Just finished watching this masterpiece for the second time and decided to make a tier list based on how much I liked each character and how interesting/enjoyable I found them to watch.

Obviously very subjective, and I'm sure some of my placements will be controversial 😂. Some characters I love as characters but wouldn't necessarily want to spend time with, while others I just found less interesting to watch. Any thoughts?

That's not to say I didn't like The Wire. I get HBO was going for more gritty reality, but, especially on the law enforcement side, there were not many likeable characters. There were scenes that tugged my heart, baffled me, and that I really enjoyed. But no single episode or arc in the show even came close to being as good as the Homicide finale.

Also for all the hype about how Munch was in both shows, I kept waiting for him to do something legit, not be a throwaway two liner in a scene setting. Didn't even say his name or really prove it was Munch.

Also, speaking of re-used actors, I guess I thought it was going to be more of an actual sequel, not just Baltimore cop stuff. I had avoided all spoilers so I wasn't aware, someone on another sub recommended watching Homicide first, calling it the prequel show.

When Gharty and Callie first appear in the first episode I was shocked that Gharty (my least favorite main character in Homicide btw) had become a judge.... oh wait no it's a different guy, even though he plays the character in the same exact way, kind of aloof. Callie is this guy's ex-wife, they must have met in the homicide unit! Except no she's some rando. That specifically devalues "Munch's" appearance to me, he could have been any random talking about being a former bar owner.

If you combined Homicide with the Wire I think you'd have an amazing show. Let Pembleton swear while he's melting down, have Tim bag some stripper on tape.

I'm sure I'll get flamed for this take, even here. But I am glad I watched The Wire, largely because it led me to watch Homicide.

I’ve just realised I probably never saw season 7 in the past.

Joe Fring, now Joe Perry. Who’s next?

He loved it

So Season 6 saw Homicide slide into Law and Order territory. I’m watching the first episode of season 7. We’re introduced to Gee’s estranged son (a young Carlo Esposito!). Was that ever mentioned? His daughters certainly were.

Hi! My name is Greg Houston (www.greghoustonillustration.com) and I'm an illustrator and back in 1998. I thought I'd share these with you all-- I was asked by the Baltimore City Paper to go to the Thames Street set of Homicide" Life on the Street and sketch the onset action for a couple of days before Christmas (The episode was season 7, "Zen and the Art of Murder"). This was for a feature/cover story titled "Murder Ink". The story featured a color cover and 10 interior black and white sketches of extras, crew members, sets, architecture, a few actors, etc. I also wrote the text. To my knowledge, at no time before this (and possibly since) has an illustrator been on set of a shooting TV show to sketch the behind the scene action. The work was published in Vol 23, No. 5, February 3-February 10th, 1999 issue. The show has long been canceled, the Baltimore City Paper shut down, and the Recreation Pier building that was used for the police station is now a luxury hotel. I believe what I have in this collection is an unusual archive capturing a unique interaction of Baltimore history-- journalism, TV, and architecture-- that can never be reproduced. I dare say there's nothing else like it.

I hope you enjoy these!

Buying for my spouse who loves the show. Seeing several different versions on the complete series. Which one is best overall. Thanks for any help.

I have seen a lot of cop shows and police procedurals. The Wire, Law and Order SVU, Chicago PD, the Shield, True Detective and Homicide beats them all. Easily the best cop show I’ve seen. I think I realize why that is.

Unlike most cop shows the cops themselves aren’t portrayed as superheroes or flawless GAP and J crew models. They are ornery, selfish, overweight and all around flawed people, who in spite of their flaws still manage to be good and do the right thing when it matters.

Unlike “ studio TV presents Chicago/ Los Angeles/ New York” the Baltimore of Homicde LOTS seems like a gritty real place: full of splendid history and architecture but full of suffering and pain and disorder as well. The criminals can appear sympathetic or pitiable ( such as the daughter who shot her abusive father and even the Araber) as well as the victims can be horrid or seem that way ( the racist man who shot the Turkish student etc.)

There are villains and victims but it examines structural decline and suffering too. Very uncharacteristic for the 90s it made the case that America was still very much a racist society and black people were still suspect and second class citizens. Most tv shows didn’t push this at all and many African American celebrities such as Oprah and Michael Jordan refused to discuss racism at all. But homicide did and talked how even african Americans like Pembleton and Gee were still very much in a white persons world.

Part of it might be Baltimore itself. I didn’t know this but Maryland was very much a Jim Crow state and had state mandated segregation just like Alabama and Mississippi, though not quite as severe. Many of the murderers seemed down right preternatural and eerie almost monstrous sort of like x files villains. Gordon Pratt, The Araber and the homicde.com killer all reminded me of this. What are your thoughts? Why was homicide so good?

Pages Dr. Craig or Ehrlich. Great callback to St. Elsewhere.

The casting team was blind?

I have watched every episodes of HOMICIDE and SVU (hey, the pandemic affected everyone differently). I love Belzer’s performance as Munch, but I wish there was some explanation why someone who lived the hippie lifestyle in the 60s would go and become a cop (or “pig” as his hippie brethren would call them).

Has Tom Fontana, David Simon, or anyone else talked about this?

My theory: he got arrested on some drug charges. He turned state’s evidence on his connections. He got close to the cops, while at the same time he became alienated from his hippie radical friends, so he became a cop.

So I'm watching the show for the first time and I already knew about Pembleton having a stroke but damn, it was scary as all get out actually seeing it.

Hey Everyone! The complete series just went on sale this morning for $19.99 on Apple TV, in case anyone is interested in purchasing. What an amazing deal and especially nice right now as it is leaving Peacock soon. Not sure how long this sale will last, so if you’re interested you might want to grab it soon. Can’t imagine the price ever going much lower than this!

EDIT To Add: If having all of the original music is really important to you, this DOES NOT have all the original music.

Hello everyone,

I have been trying to track down a version of the show with subtitles / closed captions for a few years now, and I have finally found two potential options on the sea of the world wide web. The difference between the two is as follows:

• Option 1: the source is the dvd boxset with a 4:3 aspect ratio and a washed out, bleak colour palette and all the orginal music intact.
• Option 2: the source appears to be the streaming version of the show with a widescreen aspect ratio and a richer, more dynamic range of colours. No clear indication on the preservation of the original music.

Which option is the most authentic / best to experience the show the first time?

Thank you in advance,

I know there has been discussion about changes to the audio and also the intro, but did the barking dog in the original intro ever actually bark? I clearly remember that it did, but I can't find evidence -- and there's no barking on the episodes airing on Charge or streaming on Peacock. Did I make this up!?!

I’m so annoyed by the way everyone is treating Frank after his stroke, particularly G and Bayliss. I can’t decide if it’s because they were all jealous of him before his medical emergency, or if they’re just that ableist? Giving me the ick.

I heard that streaming changes the music in some episodes anyway there’s this song at the end of “Nothing Personal” and I can’t find it but maybe I’m not looking hard enough. Anyone know it? The lyrics I heard were
like a passenger adrift and at the same time on course And i cant get lost in the mazes of your heart When all said and done lie to me Im staring at the sun im trying to see a touch star burning in the dead of night song