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Post by The Doctor on Sept 4, 2008 20:30:03 GMT
Damn that Karl. He got me addicted on this show.
It's a bit obscure. Homicide was a US crime-type show that aired in the 90's. I was vaguely aware it existed, but that was it. The show revolves around, as the name might suggest, a team of homicide detectives. They are based in Baltimore, and much of the series is shot on location with 16mm handheld cameras, giving it a very 'real' feeling. Unlike most 'cop shows', shoot-outs and action sequences are few and far between (so when they do happen, they have a huge impact), rather we follow the detectives as they painstakingly solve murder cases. The emphasis is on them as characters rather than how many perps they can shoot, etc.
Now this is not the type of show I would usually enjoy. It sounds rather depressing, and crime/cop shows usually bore me due to their often repetitive nature and cliches. This, however, is extremely witty and fresh in its take on the genre. Very black humour runs through many scenes and the dialogue is excellent, really selling the idea that these are real people just doing a job that happens to involve solving murders rather than Cops On The Telly.
Very well acted show too. The show does show it's age. The technical limitations of the cameras of the time do result in some muddy pictures (especially at night), it's framed for 4:3, and everyone smokes like chimneys (especially in the first season) but that actually adds a lot to the sense of reality and gritty feel of the show. I'm not sure this would be half as effective if done in high-def digital sense-a-round!
Worth checking out if you like intelligent tv.
Damn that Karl!
-Ralph
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Post by Bogatan on Sept 4, 2008 21:19:01 GMT
I've been in a Law and Order obsessed state of mind for the last 4 months or so. Hallmark show around 4 hours a night. Munch from Homicide is a regular in Special Victims Unit (my favourite of the three versions Ive seen). Sadly he doesn't get much to do most of the time, but between that and the homicide crossover with L&O, I've been wanting to check it out. It doesnt appear to be on UK TV though and I'm not looking to buy a load of DVDs right now.
The oddest thing about Munch (played by Richard Belzer) has appeared in more shows than any other character on US tv. The list so far.
Homicide
Law and Order
Law and Order: Special Victims Unit
Law and Order: trial by Jury
Arrested Development
The X Files
The Wire
Andy
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Post by legios on Sept 5, 2008 21:01:08 GMT
Damn that Karl. He got me addicted on this show. I'm not going to apologise. Quality television and all that. One of the things I love about the show is that it is not just shot on location, but shot on location in the city where it is set. The production, being actually based in Baltimore, would go out and find locations that were as close to what the script was looking for as they could find. So if the script said that they walked through the train station, they went out and filmed at the train station. If there was a body in a back-alley near a drug corner, then in all likelihood the production would end up shooting in a back-alley near a drug corner. The fact that they were actually in Baltimore gives the show a tremendous sense of place , much more so than shows that use a bunch of stock establishing shots and then shoot everything else in "generic america". The City of Baltimore, in all its contradictions, becomes a constant presence in the series which lends a sense of reality and groundness to the show. The shooting style, done in longer takes than the norm on 16mm hand-helds also lends the show a real sense of immediacy. A lot of the time the camera, and hence the audience POV becomes immersed in the scenes, creating a sense of the viewer being a observer present in the room. Indeed, the dialogue and characterisation is one of the shows great strengths. The characters sound like people, and they talk about things that people talk about in the way that people do. And yes, that means that sometimes they lack a reverence for life and a lack of an "appropriate" solemnity in the face of death. But it reinforces the fact that dealing with death is an everyday part of these peoples lives, and that if they become emotionally affected by every drug-related shooting or whatever they would be unable to do their job. It is by no means a sentimental show, filled with notions of "our heroic police officers" but that perhaps is one of the things I find fascinating about it. These are people, with all the frailties that flesh is heir to, doing a difficult job under very trying circumstances. Like all people they have good days and bad days, and days when they do something that just gets under someone elses skin. It is very much a "warts and all" portrayal, and not your usual romanticised group of "supercops" The cast is a very strong ensemble. Certainly there are some performances that are more immediately memorable than others (Andre Braugher and Richard Belzer spring to mind) but there isn't a sense in which there are "lead" and "secondary" characters. If you were a regular or a recurring performer then the show expected you to pull your weight and turn in a full and rounded performance whenever you were on-screen. Individual cast members might have varying amounts to do in a particular script, but everyones time came round in due course. It would certainly look and feel very different. It is very much a product of its times in a technical sense. There is a lot more than could be done now with modern cameras, but I would agree that would result in a show with a different flavour. Not necessarily worse or better, just not the same. I jus doing the job. Jus' doing the job. I would, as you would expect, second Ralph's motion. Fiercely intelligent and well-observed television. I'd recommend anyone to give the first season a go, it isn't the average cop show by any means but it is well worth giving house room to. Karl |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2008 16:12:16 GMT
I remember watching a few episodes many years ago and was suitably impressed with it. American cop shows don't normally cut it for me but this one did.
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 6, 2008 16:17:01 GMT
Yes, I usually don't bother with cop shows so for me to rate this one well is high praise from me.
Here is a clip which is an excellent illustration of the strong acting and writing in the show:
While browsing for some books to get my mother for her birthday, I noticed there's a reprint of the David Simon book (a very large tome!) that inspired the show. Didn't think that was in print. Must pick it up at some point. It seemed engrossing based on a quick flick.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Sept 6, 2008 17:45:09 GMT
While browsing for some books to get my mother for her birthday, I noticed there's a reprint of the David Simon book (a very large tome!) that inspired the show. Didn't think that was in print. Must pick it up at some point. It seemed engrossing based on a quick flick. -Ralph That is actually the first time it has seen print in this country. I should have know that would happen. A few weeks after I track down a copy of it on import... it finally comes out over here.... It is indeed a very interesting book. Karl |
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 19, 2008 11:06:12 GMT
Reading it now, in small chunks. Not because it isn't well written. It is, compellingly so. Just that it's dealing with real murders so by its nature is rather grim.
As for the TV show, alas it goes downhill in season 4, morphing into just A.N.Other Cop Show, becoming increasingly ludicrous and unbelievable. Not a patch on seasons 1-3, which are truly startling slices of TV.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Sept 21, 2008 20:25:55 GMT
Reading it now, in small chunks. Not because it isn't well written. It is, compellingly so. Just that it's dealing with real murders so by its nature is rather grim. It does make for somewhat harrowing reading. Inevitably the book ends up dealing with the darker sides of urban life, and David Simon's writing is capable of bringing a strong sense of that across. A very, very compelling book, and also one that has a great deal to say about urban society. Best tackled in doses though I would agree. Reading too much of it in one go can colour your opinion of the human species more than a little, and can also be a little emotionally draining. (I speak as one who made the mistake of reading the first third of the book at a sitting. Not good for the state of mind). I've only recently seen the fourth season myself, having only caught bits of it on broadcast, and I fear I must agree with you. The show loses its edge quite badly and, although there are a few episodes that can hold their head up, most of it falls a long way short of the first three seasons. It is a great shame, because the first three seasons are on my very short list of "absolutely essential television", ground-breaking, arresting and truly gripping. The fourth year, not so much. Karl |
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 24, 2008 22:26:38 GMT
Yeah, the first three seasons are dynamite and well worth seeing. What folk might not know is that the UK 'Season 1' box is actually seasons 1 and 2, and the 'season 2' release is actually season 3. Season 1 was 9 episodes long, season 2 was only 4 episodes. This renumbering of seasons for UK DVD release makese no difference to the show, but it's worth pointing out to aid clarity.
I had to stop reading the David Simon book though. Not because it was bad. Far from it: very well written indeed. But the events described are just too horrible and grim for my current mood.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Sept 24, 2008 22:28:08 GMT
Yet you managed to make it through Season 2 of Oz!!
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Sept 24, 2008 22:33:12 GMT
Well, Oz is filmed fiction whereas the David Simon Homicide book graphically decribes real-life murder investigations. The latter inevitably has much more of an impact.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Sept 25, 2008 20:20:06 GMT
The thing with fiction is that their is always a kind of cushion of fictionality, and often it is possible to deal with a certain degree of detachment with things presented in fictional form that would provoke a very different reaction in reality. (For example, the experience of watching "Silence of the Lambs" - a certain degree of boredom and incredulity - is very different to reading about some of the actual serial cases that the FBI's Investigative Support Unit has consulted on. ).
Likewise "A year on the killing streets" makes no bones about the very disturbing nature of some of the incidents that it covers. It is an honest, forthright and well-observed account of a year in the working life of a shift of baltimore murder police. It is a very illuminating book, and very well crafted, but one that requires a lot of mental fortitude by its nature. Some of the incidents recorded therein left me quite shaken when I read it as well.
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 18, 2009 19:34:05 GMT
I watched the TV movie that rounded of the TV series today. Alas, it is exceptionally bland and generic. It only really comes alive in one scene near the end between Baylis and Pembleton, which feels like early Homicide and is gripping viewing for those few minutes. Otherwise, it sadly falls flat, though kudos to the producers for managing to get in just about everybody who was a main character in the series though a lot of it is 'spit and a cough' type roles.
I can see what was intended by the final scene but it just doesn't work. Just felt like it had dropped in from a different genre.
Ah well. As always I do highly recommend seasons 1-3. Not got round to 5-7 as yet.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Jan 18, 2009 20:23:40 GMT
I haven't seen the TV Movie as yet myself. It is one of those things I find myself debating whether I ever want to see - having loved the first three seasons dearly, and been... less pleased, with what I saw of latter seasons. (I've only seen bits of S5 -7 myself. I was planning a rental binge to get through them all in order but The Wire came along and sucked me in instead. I'm sure I shall get around to it at some point). I will probably end up seeing all of it at some point, after all it is unfair to judge to harshly the seasons I haven't seen enough of.
The first three seasons remain essential viewing in terms of the US cop drama genre though.
Karl
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