Shark Bytes

Rich...I must agree that one of my favorite episodes to re-wat h is the one with Pembleton in his dress blues...
Love the show....not so much after Falzone joined the cast. REally enjoyed Daniel Baldwin.

I had heard that this show was top notch for during it's initial run on NBC I never watched it, wasn't into tv that much. I started TiVo-ing episodes early in 2008 off WGN in Chicago, needing something to watch in the evenings that wasn't crappy reality show material.

I was stunned at how great the show was, even though I started watching Season 3. The character development was wonderful, you knew and fell in love with these detectives in a matter of a few episodes, something most shows on tv now never can pull together. I loved Stan. To this day the "Thrill of the Kill" episode sends the hairs on the back on my neck shooting up! I hated when Stan left more then Beau. Isabella Hoffman's character was whiny and slow speaking as molassas and I never believed she was "murder police" material. I loved Kay and agree that making her detective turned her into a bit of a shrew, which was a big injustice to her. Tim and Frank were perfection and Medrick and Munch made me laugh. I even liked the addition of early Kellerman and the lady medical examiner, but when she slept with Kellerman and Baylis the show was heading for typical network fare. I loved how Gee was stone cold Italian and so proud of it. I HATED Falsone and those who say he was added to the cast for sex appeal have to be kidding! He looks like a pudgy bulldog. He came in will all attitude and we as viewers had to just "believe
" he was a badass?? And Callie Thomas? I have to say, when she or Falsone were on cases I started to fast forward, had no interest in even looking at either. I ordered Season 1-3 and have been watching them on the weekends and will probably get Season 4 but not sure of 5. I hated Michelle Michaels or whatever her name if when she was on ER. Her acting range doesn't get past B in the alphabet. And she always looks totally pissed off. I like Toni Lewis when she was in narcotics but didn't want her to be a murder detective. All in all I am happy to have this show to own and I know I will watch seasons 1-4 over and over and probably just keep the best episodes from Season 5-6 on my TiVo to watch. I'd rate this show #2 with The Sopranos being #1.

I have been a die hard fan of Homicide for years!

Won't say the show jumped the shark because it never did, in eyes.

But I will say that Season 7 was a bit of a leak in the ship.

And I might offer a few reasons for that. I think the primary problem with Season 7 was that there was really no way to top the astounding Season 6. Braugher was the glue of the show, and once he left, the show just seemed to collapse on itself.

I will say that I was a fan of Giancarlo Esposito at G's son. I felt he was a great addition to the cast. And while noone could ever take Braugher's place, I loved how they were developing the Mike G character. It's a shame that they were not given another season for him to develop even further.

I would also like to step forward and say that I was a very big fan of Jon Seda as Det. Falzone. I've read over the years that there were fans of the show who just hated him, and I've never understood why.

Falzone brought a much needed approachable character and dynamic to the show. He was a down to earth, hard working cop with good instincts and a good heart. He was always written to downgrade his own intelligence and never take the credit that he deserved as the sharp cop that he really was.

Let's face it, Frank was intimidating because he was ALWAYS right. Bayliss was too troubled and too trapped in his own head. Kellerman was too pissed off and trigger happy.

Falzone was much more like Lewis in the sense that he just did the job and put his heart into it. You could talk to a character like that. Falzone could also partner with anyone except Kellerman. I really always liked to see him work with Bayliss, Lewis or Stivers. Good chemistry. Nice little bit of versatility Seda had going on there

Just my opinion

Jumped when the detectives began ganging up on Kellerman for killing Luther Mahoney. Cops do NOT turn on one of their own for killing a scumbag drug lord who routinely used the court system to escape justice. If anything, they would demand that he transfer before seeing him go to prison for it.

Clearly the best cop show, ever.From Gee's acerbic wit as a means to motivate detectives who have too much red on the board; Pembleton's profound observations in his arguments with Bayliss: Munch's overblown intellect, Lewis' down home street smarts, and Howard's flaming red hair! Bayliss' obsession with Adena, and even his subsequent weakened character in the last season, brought him to rebound when he killed the online slasher, and the series ending as it began with Lewis and a partner searching the exact same alley as Meldrich and his first partner did in the opening sequence in the series. Nice device to close the circle. Homicide could be astonishing witty, grim and profound. I liked the early seasons' title sequence better: streets and alleys of Baltimore, that helped make the city a central character. Despite certain weaknesses near the end, Homicide never jumped the shark

Once again, we have ANOTHER know-it-all who goes by the anonymous "guest" who claims to clear some misconceptions here, but doesn't appear to have done his homework by paying attention to the ACTUAL statments made online and in print over the years. Like Daniel Baldwin being the only cast member fired.

I call bull$#!+ on that, since it was clearly stated that Baldwin actually QUIT the same time as Beatty, sharing the belief that the show was getting too commercial. Melissa Leo was let go because the NBC bosses weren't enamored with her un-glamorous approach to playing a female detective (i.e. keeping it REAL) and used the bad publicity of her being harassed by her ex as the excuse to dump her. Jon Polito's mistrust of the producers' after his past experiences on TV led him to speak out of turn which is what got him FIRED. And Max Perlich (as Brodie, remember HIM?) was definitely fired for apparently waving a gun around at his neighbors. So how about getting your FACTS right the next time you'd like to make a clever anology about real-life mirroring Hollywood, huh?

To clear up some misconceptions here. The only person that was ever fired amongst the cast was Daniel Baldwin and he was actually someone that they wanted to keep.

All the actors, Polito, Leo, Braugher, Beatty, Hoffman left on their own.

Also, in a weird way the departures of the actors mirrored the real life departures of the actual Homicide Unit that Simon wrote about it. The world of homicide is as volatile as the world of Hollywood.

Season 1 was poetry. The most brilliant thing to be seen on television to date. The next 4 seasons still were the best thing on TV, and deserve respect. The final seasons had their moments, and still were the best thing on TV, but now only due to the inanity of television fare than a compliment to Homicide.

Then came "The Wire" on HBO, and I'm not sure that television will ever surpass that.

Great show! Two moments especially stand out for me. The fiorst is the scene where Pembelton dresses up in his 'blues' to salute his fellow officer - despite thew fact that the department won't grant Crochetti the funeral he deserved because he committed suicide. The second is the episode that relies on flashbacks to show the 'bounty hunter' that was the ancestor of the victim who was hung in the basement of a station in the 'underground railway'. The hair still stands up on the back of my neck every time I see these episodes in re-runs.

Although I'd say it jumped by Pembleton leaving, this was really more the jumping point of a long gradual decline.

The show began to decline, for me, in season 4. They had good, even great episodes, right up to season six but things were declining. The biggest aggravation is that they did a generally poor job of having characters exit.

The exit of Crosetti in season three was handled quite beautifully. Itriguingly Jon Polito, who played Crosetti, kind of badmouthed them when he learned he'd be leaving the show. That's apparently what inspired the whole suicide episode, "revenge" on the actor. (They later patched things up and Polito was in the movie) Although I don't think suicide fit Crosetti's character at all it was the best they did with a character exit. Maybe if the others had just left more angrily they all would've had good exits. "g" But that didn't happen I guess. Instead people just disappeared with almost no explanation or almost worse with explanations that were ridiculous as all heck. (Although Felton/Baldwin retroactively got a better ending in the episode concerning his murder) That plus the increase in serial-killers and mass-murderers started taking a toll.

Yet the finale of season six was in many ways amazing. And in part I think it might fit one version of "jumping." The dramatic shoot-out and Pembleton's "I'm free" just felt like an ending. Yeah at the end of the episode there was no resolution on Bayliss, but I could see that being left up to the viewer's imagination. After all that season 7 just felt like an epilogue. Even watching it now it has an aftermath/epilogue feel. And epilogue's are often skippable.

I voted for "never" re JTS, tho I completely understand fans of Leo, Andre, critics of Falsone and Ballard and those who prefer the original cast. I for one, truly enjoyed the exchanges between Munch and the Big Man.

But I have been watching reruns on WGN and Sleuth channels, and I must say the entire body of work holds up pretty well. Consistent was the interesting dialogue, and story lines that were equal parts of humor and pathos. I also believe the acting was consistently excellent. It was also a series where guests appearances were usually worthwhile. Recall Steve Allen and wife Jane Meadows- a hoot, in an episode that also featured the West Virginia hill-billies. I lived in Baltimore and I found the episode painfully funny, and this was when the new cast was fully in place.

And the music. Great music montages.

To me, Homicide-LOS is simply my favorite tv series. Best crime drama...maybe. I'm not a big fan of Law and Order and never followed the CSI franchise. Hill Street Blues was good, as was early NYPD Blues. Both not on the level of Homicide-LOS. And IMHO, The Shield has yet to JTS.

Homicide: Life on the Street is the best crime drama ever to air on television. As opposed to other "Cop" series, HLOTS (originally) focussed heavily on realistic characters. Each character was screwed up in some "special" little way. Munch always had difficulites with relationships, Pembleton's life at work conflicted with his life at home, Bayliss' had to constantly prove himself to his fellow officers, etc. It was this interaction between the characters, that gave HLOTS a "magical quality.

Not to mention the metaphorical and insightful cases which occurred in every episode. Somehow the show had a way of being deep and powerful, without being corny or clichéd.

Moreover, the series never seemed repetitive. Shows today, (ex. 24) use the same plot over, and over, and over, until it seems as if the show is on a constant loop. Homicide always had fresh and interesting episodes which allowed viewers to look even deeper into the characters.

Everything flowed perfectly (yes even when Kellerman entered); and it wasn't until Bayliss became Buddhist that the series went down hill. I guess they just went too far. They changed a well established character too much, in a way that was unfitting of his personality. To make things worse, they then added the twist that Bayliss was now also bisexual. Bayliss was always established as an Agnostic and a heterosexual - changing that damaged the show far more than Falsone's entrance or Pembleton's leaving ever could have done.

The final episode is the only thing that save the series for me. I won't give it away for those of you who have not yet seen it; I'll just say that it was very well done, and tied up the series in the best way possible (it was very ambiguous).

To summarize, Homicide: Life on the Street was a show that started well, had a few problems in the middle, and finished up strong. It is in my opinion, one of, if not the best shows ever.

Great show but not the best show ever IMO. Not even the best cop show ever. The seasons 1 - 11 of the original Law and Order are better. (Seasons 12- present suck but I digress) The first 5 seasons were excellent but then with the cast changes the show became pretty bad. The crossover episodes with Law & Order were really good. It does not even come close to the greatness of David Chase other masterpiece: the Wire!

One of the best shows ever, in all genres. No question the best cop show ever. Some of the one hour episodes were as good or better than two hour movies. Yes, Leo leaving, then Andre hurt the show but the writing, acting, directing, etc held up for the entire run.

The original intro in the early seasons was much better than the intro they used for the latter seasons.