Street Life

Starring:Street Life
Studio: Xenon
Product Type: DVD

Description

Considered the most realistic cop drama ever aired, Homicide: Life on the Street gives viewers a unique cops'-eye view of one of the most challenging jobs imaginable. Created by Writer/Director Tom Fontana (St. Elsewhere, OZ) and Executive Producer Barry Levinson (The Perfect Storm, Oz) and based on David Simon's (The Wire) book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, HOMICIDE features TV's most powerful ensemble cast, including Richard Belzer (Law and Order: Special Victims Unit), Emmy®-winner Andre Braugher (Thief, Frequency), Yaphet Kotto (Alien), and Ned Beatty (Deliverance) with guest appearances from James Earl Jones, Robin Williams, Steve Buscemi, Peter Gallagher, Chris Rock, Wilford Brimley, and other star actors. HOMICIDE garnered two Emmy® Awards, three Peabody Awards, three Television Critics Awards, two Writers Guild Awards, and was named to TV Guide's "The Greatest Episodes in TV History" and "TV's Greatest Characters" lists. Here, for the first time ever, one of television's crowning achievements is available in its entirety on 35 DVDs and includes all 122 episodes spanning seven critically acclaimed seasons, the three Law & Order crossover episodes, and Homicide: The Movie. DVD Features: Commentary on "Gone For Goode," "Gas Man," "The Hat," "The Documentary," "The Subway," and "Forgive Us Our Trespasses"; Interviews with Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana, Henry Bromell, David Simon, and James Yoshimura; "To Catch A Killer: Homicide Detectives" Episode of A&E's Signature Series AMERICAN JUSTICE; Superbowl XXVII Commercials for Season One Premiere; HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET Song Listings; About "The Board"; "Inside Homicide" with David Somin and James Yoshimura; Feature-length Documentary "Anatomy of a Homicide"; VSDA Panel and Live DVD Commentary with Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson, James Yoshimura, and David Simon; Barry Levinson's Acceptance Speech for the 2004 VSDA Career Achievement Award; Cast Biographies; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection Bonus Disc Contains "Law & Order" Crossover Episodes "Charm City," "Baby It's You," and "Sideshow, " and the feature-length "Homicide: The Movie" series wrap-up.

Customer Reviews:

Homocide Life On The Streets, A Glimpse of the Blood Soaked Baltimore Some Among Us Were Dying To See!.......2007-07-07

"Homocide Life on the Streets" rules. It is set in Baltimore my home town so I could be a bit biased... NAW! Baltimore was getting better for a time but Since Mayor now Governor O'Malley left Baltimore is slowly sinking becoming again the same cold hearted, murder mill, slaughterhouse comedy it used to be. Homocide life on the streets faithfully told blood soaked stories of abject stupidity some Baltimorons live with a gun toting professional apomb second to none. Among the vast well dressed expensive car driving largely abeit uneducated upper crust of Baltimore's murderous street smart ghetto elite IQ's, never equal or exceed the caliber of weapon used plying their art of death. Baltimore's disgarded dime a dozen ignorant youth use Baltimore streets to engage in a drug crazed death sport of mindless fun and frolics for scant druggie profits that assure Baltimore streets will remain awash in a seemingly endless sea of red glistening blood, white heavy chalk lines, and flashing blue police lights until the center of Hell swallows the city whole.

Homocide life on the streets does a pretty good job of capturing the basic rank horror of Baltimore urban thugged out street life. Homocide Life on the Streets also captures on DVD the quirky odd ball Balmer Maryland Hon Red Neck angst and Proud Black Blue collar working men that together are the backbone of this city set in a ever violent 7th pit of hell. Baltimore is a nice city in a Urban Ghetto Fabulous sort of way and Homocide Life On the Streets shows the contrast between Baltimore's Ghetto want-to-be big city glitz juxtaposed against Baltimore's tiny town blue collar southern down home old bpoy roots. Unfortunately it is impossible to show on film how truly amazingly stupid mindless and senseless the violence on Baltimore streets really is but Homocide Life on the Streets tries and succeeds right well. Problem is the true picture of Baltimore violence is too insane to be believed, by sane thinking folk in the rest of the country. Script writers could not imagine the strange sicko psycho things that breed a rampant disrespect for human life that is an everyday occurance in Baltimore for real. If any writer did accurately imagine how pathetic Baltimorons are when it comes to having the most basic civilized respect for human life their scripts would be considered as real logical and believable as a Salavdor Daly painting featuring those melting clocks.

I brought Homocide Life on the Streets the entire show all nine seasonsbecause, it did a good job of capturing nice chunks but by no means all of Baltimore's continuing raging insanity on video. If you like watching a city gone wild buy Homocide Life on the Streets. Trust me watching the sanitized Baltimore of Homocide Life on the Streets on TV is the next best thing to living \ dying here. Baltimore should have a new slogan... Baltimore Where Death is Not Just Our Living its Our Number One Growth Industry!

I know this won't get posted by the way. Sometimes I just indulge myself with truth.

The best show on television.......2007-07-05

The Shield and all the Law and Order shows owe their existence to Homicide. The cast is incredible and the set is well worth the price.

Best Cop Drama EVER!.......2007-06-17

A huge fan of this show I couldn't believe the price on this set had fallen so low. I grabbed it asap. The box that it comes in is great, and the file dividers are an awesome touch. My favorite box set ever.

Charm City Pleaser.......2007-05-25

As a Baltimoron I watched the show sporadically when it was on the air, it was such a pleasure to watch the entire series from beginning to end without commercials!!!! Watching the characters evolve and change as well as Charm City brought back a lot of memories. I highly recommend this set.

Complete collection is simply amazing.......2007-05-23

I was amazed to be able to purchase this set as a whole when I was looking for it. It was more than I expected when it arrived. I am a huge fan of shows like this and Law & Order and I was greatly pleased with his purchase. The boxset itself and the packaging is very unique and great for collectors such as myself. The show itself was certainly one of the best in the 90's, original in its script and characters, it would be a great purchase for the lovers of any crime dramas such as Law & Order.

Average customer rating:

Crumping
OK
Rize is an excellent documentary
visual miracle!
Deja Vu!

Rize
Starring: Tommy the Clown , Lil C. , Dragon (II) , La Niña , and Tight Eyez
Director: David LaChapelle
Manufacturer: Lions Gate
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Krump 1.0 - Basic Techniques
Rize
Mad Hot Ballroom
Krump Advanced Krump Techniques 2.0
Breakin' vs. Krumpin'

ASIN: B000ARFPOO
Release Date: 2005-10-25

Amazon.com

The riveting documentary Rize explores the physically astounding Los Angeles worlds of clowning and krumping--both heightened and spectacular styles of hip-hop dance. With roots in breakdancing and the furious response to the Rodney King beating, clowning was launched by Tommy the Clown, a former drug runner turned children's-party-clown, with brightly colored jumpsuits and a psychedelic afro wig. To gather attention, Tommy began to gyrate and writhe in the street; before long, he was not only getting gigs, he'd inspired dozens of other clown groups, all with their own spin on face make-up and Tommy's dance moves. With a little cross-pollination from stripper dance moves and a good dose of aggression, clowning begat krumping, which resembles a cross between an epileptic seizure and ecstatic possession--what one practitioner calls "ghetto ballet." In addition to dancing that will make your eyes pop, Rize interviews dancers like Tight Eyez, La Nina, Lil C, and Miss Prissy, building a portrait of a subculture, culminating in a dance battle between clowns and krumps called BattleZone V. Directed by photographer and music video director David LaChappelle, Rize persuasively portrays these twin dance movements as not only a personal exorcism, but as the effort of a community to escape the corrosive forces of gangs and drugs. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

Crumping .......2007-05-13

I had seen the movie at a friends and I wanted my children to see it. So I purchased it for that reason. They thought it was awesome as did I.

OK.......2007-05-12

This is an ok movie. I like the "battle dance" part the most. That is why I purchased this DVD.

Rize is an excellent documentary.......2007-05-12

First off, I thought it said produced by Dave Chappelle, but its actually David LaChappelle who is some random guy. But none the less, the documentary is very detailed very interesting. The basic premise is in two phases. The first phase focuses on the movement of clowning: there is many interviews with Tommy the clown who really started the movement, the clowns that are in his close-nit group, and also looking at all the other clown groups around south central. there are a lot of interviews as well as a lot of dancing footage; all excellent skills.
The second phase is about the movement krumping, sort of a [...] child off-spring to clowning. Krumping is more emotional, more agressive (very aggressive dancing). This phase focuses on the main krumpers in the area, not organized like the clowns more just groups of individuals getting together. They discuss the history and the future of krumping. this dancing isn't something I find as cool but it's none the less very impressive, the emotion.
The culmination of the two groups come together at the end of the movie to have a major dance off hosted by Tommy, between the clowners and the krumpers. The dance off is rediculous, the skill and the moves are amazing. I wouldn't completely agree with the outcome but that's not what the movie is about. The end is all interviews about the lives of those involved. The move is extremely detailed, amazing insight into the lives of the people of do these activities from nearly 8 years old all the way up to full grown adults all coming together for one purpose. If you love dancing and want to understand the culture better this will be the best choice hands down.

visual miracle!.......2007-03-26

This documentary is both and eye opener to a reality i was unknown to and eye candy! David laChepelle is a color god, edits the documentary like a masterpiece, and the end result is a roller coaster of emotions and color, the movie wasnt sped up in any way, thats crazy, you either krump or youre not

Deja Vu!.......2007-03-04

The best thing and the most instructive information in this movie is that the people learned in their OWN way how to heal and decompresss AND that their moves are unbeknownst to them just like authentic moves in Africa which they have been denied. That's wonderful and sad.

Average customer rating:

A good movie for the family
Truly disappointing; leaves a bad taste
Family First - Always
Cute Movie
Swearing

The Family Man
Starring: Nicolas Cage , Téa Leoni , Don Cheadle , Jeremy Piven , and Saul Rubinek
Director: Brett Ratner
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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It Could Happen to You
What Women Want
City of Angels
Serendipity
While You Were Sleeping

ASIN: B00005JCCC
Release Date: 2001-07-17

Amazon.com

Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) is the quintessential Wall Street shark, scoring killer deals by day and shallow escort sex by night. His round-the-clock routine of empty luxuries is disturbed one lonely Christmas Eve when a gun-packing punk (Don Cheadle)--perhaps an angel of mercy--responds to an altruistic gesture from Jack by giving him "a glimpse" of the life he could have had. Could have, that is, if he had married the girlfriend (Téa Leoni) he'd abandoned 13 years earlier, raised two adorable children, worked in his father-in-law's retail tire outlet, and lived happily ever after in suburban New Jersey. Thrust into this "glimpse" of the path not taken, Jack's a single-malt man in a lite-brew world, wondering if he'll ever return to his "better" life of callous wealth and solitude--or if he even wants to.

Carp all you want about this derivative premise, with its marginal stereotypes and biased embrace of domestic bliss and dirty diapers. The simple fact is, The Family Man works like a charm. Under the assured direction of Brett Ratner (Rush Hour), this holiday crowd-pleaser offers comedy and chemistry in equal measure, making the hilarity of Jack's predicament a smooth catalyst for that rarest of movie romances: the marital love story. Leoni is Cage's perfect match as Jack's idealized but imperfect wife, and the movie's appeal largely derives from its awareness that any life has its pleasures and pains. While it only flirts with the dark desperation that makes It's a Wonderful Life a classic predecessor, The Family Man is an irresistible what-if fantasy, and even its debatable ending rides on a wave of genuine warmth and sentiment. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

A good movie for the family.......2007-06-06

This is an inspriation movie that helps you take pause in your life and consider possibility. Nicolas Cage has once again done an excellent job of taking the character and making them real. This is a movie that I share with my family and that we all enjoy and talk about. It's in my library and shall remain their for quite some time.

Truly disappointing; leaves a bad taste.......2007-03-26

This is the typical film that looks uplifting when you see it, but that when afterwards you start thinking about it, you realize how phony and manipulative it is. Here, Nicolas Cage is an arrogant yuppie businessman in Manhattan, who one day wakes up and finds himself in a paralell world, living a supposedly dreadful life in suburban New Jersey with his wife (her former girlfriend, in his previous life) and his (previously non existent) kids. The beautiful Tea Leoni, as the wife, deserved better than to be in this movie. The movie chastises the main character for not raising a family, yet the film shows family life as dreadful. The idea that Nicolas Cage had to sacrifice a family in order to get ahead in business is also phony. Most male yuppies are married; it's the women that usually have to made those sacrifices. Also, this movie is supposedly critical of heartless capitalism, yet it ends up celebrating it.

Family First - Always.......2007-03-19

"Don't screw up the best thing in your life just because you're a little unsure about who you are."

I don't know how many married guys can recall it, but I know the exact time I decided to finally take the plunge with my then-girlfriend (now my wife). It was about an hour after I watched Nicolas Cage's Family Man, a full-wonder story about a wealthy Wall Street guy, Jack, given a glimpse of the non-wealthy life he could have lived had he not gotten on a plane and be separated from his then-girlfriend almost 2 decades ago.

The transitional moments, from big-time dealer to small-time salesman, are hilarious. Used to waking up alone or with girls he just met, Jack wakes up with a wife and two kids and a dog jumping all over him. He rushes away to his sky-scraper to see his name - next to President - replaced by his junior. He tries to get into premium condo but the doorman doesn't recognize him and blocks his entrance. He struggles to change his baby son's, Josh, diapers. He has to ask his daugher, Annie, what the after-school S.O.Ps' are. He curses when his junior appears on TV shaking hands with a two corporate presidents whose merger his (ex-)company has arranged.

But then Jack learns - or discovers - the joy of loving and living in spite of financial want, in spite of the no-cushion savings, in spite of not having that suit which makes him "feel like a man" (but which requires taking out his kids' education fund). He misses his trappings of status but grows to love Kate, Annie and Josh more than anything in the world. The quote at the start, by Arnie his friend, captures Jack's seizing and holding on to a family he knows he loves without having to figure out entirely this new world he's been thrown into.

Sorrow beckons, though, when he realises he has to 'leave' this dream-like alternate reality which he started out hating but ended up cherishing. When the moment comes, it's full of dread, because he's back to his old super-wealthy but no-family life. He drives to the house belong to "him and Kate" but there's just a guy there who doesn't know any Kate. The real Kate is now a hot-shot lawyer, who's just packing up and about to transfer to Paris.

Final drama arrives when Jack rushes to the airport looking for Kate, and trying to stop her before she flies off. Remember we are already in the "real world" and Jack has stopped 'dreaming'.

He creates some commotion because Kate is already at the departure gate and about to board, and she keeps saying, "Jack, do you need closure?" which is probably what any woman would say if her boyfriend from 15 years ago, started pestering her about what "could have been". Kate then turns towards the gate and walks away. Jack is about to give up when he suddenly turns to Kate and desperately cries out to describe the alternate reality he's lived through with an alternate her:

"We have a house in Jersey. We have two kids, Annie and Josh. Annie's not much of a violin player, but she tries real hard. She's a little precocious, but that's only because she says what's on her mind. And when she smiles...

"And Josh, he has your eyes. He doesn't say much, but we know he's smart. He's always got his eyes open, he's always watching us. Sometimes you can look at him and you just know he's learning something new. It's like witnessing a miracle.

"The house is a mess but it's ours. After 122 more payments, it's going to be ours. And you, you're a non-profit lawyer. That's right, you're completely non-profit, but that doesn't seem to bother you.

"And we're in love. After 13 years of marriage we're still unbelievably in love. You won't even let me touch you until I've said it. I sing to you. Not all the time, but definitely on special occasions. We've dealt with our share of surprises and made a lot of sacrifices but we've stayed together.

"You see, you're a better person than I am. And it made me a better person to be around you. I don't know, maybe it was just all a dream. Maybe I went to bed one lonely night in December and I imagined it all. But I swear, nothing has ever felt more real.

"And if you get on that plane right now, it'll disappear forever. I know we could both go on with our lives and we'd both be fine, but I've seen what we could be like together. And I choose us."

Little did Cage & Co. know that six years later, there would be another movie with another husband, another wife and another two kids (plus another dog which looked like the dog in Family Man). This movie is also about family and getting a glimpse into a major What-If. Whilst Cage started out in a scenario he did enjoy and ended back in the same situation he later detested, the main character of this movie starts out being "tired with his life", but ends back in the same situation an entirely changed man, thoroughly grateful for the life he has (as opposed to the life he thought he had lost).

I'm talking about Adam Sandler's Click. But I won't ruin two movies at one go (smile), so I'll end with the theme which unites these two masterpieces: Family is first, the job is completely secondary. Never take for granted the ones who love you, no matter what riches beckon and no matter how attractive alternatives may appear to be.

Cute Movie.......2007-03-13

I LOVE movies and have an ever increasing, eclectic collection. This is a movie that I like to watch if I want to smile. It's a feel good movie I think, a nice family film. A man has a chance to explore one "what if" of his life, and he expereinces the ups and downs of family life. The older daughter is just the cutest and when she knows theres something different about him and assumes he's an alien and says welcome to Earth, so cute! I think the ending is a little strange but it's good that it's not a "perfect" predictable canned ending.

Swearing .......2007-03-09

With the title of family man I did not think they would put the "F" word in the movie. It would have been an excellent movie if it were swear free.

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 4

Average customer rating:

"Reality" TV
A five star season - but not quite as good as the first three seasons
It only gets better...
Homicide at Zenith
The Original Police Drama Show !!!

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 4
Starring: Homicide
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

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Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 5
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 3
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 6
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 7
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2

ASIN: B00018YCJ6
Release Date: 2004-03-30

Product Description

With gallows humor and dogged determination, the men and women of the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Division race to keep pace with the killers who haunt their city. But with 250 murders a year, the ominous "Board" tracking their progress remains full.

Executive Produced by Barry Levinson("Rain Man," "Diner") and Tom Fontana ("OZ," "St. Elsewhere"), and created by Paul Attanasio ("Gideon s Crossing," "Quiz Show"), HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET plunged viewers into the gritty, uncompromising reality of solving murders. Filmed entirely on location in Baltimore s Fells Point district with hand-held cameras, HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET featured an extraordinary cast highlighted by Yaphet Kotto ("Roots"), Richard Belzer ("Law & Order: SVU"), and Emmy winner Andre Braugher ("Gideon s Crossing"). This collection includes all 22 episodes from the fourth season of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning series, available on DVD for the first time.

System Requirements:

Running Time 1034 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) was the rookie during Homicide's first season. By the fourth, he's an experienced vet with a bad back (a degenerative disc, to be precise). Stan Bolander (Ned Beatty) and Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) are gone, leaving Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Kay Howard (Melissa Leo) without partners. Someone needs to come along to shake things up. Enter brash detective Mike Kellerman (Reed Diamond) from the arson unit. After impressing Lieutenant Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) with his sly interrogation of a shifty arson suspect in "Fire (Part One)," he's invited to join Maryland's finest. The loquacious Lewis, on his own since the third-season departure of Steve Crosetti (Jon Polito), has finally found the perfect sparring partner, while Kellerman would add some redheaded sex appeal to the acclaimed drama (hey, it worked for NYPD Blue).

Another new character, naive crime-scene videographer James Brodie (Max Perlich), makes his (somewhat shambolic) entrance in "Autofocus." All the other old favorites are back: Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) and wife Mary (Braugher's real-life spouse Ami Brabson), for instance, are expecting a baby, and the much-married John Munch (Richard Beltzer) is dating the new medical examiner. Interesting developments are in store for the rest of the unit, as well, including a change in location (due to a gas leak) and command (Howard is promoted, but Isabella Hofman's Captain Russert is demoted).

Notable episodes include "A Doll's Eyes," a look at a murder case from the perspective of the victim's family (with Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden); "Heartbeat," inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart"; and "Thrill of the Kill," an eerie tale about a spree killer with a split personality. And keep an eye out for those always-surprising cameos, like Jay Leno in "Sniper (Part One)" and Reverend Horton Heat in "Full Moon." --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

"Reality" TV.......2007-05-05

David Simon, the creator of HBO's "The Wire" and one of the brains behind "Homicide: Life on the Street", was asked recently why the "The Wire" has never had high ratings in the USA, despite getting mad love from the critics. His response was blunt. He put the show's poor ratings down to the fact that "The Wire" has a predominantly black cast, the unglamorous Baltimore setting and the fact that The Wire "requires thought and commitment to watch and absorb complex plotlines and subtleties. Television in America is by and large a vegetative medium."

I believe "Homicide: Life on the Street" was similarly affected. With all due respect to its citizens, the Fells Point district of Baltimore where this series is shot is not a particularly pretty part of the city and, with a sizable black population, it's inevitable that the vast majority of people the Baltimore murder police are likely to come across are going to be African American. I find it sad but can totally understand why that might not be what most people want to tune in on an evening to see - or indeed, later pay money to see on DVD. When you look at "CSI: Miami" for instance, (reportedly the most popular TV series in the world at the moment), you can immediately see the vast disparity between the two. Everything about that show is about glamour: the city settings, the big houses and big fast cars and everyone totally buff and beautiful. It's escapism at its best in that it bears little or no resemblance to reality. But in this age of superficiality and celebrity mania, I'm guessing this is what most folks are up for.

But I believe such folks are missing out. If "Homicide" is anything, it's realistic. This season was the first to have a full 22 episodes. The storylines are tense, gripping and real. The hand-held camerawork gives it the feel of a documentary. Even though the producers dropped Daniel Baldwin and Ned Beatty, brought in Reed Diamond and had Isabelle Hoffman's character demoted back to detective to, presumably, up the 'babe' factor of the cast, this is still by and large a collection of very ordinary looking but incredibly talented actors. I think that's one of the main reasons why it works for me. It's a completely rewarding experience and, after watching an entire season, I can very easily start again from the first episode and still get a lot of enjoyment out of it.

I don't wish to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet but we have fires, snipers, a wife who kills her husband (and the woman he was cheating on her with), drug wars, a "thrill killer" working his way up the I-95, a homophobic hate crime gone wrong, a child killed by a paedophile and any manner of murder mayhem. There are star appearances from people like Lily Tomlin, Chris Rock, Jay Leno, Marcia Gay Harden and Gary Basaraba. And in a slick crossover with Season 6 of "Law & Order", we get an appearance from members of the cast, including Jerry Orbach, Benjamin Bratt, S. Epatha Merkerson, Sam Waterston and Jill Hennesy. The brilliant Max Perlich also guest stars as the squads new video man, Brodie.

Andre Braugher's wife Abi Brabson (who plays detective Pembleton's wife Mary in the show) gives birth to their baby towards the end of the season and to give Braugher time to spend with his newborn child, the producers cleverly decide to give him a stroke. It works in another way: Pembleton is easily the most accomplished detective on the squad, (a fact he makes sure everyone around him is acutely aware of), and it will be interesting in the coming season/s to see him have to work his way back up to any practical level of competency.

DVD extras include commentary on "The Hat", the episode starring Lily Tomlin, scene selection, interactive menus, song listings (a tool I've found very useful indeed) and a short documentary, "Homicide: Life in Season 4" narrated by Isabella Hoffman and featuring interviews with Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana, Henry Bromwell, David Simon and James Yoshimura.

The only thing I would've really liked that wasn't included was subtitles. Some of the terminologies go right over my head and it sometimes helps to see them in writing.

Still, I've bought Seasons 1 - 4 so far and am looking to getting Season 5 soon. I can barely wait.

A five star season - but not quite as good as the first three seasons.......2006-09-30

Season 4 of "Homicide" is truly great television, but it is missing two things that season three had - detectives Beau Felton and Stan Bolander. Unlike Detective Crosetti's character, whose death is the subject of an entire episode that was arguably the best of the entire series, Beau and Stan are merely mentioned to have caused an embarrassing episode at a convention and given 22 week suspensions because of this. In fact, the last chance the series would have had to write the characters out of the show properly would have been the last episode of season three. However, it is obvious from that episode - "The Gas Man" - that the show's creators thought that the series would not be renewed for a fourth season and just decided to write a very good off-beat episode for that finale. Thus, this omission can be somewhat forgiven.

Given that now three detectives are missing from the original cast, the season opener is a two-parter that introduces the audience to Mike Kellerman. Bayliss and Pembleton are called out to investigate an arson-related homicide when a dead body is found in a burned warehouse and wind up working with detective Kellerman of arson. We soon learn beneath the boyish, fun-loving exterior is a cagey and complex detective. We will also see that Reed Diamond, the actor who plays Kellerman, has real depth and emotion to him as well. We soon learn that Kellerman is good at his job when he beats the homicide detectives to both the medical examiner and Missing Persons. When he manages to trick a confession out of the murderer at the conclusion of the two parter, he is offered a job in homicide and is partnered with Lewis. The complexity of Kellerman's character is meant to be part of the "new Homicide" with more storyline given to the personal lives of the characters from this point forward in the series.

Another character, Brodie, is added to the cast in "Autofocus". In this episode, the detectives get help from news cameraman J.H. Brodie, who has the killer of an elderly woman on tape entirely by accident and then spends a good deal of the episode trying to convince the detectives that he has something worth watching. Naturally, he has a price--he wants an exclusive on the arrest of the killers. Eventually he does get this but it is not enough to save his job. The higher-ups at his TV station are far more focused on getting an exclusive than they are on solving a crime. When Brodie gives this up he is promptly fired. It's pretty clear that Brodie was meant to be a version of David Simon, the man who spent a year on the killing streets and wrote the original book. But where Simon stayed outside of the story in his book, Brodie keeps stepping into it on the series. It is impossible to pretend (like the detectives do) that he isn't there but we're never sure what to make of him.

Another major change that occurs in `Autofocus' is Howard is being promoted to Sergeant. Unfortunately, in the book, it was made very clear that a sergeant's role was mostly office work, although they are allowed to go out on cases. This is the reason that the sergeants were written out of the series when the show premiered. And since there is already one office bound leader (Giardello) there would seem to be less for Howard to do. Howard gets squeezed between these two extremes and as a result would have almost no presence on the show for the next two years- not being called out on cases, or allowed to supervise. It's a great pity, because as this episode illustrates there was a lot that could have been done exploring Howard's character as she dealt with the challenges of her new job - how she deals with it and how others deal working with a former friend. Instead, Howard was all but eliminated, a sad fate for Melissa Leo who was such a vital part of the show for its first three years on the air.

"Sniper" is an excellent two parter in which someone is randomly picking off citizens of Baltimore and using the game of hangman to clue in the police. Throughout this "red ball" case, the detectives are worn down to the nub working around the clock. This case sounds formulaic now, but remember that this was seven years before the DC sniper case. In the beginning of that actual case some people speculated that the snipers were imitating this episode of Homicide. Ultimately, Russert makes the decision to send Bayliss in to talk to the sniper rather than sending in the SWAT team, once the sniper is identified through the brand of chalk he is using, and this leads to the sniper killing himself. The solving of the case is somewhat formulaic, but the fallout of the case leads to Russert's demotion to regular detective, setting up some good moments in the rest of the season where Isabella Hoffman is finally given something to do.

"Stakeout" is a series classic that is somewhat like season one's "Night of the Dead Living" where we see that detective work can often be very dull. In the space of twenty four hours we find the identity of a serial killer from one of the thickest criminals on the show. Arrested for narcotic possession and stolen property, he confesses that he was involved with ten murders. He thinks that because he didn't actually kill any of the victims he is less liable which proves as Bayliss puts it "Crime makes you stupid" The killer is en route from a trip back to Baltimore, so the Homicide unit sets up a stakeout in the house next door. So two detectives go there. And they wait. Three hours later the shift changes. And they wait. Every three hours, they change partners until twenty-four hours later when the killer is arrested in his driveway without incident. During the course of that time, they identify several of the dead bodies, arrest an accomplice who agrees to testify against the killer and build-up an air-tight case. So the investigation is actually the least interesting part of the show. What makes `Stakeout' one of the highlights of the season is the emotional baggage that some of the detectives are carrying and that they unload while they try to pass the time. Part of this is expressed very well in the characters of George and Cathy Buxton, the people who own the house the detectives are using for surveillance. During the stakeout, the Buxtons argue, the husband storms out, the two make up, and their marriage returns to what passes for normal.

The season finale, "Work Related", has a very unexpected ending as Pembleton almost dies while interrogating a suspect in the box in what for the first half of the episode seems like a very ordinary hour of TV. He is almost felled by a silent killer that he doesn't even know is on his trail. His fate is left up in the air waiting for the next year's season opener.

In conclusion, I think that this fourth season of "Homicide" is still a five-star season, but it is just not up to the six star genius of the first three seasons. There are many brilliant individual episodes I haven't mentioned, and the acting and writing are still top-notch, but the "NYPD-Blueing" of the series is beginning to creep in at this point ever so faintly. Gone are the less physically attractive members of the original cast who probably didn't have personal lives that would attract younger viewers, and more and more personal elements of the detectives' lives are being incorporated into the storyline. However, the series is still must-see TV until the departure of Andre Braugher - the heart of the cast - at the end of season six and the redecoration of the squad room with soft pastels at the beginning of season seven that leaves it looking like a travel agency.

It only gets better..........2006-03-13

I can't imagine anyone watching the first three seasons of this show and needing a review to urge them onward, but in case you do I'll be brief. This is a show that has stopped worrying about whether or not they're going to get cancelled next week. The ratings haven't been exceptional, but they have been exceptionally consistent, and the producers have put the pedal down to see what this puppy can do. Man, is it fun to watch. This is a network TV production at its finest and most creative. Homicide showed studio and network executives that there was money to made off edgy shows. Without visionary producers Fontana and Levinson, we might never have had The Shield, Rescue Me and a dozen other high-quality, small audience cable dramas. So put it in your cart already and savor a piece of TV history.

Homicide at Zenith.......2004-06-24

The quality here is almost indescribable. So many great episodes, so much fine acting from the entire cast to match the top-notch writing and production. Fortunately, much of the quality is sustained through Season 5, so I'm waiting for the DVD release of it and Season 6 (which was still better than 99.99% of the other stuff on US TV at the time).

The Original Police Drama Show !!!.......2004-04-10

What can I say? I'm watching Season 4 of HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS and am amazed how the show keeps its high quality of characters and storylines consistent with the previous 3 seasons. Even with the absense of Bolander and Felton (they were suspended by Captain Barnfather) the other cast members carry the show just as well, and with the introduction of Detective Kellerman, is a further positive addition to the cast. I've heard rumors that this may be the last good season of HOMICIDE and the show begins to slide downhill with the start of Season 5. I believe this may be the case, but Season 4 is a MUST BUY for any and all HOMICIDE fans out there!!! Without this show, others like NYPD BLUE, LAW & ORDER, and CSI would never have been produced!

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 7

Average customer rating:

Weekly show
The least compelling of the seven seasons
Is the price keeping people from buying?
One of the BEST 2 Seasons of this Show!!
"Homicide, the best that ever was"

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 7
Starring: Homicide-Life on the Street
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 6
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 5
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 4
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 3
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2

ASIN: B0007XG4GE
Release Date: 2005-06-28

Product Description

Crime and punishment direct from the streets of Baltimore. Powerful, darkly humorous, and always original, this final season brings an explosive end to one of the edgiest police dramas ever to hit television--Homicide: Life On The Street. A critical darling during its groundbreaking run, Homicide: Life On The Street features authentic Maryland locations, storylines based on real-life cases, and a caliber of acting and camerawork rarely found on the small screen. Top-notch guest directors like Brad Anderson (The Machinist), Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon), and Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl) deliver consistently riveting episodes, and the killer soundtrack features contemporary music's most creative artists (Beck, Ani DiFranco, John Hiatt, and Missy Elliott). Executive produced by Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Diner) and Tom Fontana (OZ, St. Elsewhere) and created by Paul Attanasio (Gideon's Crossing, Quiz Show), the seventh season of Homicide: Life On The Street won the Humanitas Prize and International Monitor Award. On DVD for the first time, this collection features all 22 episodes from the final season of the Emmy and Peabody award-winning series.

SPECIAL FEATURES Commentary with Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana, and Julie Martin on the episode "Forgive Us Our Trespasses"; VSDA Panel and Live DVD Commentary with Tom Fontana, Barry Levinson, James Yoshimura and David Simon; Barry Levinson's Acceptance Speech for the 2004 VSDA Career Achievement Award; Cast Biographies; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

System Requirements:

Running Time 156 Min

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Homicide's seventh season was surely its riskiest. Could they go on without Andre Braugher--should they even try? Fortunately, the answer is yes. As good as Braugher was, Homicide wasn't a star vehicle and the ensemble remained strong. Of course, there were a few cast changes, but that was nothing unusual. In season premiere "Famiglia," two new characters are introduced: Det. Renée Sheppard (Michael Michele, Ali) and Sgt. Giardello's FBI agent son, Mike (Giancarlo Esposito, Do the Right Thing), visiting from Arizona. In the follow-up "Brotherly Love," Mike decides to stay and becomes special liaison to the Baltimore PD. In addition, Austin Pendleton (Oz) would appear frequently as Chief ME George Griscom.

As ever, a variety of charismatic performers dropped by during 1998-1999. They include Aerosmith's Joe Perry, Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: SVU), Jena Malone (Donnie Darko), Wallace Shawn (My Dinner With André), and Reed Diamond (Judging Amy), reprising his role as Mike Kellerman. In addition, a crossover with Law & Order ("Sideshow") brought Benjamin Bratt, Jerry Orbach, and Sam Waterston into the fold. Notable seventh season directors include Lisa Cholodenko (High Art), Miguel Arteta (Chuck and Buck), Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost), and Kathryn Bigelow (Near Dark).

The general consensus is that Homicide's seventh season was its weakest. Even at its worst, however, it was still the smartest crime drama on network television. Although year seven would turn out to be the last, the show didn't really end until broadcast of Homicide: The Movie the following year. In it, the surviving cast members reunite to solve the attempted assassination of mayoral candidate Giardello. The TV movie also ties up loose ends from series finale "Forgive Us Our Trespasses" (like whether Kyle Secor's Tim Bayliss killed a murder suspect). Unfortunately, it isn't included with this 22-episode set. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

Weekly show.......2007-07-04

This was the final season for this show. It was a gret series with lots of great actors.

The least compelling of the seven seasons.......2006-10-01

At the end of season six, Bayliss has taken a bullet for his partner Frank Pembleton, and the resulting trauma has caused Frank to resign from the force, although I am never completely satisfied with his reasonings. Also at the end of season six, while being drilled in "the box", Mike Kellerman is finally tripped up over the issue of drug dealer Luther Mahoney's shooting having been on the level - it wasn't. Giardello, not wanting Kellerman to go to jail and to have the other two detectives involved (Stivers and Lewis) see their careers ended, gives Mike a way out - resign from the force. He takes this option, and two fine Homicide castmembers have exited stage left.

For the first time, the squad room has been redecorated. I guess the network suits thought that the show's abysmal ratings were because of ambience versus the abysmal time slot (Friday 10pm) that the show was stuck in plus changes in scripting and casting that the network itself had insisted upon. At any rate, sporting soft pastels and potted plants, the squad room now resembles a travel agency more than a suitable home for the murder police.

While the network suits were prettying up the place, they decided to bring in Michael Michele as ex-beauty queen/detective Rene Sheppard, who proceeds to do as good a job of helping this show jump the shark as Ted McGinley could have ever hoped to do. Batting her eyes, and even losing her gun to a suspect at one point in the season, she goes around pouting about how nobody wants to work with her. A more solid addition to the cast is Giancarlo Esposito as Al Giardello's son, Mike, who is liason between the Baltimore PD and the FBI, for whom he works. Esposito is a good actor, but the age separation is just not there between Al and Mike, and neither is any semblance of a believable family connection. The two come across more as brothers with a wide age separation and years of estrangement between them than father and son.

Notable individual episodes include those that wrap up Mike Kellerman's story after his exile at the end of season six - the two-parter "Kellerman P.I". Kellerman, now a private investigator, becomes involved with his coworkers again as they clash over the investigation of the murder of an infant at a motel. Another interesting episode is "The Twenty Percent Solution", in which Clark Johnson is given an opportunity to direct. That episode involves a man naming the person who killed him on videotape, the problem is that there is no body and no crime scene. The final of the Law & Order cross-overs, "Sideshow", is the least enjoyable and preachiest of the bunch. It is basically a heavy-handed message about the abuse of power of independent prosecuters and a thinly disguised statement on what was going on with the President at the time (remember this was the 1998-1999 season) more than it was a homicide investigation. In "Lines of Fire," a father is holding his son and stepdaughter hostage and will only speak to Mike Giardello. The scenes between the father and Mike Giardello have the tension and tight scripting that is reminiscent of previous and better seasons.

Tim Bayliss, the character featured in the very first episode of the series, is the one to bring everything to a close. Bayliss has converted to Buddhism following his brush with death in season six, and becomes "The Zen Detective". This ushers in some episodes that further his character development where he is forced to shoot the killer of a Buddhist monk in self defense in "Zen and the Art of Murder". The other storyline concerning him involve episodes on the Internet killer, who is released on a technicality but vows to Bayliss that he will kill again. These two storylines - the Internet killer being freed and Tim discovering that he can kill if he has to - collide in the excellent series finale "Forgive Us Our Trespasses". This sets everything up for the Homicide movie that airs in February 2000.

Season seven of this once great TV show is largely forgettable. Although Homicide had some excellent actors that worked well together, even during this final season, it could just not recover from losing the glue that held it all together - Frank Pembleton. He was the squad's best detective and the thinker of the group, famous for his Shakespearean musings. For better or worse, he was the star of this show, and when he left "Homicide" was living on borrowed time.

As an aside, if you are thinking about purchasing any season of "Homicide", you might want to purchase the "Homicide Life on the Street - Complete Series Megaset" that has all seven seasons, the Law and Order cross-over episodes, and the movie. I am just doing my review of season seven here because it affords me more room.

Is the price keeping people from buying?.......2006-05-22

There aren't a lot of reviews here compared to other tv dvds. I think the high price has affected sales. It doesn't help that you can't see the show on tv now. Law and Order gained viewers after cable started showing repeats and more people got interested in the show. It must affect dvd sales.
Season 7 has it's weaknesses but it's hard to let go after seeing the other seasons. As others have mentioned, Michael Michele is not very good, to put it mildly. And if you've seen her in ER she also continues her wooden, stiff acting. However the show's other actors do a great job as do the guest actors. I suggest renting before you buy.

One of the BEST 2 Seasons of this Show!!.......2005-08-27

I have to strongly, STRONGLY disagree with those who have said that Season 7, "was a shadow of the show's former brilliance", or that people "will buy this set, if only to recall how far this show fell from greatness", or that "in terms of the series itself, it's a sad end to what is the greatest television show ever made".

Although I have not yet bought Season 7 on DVD, ( I watched this season, and Season 6 when it aired on TV (although I may have seen Season 6 episodes in reruns on Court TV, I don't remember) and I have checked the Homicide DVD's - up to the end of Season 6 from the library, and I have to say, out of all the seasons of this show, Season 6 & 7 were my FAVORITES, and the ONLY ones I really liked.

I LOVED Ballard, and Falsone, and incidentally I think that they made an ADORABLE couple. I loved the addition of Michael Michele, and Giancarlo Esposito in Season 7. I think the addition of Det. Rene Sheppard (Michael Michele) was a great infusion of an aggressive yet sometimes vulnerable female character, and the character of Mike Giardello, was a nice addition to show the kind of alliances that occur in real life between federal and local police.

Seriously, in my book, Season 6 and 7 are the only ones worth watching. When I rented the other seasons fromt the library, I could barely force myself to sit there and watch it. I did, because I wanted to see what the earlier episodes were about, but I returned them FIRST chance I got.

I could not stand the characters in the earlier seasons. Even though I liked Pembleton post-stroke, before it he was bossy, cocky, and downright irritating. I didn't like Kay Howard, or Felton, or Bolander. Bayliss was okay, but like Pembleton, I liked him much better later on. Russert was okay too. I would not have minded if she had stayed on for Seasons 5, 6, and 7. I would have liked to seen how she got along with my fave characters like Ballard, Falsone, Sheppard and Stivers.

Season 6 & 7 are the BEST. Ballard and Falsone ROCK!!

"Homicide, the best that ever was".......2005-08-02

Homicide was the best TV show to air on network TV since the so called "Golden Age".

NBC in their infinite stupidy never supported it as they should have. Thank God the producers and the cast remained loyal to the fan base. I rarely buy full price DVDs since they are over priced, but I have the entire series, seasons 1 thru 7 and the movie.

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2

Average customer rating:

Homicide seasons 1&2
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2
The freshest season of the greatest crime drama in TV history.
The Zenith of Television Drama
The beginning of one of the best TV series ever

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2
Starring: Homicide-Life on the Street
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 3
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 4
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 5
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 6
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 7

ASIN: B00008PHCZ
Release Date: 2003-05-27

Product Description

One of the most critically acclaimed shows in history, Homicide - Life On The Street re-invigorated a tired genre by focusing on the grueling work of solving murders instead of an endless succession of bloody crimes and car chases.

Inspired by David Simon's Edgar Award-winning account of Baltimore homicide detectives and brought to television by director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, OZ) and writers Paul Attanasio (Gideon's Crossing) and Tom Fontana, Homicide boasted a powerhouse cast featuring Ned Beatty (Network, Deliverance), Yaphet Kotto (Alien) Richard Belzer (Law & Order: SVU), and breakout star Andre Braugher (Frequency). The critical response was overwhelming: Homicide won multiple Emmy and Writer's Guild of America Awards and is one of just two shows in history to claim three Peabody Awards.

System Requirements:
Starring: Ned Beatty, Yaphet Kotto, and Richard Belzer.
Running Time: 650 Min., Color.
These episodes are presented in "Standard" format.
Copyright 2003 A&E Home Video.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Homicide: Life on the Street was always ahead of its time. As this collection of the first two seasons proves--it still is. Crime dramas that have thrived on cable, like The Sopranos, have benefited from the ground Homicide broke--and inherited many of the talents (like Edie Falco) that made it great. To NBC's credit, particularly then-president and fan Warren Littlefield, it supported the show for seven years, despite several cast changes and lukewarm ratings. Fortunately, critics were enthusiastic from the start and fans were loyal. Awards would roll in, too, culminating in a richly deserved Emmy for Andre Braugher (Frank Pembleton).

Homicide was based on the book by David Simon and created by Paul Attanasio (Quiz Show), Tom Fontana (Oz), and Barry Levinson (Diner). It was filmed in Levinson's beloved Charm City and he directed several episodes, including "Gone for Goode," which introduced the case of Adena Watson (and won another Emmy). It would haunt Tim Bayliss (the underrated Kyle Secor) for the rest of the series. The authentic Maryland locations, unusual cases (many based on real-life incidents), groundbreaking camera work, edgy--often humorous--dialogue, and seemingly improvised acting set Homicide apart from everything on TV. Then there were the directors, like Nick Gomez ("Son of a Gun") and Alan Taylor ("A Dog and Pony Show"), and guest stars, like Gwen Verdon ("A Ghost of a Chance") and Robin Williams ("Bop Gun"). Could this really be network TV? Most times, it didn't feel like it. These 13 episodes present the main characters: Lieutenant Al "Gee" Giardello (Yaphet Kotto), Kay Howard (Melissa Leo), Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson), and John Munch (Richard Melzer), whose character would segue to Law & Order: SVU. Ned Beatty, Daniel Baldwin, and Jon Polito also make vivid impressions, but would not remain for the long haul. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

Homicide seasons 1&2 .......2006-08-28

This is the best crime drama show yet produced. The acting is top shelf, gritty, excellent.

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2.......2006-08-17

one of the best cop shows ever produced
great acting and screen play

The freshest season of the greatest crime drama in TV history........2006-08-07

There has never been {and probably} never will be a crime drama like Homicide: Life on the Streets. It broke the ground in terms of originality, realism & cutting edge.

Despite low ratings homicide lasted seven seasons and still managed to mainting unbelievable consistency in quality.

I truly suggest the viewer see all seven seasons of Homicide. I don't even think you have to watch the seasons in order to appreciate them either {I watched the 7th season first and the 4th season last}.

But should you start at the beginning, there are some things I should mention.

1. Seasons 1 & 2 are probably closest to the David Simon book{Homicide Life on the Killing Streets} upon which the series is based upon. Most of the Stories from these episodes are based on cases in the real book {LaTonya Wallace case, Geraldine Parrish murders} You actually may be watching the show as it was envisioned by David Simon. This is something you may not get in subsequent seasons.

2. This is in my opinion the best cast that the show had in it's many seasons. For many fans there was an emotional attachment to these characters that has made them more than just TV detectives. Many of these characters did not survive the full seven seasons {some of them LITERALLY did not survive!!!} Johnny Polito's much subdued Det. Crossetti was a quirky delightful character that had such a good chemistry with Det. Meldrick Lewis. Kay Howard was a hard edged female cop that while not being a traditional beauty, actually provided some very subtle sexuality to the character. Det. Beau Felton was an absolute riot in the series during these first two seasons. His scenes with Frank Pembleton were some of the wittiest dialogue in the series. Det. Bolander was a character that despite his crusty old persona was actually a character that actually became the key romantic interest in the series!!! Some wonderful fond characters that were missed when they departed the series.

3. The first six episodes can be considered a six parter in ways. They start with the intro of the characters in "Gone for Goode" and resolves with the phenomenal "Three Men & Adina".

4. Probably the only down side to this season was the "letdown" that occurs once we get past "Three Men & Adina". There is just a sort of letdown in intensity that doesn't come back until the excellent "Bop Gun".

The Zenith of Television Drama.......2006-07-23

This televised police procedural drama, based on a non-fiction book by David Simon, is some of the best TV made in the past 30 years. Yes, it is gritty and at times unpleasant, as is the reality of a big-city police homicide squad. This is not light entertainment (although there are some ironically hilarious moments), but real fans of serious TV drama can hardly breathe during each episode, as the story unfolds and art imitates life imitates art. The ensemble acting is some of the finest I have ever seen in a half-century of avid TV watching.
The Emmy-winning episode "Three Men and Adena" deserves special mention. Detectives Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and his somewhat unwilling partner Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) spend endless hours interrogating "Araber" Risley Tucker (Moses Gunn) a street-vendor suspected of murdering a 13-year-old girl. This is Tim's first case as "primary" detective, and he needs to succeed, and he and Frank hammer away in "the box", an interrogation room as microcosm of the universe. Good cop-bad cop, finishing each other sentences, shouting and then calmly acting as a "friend", they attempt all the tricks in their bag to try to wring a confession from Tucker. Gunn gives one of the finest performances of his long and storied career, and died shortly after this episode was completed. You will have to see the episode to find out what happens, but the result was to haunt Detective Bayliss during the entire series and beyond into the wrap-up movie.
Homicide received enormous praise from the critics, but low ratings, and was bounced around in various timeslots. Yet it survived for seven seasons, and is now available on DVDs, where one can watch the episodes in the correct order, without commercials. (I almost miss the commercials because during the original telecasts it was difficult to breathe during the show.) This is TV drama that is ABOUT important issues: child & spouse abuse, assisted suicide, estrangement from religion, alcoholism, patricide, just to name a few. As one of the detectives posits: "We speak for the dead". Those aren't the happiest topics, but you can always watch "Friends" or "Seinfeld" if you need to giggle. Homicide is the elevation of television as Dramatic Art to its highest level.
If you are uncertain as to whether to buy this, try to catch a few episodes on re-runs, and you may decide you definitely need to own this milestone in television.

The beginning of one of the best TV series ever.......2006-03-08

This series is one of the best to ever air on television. It is based upon a book written by Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon based on his experiences in 1988 when he spent a year as a civilian assistant to the Baltimore Police Homicide Unit so that he could document what life was like in a big city homicide squad. His extensive notes, interviews, and observations were eventually published as the book, "Homicide: A Year On The Killing Streets". Much of the cases chronicled in the first two seasons of the show are adapted from actual events in the book. For example, the Adena Watson murder, which is rookie detective Tim Bayliss' first case, parallels the book's murder case of 5th grader Latonya Kim Wallace. This murder remains unsolved to this day and is the basis for my all-time favorite episode "Three Men and Adena", in which detectives Pembleton and Bayliss spend an entire night interrogating a suspect in the little girl's killing, but in the end get nothing and have to release him. One of the funniest bits in these first two seasons involves "polygraph by copy machine", which was also part of the book. This trick actually made the newspapers as part of a controversial interrogation method also used by the Detroit police at the time.
It is a wonder this series made it to the better-handled third season, since it was moved all over the schedule during the first season it aired and then was only 4 episodes long during the second. The writing was top-notch, there was an excellent integration of music into the series, and the acting was wonderful. The original cast portraying the detectives actually look and act like detectives - they are average looking and in some cases outright unattractive folk - not immaculately and expensively dressed super-models. If you've never seen the series but you appreciate good gritty drama, I highly recommend it. I think you'll find yourself instantly hooked.

Average customer rating:

The Dish
Fun and great history, too
"The Dish" leaves us feeling good
A sweet-natured movie, well acted and amusing
"The pictures....they came from US!"

The Dish
Starring: Sam Neill , Billy Mitchell (II) , Rosalind Hammond , Christopher-Robin Street , and Luke Keltie
Director: Rob Sitch
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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The Castle
Danny Deckchair
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Lantana

ASIN: B00005MKKS
Release Date: 2001-08-31

Amazon.com

The Dish, a good-natured and effortlessly funny Australian drama-comedy directed by Rob Sitch (The Castle), is filled with warm-hearted characters and has a factual hook that's irresistibly inspiring. This cumulative goodwill springs forth from the rural town of Parkes in New South Wales, where a 1,000-ton radio observatory dish is recruited to relay telemetry, voice, and television signals from the historic Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969. To make sure the dish delivers Neil Armstrong's "giant leap for mankind" to 600 million eager viewers, site director Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill, at his gentle best) relies on a three-man crew consisting of an American NASA watchdog (Patrick Warburton, resembling a bearish Clark Kent), a sarcastic engineer (Kevin Harrington), and a lovestruck math whiz (Tom Long) who's pining for the sister of the dish's rather dimly overzealous security guard (Taylor Kane).

Numerous other supporting characters add color to the proceedings, and crises arise (albeit briefly) when power outage, signal loss, and windstorms threaten to spoil Parkes's proudest hour. It all rates a bit high on the cuteness meter, but The Dish is so smoothly amusing that you won't object to its eagerness to please. By focusing on the Aussie locals, the film reminds us that the moon landing was an occasion of global unity, and pride in all humanity is reflected in the wondrous smiles of Cliff, his crew, and the citizens of Parkes. That they played such a small but pivotal role in this historical milestone is just one of many joys to be discovered in this delightful little movie. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

The Dish.......2007-04-10

This is one of those movies I watch over and over again and with my family. I am an amateur astronomer so it interest me to watch how we came to first land on the Moon and perhaps from an inside view of how things were done. All the actors do a great job of telling this story.

Fun and great history, too.......2007-03-25

Saw this in the theater and enjoyed it again just as much on DVD. It's 1969 and the people of Honeysuckle Creek, Australia are very excited because their satellite dish will be used to transmit television images of the first moonwalk to the world. There are lots of wonderful characters, from the lovelorn engineer too shy to ask out the pretty local girl, the redfaced mayor with the space-obsessed son, the NASA by-the-book American who's been sent to oversee the Australians, and the calm bespectacled leader of the Dish's crew. When disaster strikes in the form of a power outage, the town's chance for fame and glory appears about to fade away. Can the intrepid engineers save the day? There's actual footage from the launch and moonwalks which are still riveting almost 40 years later.

"The Dish" leaves us feeling good.......2007-03-05

I orginally discovered "The Dish" when a neighbor brought this unknown movie over to watch with us one evening. I was interested in the subject matter having taught Astronomy at the college level and also spent considerable time in Australia. So, we put it in the DVD player, and an amazing thing happened: We really were taken back to 1969, and our surroundings, and the people we were with, were as real as life.

This movie title provides no evidence just how much you will take away from it. As an American, it gave me a taste of the pride and sense of accomplishment we all felt as Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon. (Before "America Bashing" became popular, mostly among the members of our own media.) As a human being, it brought back that amazing day in July 1969 when we all broke the bonds of gravity and watched one of us walk on another planet (well, moon, actually...) for the first time in history.

The movie brings out all the small events, triumphs, and errors, that combine to make any great achievement possible. It tells the stories of the 'regular' people of Parkes, a small town in New South Wales, who, by doing their jobs, helped bring the images of the first steps on the moon to eyes all over the world.

It examined the most intriguing questions that needed be answered before we took the steps away from our Earthly home; like: "How do they go wizzz up there?" (Evidently remains unknown to this day!) Or, " Without the co-ordinates, how do we find the Moon?" (Answer; Look out the window!) And, "Is this mission really funded by the CIA?" (Answer: Not completely.)

From the NASA project manager who is terrified that he'll screw up his big opportunity, and the engineer who forgot to prime the fuel pump on the back-up generator, to the love struck mathematician who tries to ask the love of his life for a date and the mayor's 'radical' daughter who is convined that everything is a CIA/imperialist plot, the cast brings the characters to life and leaves the viewer with a real feeling of having been there sharing it all with them.

The sound track makes us feel like it really is 1969. The choice of music is perfect. You will really laugh, and there may be a few tears of pride and happiness as you watch the very believable cast bring 1969 small town Australia to life. One of the best movies I have ever seen. You'll watch it over and over.

A sweet-natured movie, well acted and amusing.......2007-01-14

Terms such as "charming," "sweet-natured," "gentle" and "good-spirited" may mean the kiss of death for some movies. It's also possible that the movie in question just might be worth watching because it is well-made, deals with a genuinely inspiring topic and features some classy actors. For me, The Dish falls in that category. The dish is a 1,000-ton radio telescope plunked down in a sheep pasture close to the New South Wales town of Parkes. It's purpose, as part of a NASA network, is to help track Apollo 11's voyage to the moon and to relay television pictures of Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to set foot there. Sam Neill as Cliff Buxton heads the team running the radio telescope. There's also Al Burnett (Patrick Warburton) as a NASA representative, Glenn Latham (Tom Lang) as a young and excruciatingly shy mathematician and computer whiz, and Mitch Mitchell (Kevin Harrington), who's job it is to see that all the mechanical functions work without a hitch.

We know Armstrong made it and we know television showed us his first steps. For those of us who were around, we also remember how amazing it all was. What we learn in this gentle comedy are the crises that happened. One morning, for instance, Cliff says, "Glenn, come here." "What?" Al Burnett looks at Glenn. "Every coordinate in this book has been changed," he says. "Yeah... I changed them," Glenn says. "Why?" "Because they were wrong." "Why were they wrong," Al asks. "Dunno," Glenn says. Latham steps in. "What about them were wrong," he asks Glenn. "Oh! Well," Glenn says, "the figures NASA gave us were for the northern hemisphere... and we're in the southern hemisphere? I can change them back but then you'd be pointing in the wrong dir..." "Glenn, it might be a good idea for you to tell us these things," Cliff says. "Oh, sure, I just didn't want to worry you... Cuppa tea, Al?"

There's the pride and enthusiasm that overtakes everyone living in Parkes, the visit from the U.S. ambassador and the Australian prime Minister that sends everyone into a tizzy, the near disaster that occurs when contact is lost with Apollo 11 and how an amusing appearance of imperturbability is maintained in public when everything from failed back-up generators, wiped-out computers and a gale promises one of the biggest let-downs -- no television broadcast -- for the entire world. For me, one of the reasons this movie works so well is because Parkes is an idealized small town where everyone knows each other, there are absolutely no secrets, and where the people have personalities which are calculated to be amusing but which aren't manipulated into becoming caricatures. Bob McIntyre (Roy Billing), the mayor of Parkes, is a fireplug of a guy who resembles Bob Hoskins. The technical aspects of what's happening may go over his head, but he's willing to give the benefit of the doubt to almost anyone. His relationship with his wife, May (Genevieve Mooy), is friendly, loving and pleasant to observe. We learn a little, and occasionally a lot, about the people of Parkes and we wind up liking them. This is comedy, but it's gentle stuff. When we smile at a person's puzzlement, dialogue or reaction it's because we appreciate the situation, not that we're enjoying our own superiority.

Sam Neil, smoking a pipe and wearing a sweater, provides the steady center of the movie. He does a fine job. The Dish is more or less based on a true story and we're told at the end that the radio telescope is still part of the NASA tracking network. The DVD transfer is first-rate. There are no significant extras.

"The pictures....they came from US!".......2007-01-08

I love this film because it showed "our" part in the first moon landing and because I visited The Dish, in Parkes, some years ago. The dish is 10,000 times more powerful than it was in 1969 and physically unchanged except for that big receiving box you see Mitch (Kevin Harrington)climbing down, that added by the Americans for the Voyager Neptune transmissions.

"The Dish" is an amiable and "folksy" account of the part a small town in N.S.W. played in the first moon landing. It has touches of romance as the awkward Glenn Latham (Tom Long) asks the local beauty, Janine (Eliza Szonert) on a first date; comedy when the Dish looses track of Apollo 11 and they fake a transmission for U.S. Ambassador Howard (John McMartin); drama in the way "we stuck to it" and caught Armstrong stepping onto the Moon, despite the winds that could have blown the 1000 tons of antenna down and killed the crew.
The use of actual locations helped to make the film more credible and it was fun to see the Australian idiom translated for the bemused American, Al (Patrick Warburton).
"You treat us like a pack of galahs!" ~ "That's a kind of parrot" Slang: pack of galahs... fool, idiot.

The Dish a nice feel good family film, by no means great cinema, but a joyous postcard of history. And for some people, The Dish may put you back in touch with that sense of childhood wonder, you though you may have lost and the time when any adventure was possible.

Let's hope that the dish or its successor is there in 2018 for the first words from the return to the moon.

"Well, Neil...it's still here!"

Average customer rating:

Sweet Movie Based on a True Story
29th Sreet
This movie is a classic
Some real New Yorkers in Carolina
Great Movie ... They're Right - Goodfellas and It's a Wonderful Life.

29th Street
Starring: Danny Aiello , Anthony LaPaglia , Lainie Kazan , Frank Pesce , and Robert Forster
Director: George Gallo
Manufacturer: Starz / Anchor Bay
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Dinner Rush
Once Around
The Pope of Greenwich Village
Wise Guys
Fatso

ASIN: B00076ONV4
Release Date: 2005-03-22

Description

Anthony LaPaglia of WITHOUT A TRACE stars as Frank Pesce, the $6.2 million winner of the first New York State Lottery. Unfortunately, Frank is also a full-time dreamer cursed with a lifetime of great luck, a bickering Italian-American family, and a love-hate relationship with his loser gambler father, Frank Sr. (Oscar® nominee Danny Aiello of DO THE RIGHT THING and MOONSTRUCK). But when Frank Jr. makes a deal with local mobsters, will his lottery prize be his unluckiest break ever? Fuhgeddaboutit! The biggest jackpot of all may be waiting for Frank and his father among the good guys, bad guys and wiseguys of 29th STREET. Lainie Kazan (MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING), Oscar® nominee Robert Forster (JACKIE BROWN), Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts of THE SOPRANOS) and Frank Pesce himself co-star in this acclaimed comedy written and directed by George Gallo, the screenwriter of MIDNIGHT RUN.

Customer Reviews:

Sweet Movie Based on a True Story .......2007-01-14

29th Street is a sweet movie that is great to watch during the holidays since so much of it is set at Christmas time and it has a nice message. If it wasn't for the very raw language this could almost be a family film but then if the language was cleaned up it would not be a realistic story of this man and his life. This is one of the handful of movies where the real life hero plays a smaller part in the film (in this case Frank plays his policeman brother). The characters argue, curse and shout but their love for each other shines through painting an endearing picture of blue collar New Yorkers in the 1970's. A film that deserves to be more well known than it is.

29th Sreet.......2006-12-22

Watched this movie last night and loved it. Great movie about a down to earth Italian family living in New York. laughed all the way through it. Does have a little "swear words" in it but comparied to TV nowdays It's nothing, besides you are laughing so much you hardly notice. Rent or buy. great movie.

This movie is a classic.......2006-07-18

This movie is your classic comedy / drama about the old time Italian families. Lots of yelling, laughing and arguing. The story is great and the casting is perfect. I just can't believe it took this long for this movie to come out on DVD. I'll actually be buying another copy in December to give as a gift.

Some real New Yorkers in Carolina.......2006-07-04

I'm from Queens, New York too, as well as Brooklyn, and I really enjoyed this movie. I grew up near 21st Street, but never went to 29th Street, so I don't recognize any of the buildings. I wouldn't anyway, considering that the movie was shot in North Carolina.

One of the things I like best about this movie is the way the New York family relates to each other, the way they argue. It had me rolling. It reminded me of the way my wife got along with her father when he was alive. They were at each other constantly but they still loved each other.

You couldn't say anything to my father in law without getting into an argument. If you said the weather was hot, he'd jump at you "You're always complaining about the weather". If you said you just had a nice day he'd jump at you with "You never do anything". He was just like the family in this movie. He didn't mean any harm, but he just jumped all over everyone. The only thing it was safe to say to him was "How are you feeling?" Just say that, and shut up. You'll be fine.

This movie reminds me a bit of O. Henry. People make sacrifices for each other.

The one complaint I have is that it is absurd to offer only $10,000 for a lottery ticket that is a "finalist", with a 1 in 50 chance of earning six million dollars. Just do a little math. Divide six million dollars by 50 to see what the ticket is worth before the drawing. That's over $100,000. How can anyone have the nerve to just offer one tenth of what it's worth? And how can anyone be dumb enough to accept such a ripoff? Then again, maybe the six million is paid over a lifetime, and the present lump sum value would be a lot less. But still, $10,000 is chickenfeed when compared to a life-changing number like six million.

I wonder what in this movie is true and what is fiction.

Great Movie ... They're Right - Goodfellas and It's a Wonderful Life........2006-06-30

Great Movie ... Especially if you are Italian, A New Yorker, A Gambler, A Dreamer and you Love Life.

I've had the VHS version since 1992, Full Screen - Closed Caption.
I just purchased the DVD, Wide Screen - Closed Caption BUT
I can't seen to get the captions to display.

I've tried 3 different players and TV's.
Yes, I have everything turned on, other DVDs work fine.

Could I just have a bad DVD or are others having the same problem?

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 3

Average customer rating:

I love this show!
Needs captions, more extras, but great, great show
Best season of TV's best crime drama ever
Absolutely incredible.
Excellent, but not quite as good as you remember

Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 3

Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 4
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 5
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 7
Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 6

ASIN: B0000C5RPV
Release Date: 2003-10-28

Product Description

Created by Barry Levinson (Diner, Tin Men), and Tom Fontana (St. Elsewhere, OZ), Homicide: Life On The Street defied the staid conventions of the typical police show, forgoing sensationalized violence and overwrought melodrama in favor of a gripping, unflinching focus on the day-to-day work of solving cases.

Powered by deft writing and an extraordinary ensemble cast highlighted by Yaphet Kotto (Alien), Ned Beatty (Deliverance), and Emmy® winner Andre Braugher (Frequency), Homicide: Life On The Street consistently delivered what The Wall Street Journal called "simply the best one hour on television."

This collector's set includes 20 episodes from the third season, available on DVD for the first time.

System Requirements:
Starring: Yaphet Kotto, Ned Beatty, Andre Braugher
Running Time: 16 Hrs., 40 Min., Color
Copyright A & E Home Video 2003.

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

If the first two seasons introduced one of the great television crime dramas, Homicide really came into its own during the third. Instead of the mere 13 episodes scattered between 1993 and 1994, NBC ordered up a full 20 for the 1994-1995 season. The entire terrific cast is back, with the exception of Jon Polito, whose absence is explained in the fourth episode ("Crosetti"). There are other changes, like the addition of Megan Russert (Isabella Hofmann) as shift commander. Aside from the fact that the mostly male staff now has a woman to report to (alongside Yaphet Kotto's Lt. Giardello), it turns out that Russert has a "history" with one of the detectives. Homicide always excelled in its exploration of racial and office politics; now sexual politics would become a bigger issue. Religion also comes to the fore as Pembleton (Andre Braugher) is finally forced to confront the loss of his faith while working on a case ("The White Glove Murders") involving several aid workers (episodes 1-3). Meanwhile, his partner, Bayliss (Kyle Secor), is coming to resemble the naive young rookie of the first two seasons less and less by the second... while getting to enjoy a little more romance than the rest of the squad--especially the hapless Meldrick (Clark Johnson). But all is not sturm and drang. Humor still finds a place in each episode and Munch (Richard Belzer) still gets many of the best lines. In the season premiere ("Nearer My God to Thee"), for instance, he tells Bolander (Ned Beatty), "There is no such thing as gratuitous sex. Gratuitous violence, yes... Sex cannot and will not ever be gratuitous." He could be describing Homicide itself, in which nothing is ever gratuitous, especially the sudden loss of human life, which is never--and should never be--treated lightly. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews:

I love this show!.......2007-01-16

Season 3 was better than I tought it was going to be. I'm just upset that this show isn't on the air anymore because it's so good!

Needs captions, more extras, but great, great show.......2006-06-11

Excellent series. Many terrific episodes in this season. I'd've given it five stars, but it hasn't any captions and the extras seem rather paltry. Lots of great characters and nice storylines. Good story arcs with the detective shootings, the bar opening, etc. Two of the stand-out episodes are "Every Mother's Son" and "Gas Man."

Best season of TV's best crime drama ever.......2006-03-13

In my opinion, season three, the first full season of Homicide, was the best. The ratings had been anemic in seasons one and two, so that it was often called during that time "the best TV show you're not watching". Hoping to improve ratings, NBC insisted on a number of changes, both cosmetic and thematic. Unfortunately, talented but unphotogenic veteran actor Jon Polito was ordered dropped from the cast as the network clamored for more on-screen romance and violence. In order to have episodes the network considered more sensational air during "sweeps" periods, NBC sometimes aired episodes out of order, often to the detriment of story arcs that had developed over several episodes. Probably the most infamous of such gaffes during this season was NBC's decision to broadcast an episode featuring the program's first sex scene ("A Model Citizen") prior to the airing of the much acclaimed episode, "Crosetti"; it was in this latter hour that the death of Detective Steve Crosetti, Jon Polito's character, was revealed and explained. The detective had been in Atlantic City on vacation since the end of the second season's four episodes. For reasons never fully explained or understood, especially considering Crosetti's deep religious beliefs mentioned on the show during the first two seasons, he returns to Baltimore and kills himself rather than return to his job. As a result of this deviation from the producers' intended order, viewers of "A Model Citizen" found out from a comment made by his ex-partner, detective Meldrick Lewis, merely that Crosetti had died but not how or when. Fortunately, the DVD set remedies this and has the episodes in the order they were intended to be aired.
This season also featured a trilogy of episodes ("The City That Bleeds," "Dead End," and "End Game") in which three detectives are seriously wounded as a result of a gunman's ambush, two of them almost fatally; meanwhile, the rest of the unit grapples with this reminder of their own mortality as they hunt for the perpetrator. What makes it even worse - if that is possible - is that the detectives were at a completely wrong address at the time of the shooting due to an administrative typo on the arrest warrant. These "cliffhanger" episodes were intended to cause the network execs to decide to let Homicide finish out its season, in spite of its ratings, and they did the trick.
Isabella Hoffmann is added to the cast this year as the new night shift commander, Megan Russert. Although she was added by the network for all the wrong reasons - to "pretty up" the cast - she is an outstanding actress and a welcome addition throughout her tenure. Russert misses detective work, though, and in the Christmas episode "All Through the House" she joins Meldrick on an investigation into the murder of a material witness when she discovers she knows something about the victim's case. During this same episode Munch and Bolander investigate the death of a man in a Santa Claus suit and Munch spends the evening with a child they believe is the victim's son. Munch is trying to hide from the boy what he believes is his father's fate, but is finally about to tell him what he thinks has happened when Bolander returns with the boy's father, bruised but OK. It turns out that the murder victim had mugged the boy's father and s