUT, it's always decently written and well-acted with some compelling characters (like Jerry Orbach as Lennie Brisco) and many episodes are superb. I wouldn't ever buy a DVD of it, but as it always seems to be on TV anyway it's good comfort viewing.
PS Your quick guide to the show & its spin-offs:
LAW & ORDER - the original, 50% of the story spent with the cops on the street, then passed onto the lawyers for the rest.
SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT - sex crimes.
CRIMINAL INTENT - "Columbo"-style unravelling of ludicrously complex crimes by Holmes & Watson-type partners.
TRIAL BY JURY - short-lived version concentrating on the lawyers.
CRIME & PUNISHMENT - also short-lived, a documentary series following real-life crimes in a similar fashion to the fictional series.
I've never seen Homicide
but I recommend Law and Order. Don't take my word for it. Tape any episode at random from Channel 5.
John Munch is my hero
I love the charcater of John Munch (played by Richard Belzer) who started out in Homicide and is now in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (by the way, aside from direct spin-offs, has any other character ever been "transferred" to another show in this way?) - one of my favourite Munch lines is "A million people died in the potato famine. Ireland is an island. An island by definition is surrounded by fish. A million people died because they didn't like fish."
While I'm talking L & O, I have to put a word in for Vincent D'Onofrio as Goran in L & O: Criminal Intent, surely one of the most unsung performances in episodic TV.
And oh yes, we're getting Law & Order London soon, with (God help us) Bradley Walsh and The-Girl-From-Doctor-Who-Who-Isn't-Billie-Piper-Or-Catherine-Tate...
I'd seen Munch long before I
I'd seen Munch long before I ever watched Homicide, having seen his appearances in the X-Files and Arrested Development.
Frank Pembleton is the stand-out character for me in Homicide.
Grrr... Channel 4
I have learned that both Hallmark and ITV 4 have since screened Homicide, but I'm still mad at C4 for the way they messed viewers around.
It started off in a normal prime slot where it stayed for a couple of seasons; then they started moving it to late slots; they didn't show the 1st two episodes of I think season 4 because it wasn't long after Dunblane and they said the story paralleled events there; it then got put into a peripatetic late night / early morning slot so no-one knew when it would be shown from week to week and finally they chopped it because of the lack of an audience. We were left hanging with a character in mortal danger (read actor in contract negotiation) and I've never found out what happened.
The Homicide TV movie was shown, which wrapped things up after a fashion, but it was an unsatisfactory experience.
I've never watched it on TV
I think it pops up on ITV2 or suchlike in the wee small hours now and then.
It's been DVDs all the way for me. I'm on Season 3 but have Seasons 4 and 5 already at home ready to be watched having taken advantage of some online bargain prices. Just waiting for Season 6 to drop and I'll snap it up too. It's only just come out so give it time...
As far as I can tell the movie isn't out here. Hope it is being planned as I'd hate to get through to the end of all the series and not see how it ends.
At present this is what's likely to happen for me with NYPD Blue, another show I didn't watch when it was actually on TV, though it's also another show mucked around by C4. I've bought the first four seasons but that seems to be all that are to be released due to poor sales. I was watching it on DMAX for a while, until I realised they just seem to keep showing season 1 over and over.
Watched them
I watched Law and Order, followed by the Homicide episode.
Good solid Law and Order episode. Homicide was okay but I can't say I was so impressed that I feel a need to watch any more of it. Good thing this item was posted as I would never have known about that episode.