Spotlight: Homicide: Life on the Street

Welcome to the second edition of Spotlight. The show I’d like to talk about today is one that has a long storied history that continues today even thought it’s been over a decade since it left the air. Homicide: Life on the Street was the show where Law & Order: SVU’s Detective John Munch (played by Richard Belzer) made his debut. Many consider Homicide to be a precursor to The Wire as both were set in Baltimore and were based off of David Simon’s Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. John Munch even cameoed on The Wire in its final year.

Homicide aired from 1993-1999 on NBC

Homicide: Life on the Street was unlike most procedural cop shows of its day. The show was different. It was gritty and made no attempt to hide what it was, a cop show set in a crime-ridden city. The characters weren’t flashy or particularly attractive. Sometimes the cases didn’t get solved. It felt real, years before HBO began to make a mark on TV. While Homicide had an ensemble cast, Andre Braugher was the breakout star. He won an Emmy for his portrayal of Frank Pembleton and to this day I don’t think anyone has played a cop better than he did. He wasn’t really all that likable, yet Braugher owned every one of his scenes.

Fans of The Wire should check Homicide out. The two share a lot of similarities, not just a common location. It aired on NBC and not HBO, but the lack of swear words does not take away from the show. Fans of Law & Order will also like Homicide, as the two had four crossover episodes. The show had tons of celebrity guest appearances such as Robin Williams, Terry O’Quinn, and Vincent D’Onofrio as well as a good chunk of the cast of OZ (OZ creator Tom Fontana worked on Homicide). SVU fans might also like to see where Munch worked for seven years before coming to SVU. You can watch Homicide on Sleuth and it is available on DVD.

I can’t think of cop shows without thinking of Homicide. It’s an older show, but it’s still great. I can’t recommend it enough for people who are sick of episodic procedurals and want a real cop show.

Got your own Spotlight show? E-mail me at ian@tvhell.net if you’ve got one, or if you are interested in making one.

TV Hell Spotlight: Skins

I came up with the idea for TV Hell Spotlight a few months ago and I have been trying to figure out what to do with it. The initial plan was to take the What-If section and combine it with two new concepts to create the Spotlight section. That idea fell through and now Spotlight is going to be used as a features page. I have extensive experience with reviews and even though I joined this site as a way of distancing myself from reviews, that was five years ago. Spotlight’s initial debut article will be moved to this section, but I ask that you disregard it when submitting your own.

The thing that makes Spotlight unique from my other sections is that readers are invited to make their own spotlight shows. Just send in three or more paragraphs about your spotlight show to ian@tvhell.net.

Now for the legitimate start.

Skins

Each episode of Skins mainly focuses on an individual character (the episode is named after that character unless it deals with everyone). There are plenty of recurring plotlines throughout the season, which keeps things interesting.

One of the defining aspects of Skins is that the entire main cast is replaced every two seasons. While I liked the first generation cast better than the second generation, I have to say that it kept things interesting. It is truly unlike any other teen drama I have ever seen.

Why did I pick Skins for the debut spotlight show? Because since it’s a British show, there’s a good chance that a lot of you haven’t heard of it. The culture barrier isn’t really a problem aside from a few words, which are easily translatable. A lot of British shows get lost in translation because they deal a lot with the region that the show takes place in but this is not a problem for Skins.

Skins can be seen on BBC America or it can be purchased on DVD (make sure you get a region 1 copy). I watch a lot of British TV and this is one of the most original shows to come around in a long time. A movie is set to come out next year. MTV has ordered am American remake, which I’ll give a shot but I’m not too hopeful.

What’d you guys think of Spotlight? Interested in submitting your own Spotlight. E-mail me at ian@tvhell.net with any questions or comments.

TV Hell Spotlight: Shows you may have missed

I was searching for material for headlines a few days ago but I couldn’t really find enough newsworthy things to compile a new edition. It’s been over a year since I introduced a new segment to TV Hell so this is going to be a test one. I get a lot of requests for people to suggest new shows for them and since this website focuses on cancelled shows, why not look to the past? I encourage all of you to submit your own recommendations for this section as Rich and I have been looking for ways to get our readers involved for some time (we revamped the forum but you guys don’t seem to like it).

A couple of guidelines.

1. Don’t pick a show everyone’s heard of. Obscurity is encouraged.
2. Any genre and as many as you wish to do.
3. Include a decent description and why it’s good.
4. Shows can be from any era, including earlier than when the list started.
5. Reader contributions are pretty much necessary for this section to survive. I don’t really have enough time to do it all on my own (though if the hits totals continue to climb we could get some nice advertisers).

Show: Farscape

I chose it first because a really cool complete series box set was just released at a great price (60 bucks for four season, the mini-series, and legitimately good bonus features). Farscape was a show that aired for four seasons on the Sci-fi Channel that was produced by Jim Henson’s production studio. It was a quirky show about an astronaut stuck on a living spaceship with a ragtag group of fugitives. One of the best cult TV shows of the past decade and a must see for any science fiction fans.

Show: Hack

Hack was a show that aired on CBS from 2002-2004. Hack was one of CBS’ most innovative procedural crime dramas of the new millennium. The show starred David Morse and Homicide Life on the Street’s Andre Braugher. It was about a former police officer who tries to help people who the police won’t help. Hack can be seen on the Sleuth cable network and Is definitely worth checking out.

Got Your Own Spotlight Show? Send it via word document to ian@tvhell.net. Hopefully this is an idea that will catch on.

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