Customer Reviews

Homicide: Life on the Street: The Complete Season 3

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I won't get many this review was helpfuls because I'm not going into any detail of plot and characters etc.. I'm simply saying for any fan of drama, comedy and pathos - this is simpley the best tv drama ever produced. I followed its' journey from beginning to end during its original broadcast - despite the time changes and interuptions in scheduling. You cannot buy better television at any price - buy them all and enjoy.

I'm not going to add much more to the terrific reviews of the series - it is the best show you never watched, and since I managed to watch most of them (and caught up on the rest!), it is a terrific blast from the past.

I am going to add one scolding, and its the reason I gave this DVD set 4 stars instead of 5. Unlike several other reviewers, I thought that the commentary track ("The Gas Man") was rather thin. Yes, great, we got the writer and director of the show. But would it kill them to spend 47 minutes watching said show at least once before commenting on it? C'mon guys! You had a couple of interesting bits. Saying several times in essence "wow, this is so great, wish I would have seen this before, lets watch..."...well, I can do that.

Study for the test, dudes!

I only began watching this wonderful police drama when it was in syndication and airing on Court TV--Now I Can't wait to own "every" season of this great show and be able to put it all together from "beginning to end". If you enjoy this type of show, it's a "must have" set in my view. I am eagerly awaiting my next installation of Season 4 and then will, no doubt, be just as excited to continue my collection with each and every season of this great TV show.

A full season of "Homicide" must have seemed strange in the fall of 1994. In the previous 18 months, NBC aired just 13 episodes of the show, in what seemed to be 13 different time slots. Oddly enough, even though I lived in Baltimore at the time, I didn't watch a single moment of the series -- I didn't come to it until years later, when nearly half the original cast was gone, and when I had long since forsaken Charm City for the American gothic of Toledo, Ohio.

It's an absolute treasure having this show on DVD now, available at my beck and call. While the Seasons 1/2 box set did not last very long, I worked my way methodically through the 20 episodes of Season 3. What was so important about my senior year of college that I was not watching this show on Friday nights?

The producers put their agenda right on the table in the season premiere. "Homicide" in its earlier episodes established itself as the cop show with no gunfights and no car chases. The character with the most active social life in those years was rotund Stan Bolander (Ned Beatty). The teaser for the Season 3 premiere (which, as was the norm, featured some of the detectives' best bickering and bantering) features Munch (Richard Belzer) ridiculing a TV soap opera. The episode then ends with the revelation that Detective Felton (Daniel Baldwin) has been carrying on a torrid affair with newly-appointed Lieutenant Russert (Isabella Hoffmann).

However, even that change in the show's game plan was not a brain-dead concession to network standards. The opening three-episode arc also features infrequent glimpses of Felton's weird, child-like wife, and pulls the plug on the affair. Center stage in these three episodes is Frank Pembleton (Emmy-winning Andre Braugher) and his crisis of faith after a series of religious-inspired murders.

The cast change for Season 3 featured the unfortunate exit of Jon Polito, whose Detective Crosetti (the Lincoln assassination conspiracy theorist) was a signature character the first two years. However, he's not just pushed aside without explanation. Crosetti's suicide lingers over the squadroom for half the year, with two entire episodes devoted to the aftermath of his death. "Crosetti", the episode where Bolander and Munch fish his body from the Chesapeake, features a tour-de-force performance by Clark Johnson as Detective Lewis, Crosetti's partner, trying to come to grips with the news.

Yaphet Kotto replaces Crosetti as the show's signature character -- someone you wouldn't find anywhere else on television. The African-American police lieutenant who played by the book was already an ancient TV cliche by the time "Homicide" came along. Kotto (and the writers) actually did something with this stereotype. Here we see Kotto not just threatening his detectives (Felton), but laughing at them, too (Bayliss and Munch). He plays politics with his superiors, and loses his cool when he's a victim of skin-tone racism. And, best of all, on one Sunday morning ("Last of the Watermen"), he runs into Munch in a city laundromat. And ignores him.

Other notable episodes:
-"Every Mother's Son", where Pembleton investigates the death of a teen at the hands of another teen. Never a show to settle for typical right-wing cop show sentiment, "Homicide" instead shows how the mothers (accidentally) befriend each other.
-"The City that Bleeds", the start of a three-episode run detailing the shootings of Bolander, Felton and Howard.
-"End Game", or The One with Steve Buscemi. Second only to "Three Men and Adena" (Season 1) for Pembleton's best interrogation in The Box.
-"All Through the House". It's Christmas in Baltimore. Bolander gets overly pious over the squadroom tree, Bayliss tries to hustle Giardello at a game of hearts, and Munch has to babysit with the precocious son of a slain street-corner Santa Claus.
-"A Model Citizen". Everyone gets something to do, from Bayliss's creepy romance with crime-scene artist Emma Zoole, to Munch's efforts at taking an alcohol-awareness class, to Felton receiving more bad news about his marrage. "Homicide" was always noteworthy for its use of alternative and hip-hop music on the soundtrack. This one ends with "Hurt", years before Johnny Cash made it cool again.
-"The Gas Man". The season (and, at the time, nearly the series) finale, focusses entirely on Bruno Kirby as a released convict stalking Pembleton. The DVD also features commentary by writer Henry Bromell and director Barry Levinson. Together with the Season 3 featurette, narrated by Daniel Baldwin, these DVD extras give you all the behind-the-scenes dirt. It's a shame that we only got one commentary track, but it is a good one.

After a bumpy two seasons, "Homicide" was given a whole season of episodes (as opposed to the four or five episodes that made up season two) to play with. The results are still interesting to watch in this DVD set. From the introduction of new shift commander Russert (Isabella Hoffman) to the unexpected loss of one of their own (done in a truly powerful way in one of the best episodes of that season), the third season had some major upheavals and even tighter storylines for its main characters. And the stories were crisp and powerful, ranging from the intense manhunt for a serial killer in the season premiere; the chilling "Every Mother's Son", in which a young boy is the suspect in another boy's death; and the season ender, "The Gas Man", as a released convict seeks revenge against the detective who put him away. As usual, the cast is exceptional, mangaing to ellicit heartwrenching emotion and even gallows humor out of the most bizarre situations. If you course loved the previous release of the first two seasons, this one should be a no-brainer. Highly recommended.

Thank you Tom Fontana for creating simply brilliant television. And finally sharing it with us on DVD. It's like a long-awaited family reunion. Worth EVERY penny of the price to reconnect with the squad we can't get enough ofÑLewis (and Crosetti), Munch, Bolander, Felton, Howard, Pembleton, Bayliss and G.

It's so refreshing to be able to watch these shows now after NBC so rudely (and stupidly) took them off the air. Seeing these again, I remember what drew me to the show initially: the poetry. The screenplays after the first two short seasons just get better and better and you realize that you're getting to know these people for all their faults and weaknesses, and loving them for the wonderful things they do and say. Unfortunately I think this is what ultimately led to its demise; most TV watchers don't want to think or listen, and you can't appreciate the show unless you're willing to stop what you're doing and PAY ATTENTION. Although I am a life-long Law & Order fan because you get to see both sides, the police investigations and the trials, I think that Homicide succeeds on a higher level by showing what "truth" is as opposed to "justice". Frank Pembleton's struggle with this juxtaposition really comes alive in season 3 and it colors all the relationships in the squad room, not just his life. And what a shame that no one from the cast is appearing in a mainstream TV vehicle worthy of their talents. If you haven't seen the shows, or haven't seen season 3, get this set. It was definitely the most amazing show ever to be shown on television.

Favorite all-time drama now blissfully available in my DVD player whenever I want! But I do wonder what's going to happen when they get to the Law & Order cross-over episodes ... will we only get the Homicide half? Or will they work out the tricky licensing issues and give us both halves? Please, A&E! Work it out! For the benefit of the fans who gladly gave up more than a few Friday nights over the years!

Homicide is one of a few DVDs that I will keep once I watch it. What a wonderful show. I am just answering the question about subtitles. That's the ONLY reason I give it 4 instead of 5 stars - no subtitles! And for those of us that like OR NEED subtitles - it's a real disappointment. But that's the ONLY thing that will let you down about this wonderful show.

Does anybody know that if the season 3 DVD set has text captions? The captions were missing from the Season 1&2 DVD. Thanks!