List Price: $99.95 Our Price: $89.96YOU SAVE $9.99!
Buy it
DVD Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 3
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
Review(s): DVD Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 3
Absolutely incredible.
I really don't have terms glowing enough to describe this season of Homicide. Smart, funny, heartwrenching and thought-provoking, this season is television at its absolute best. Of all the shows I've seen over the years, nothing is better than this.
Excellent, but not quite as good as you remember
When I first caught the season 3 episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, I thought it was the second coming of the drama series, unlike anything I'd seen. Now, more than a decade after its airing, I'm not so sure that's true - it's far more conventional than I ever gave it credit for. Plotlines like Russert's discovery of her ex-partner's spousal abuse ("Partners"), the watering-down of dark/light-skinned African American racism a la Spike Lee's School Daze ("Nothing Personal") or the lame Frank-vs.-beauracracy plotline ("Cradle to Grave") all seem to come out of the affecting-social-melodrama handbook. It means, I think, that Homicide hadn't quite come into its own yet, not in the sure and galvanizing way it did in seasons 4-6. Perhaps it was still unsure of what to do with the fact that it had accidnetally stumbled onto one of the best performances in the history of television in Andre Braugher, and felt the need to set him off as much as possible. Or perhaps it was a need to give their most recognizable face, Daniel Baldwin, more screentime (who could care about the Beth-kids debacle plotline?). Some episodes are rightly considered classics - like the devastating "Every Mother's Son" and the gorgeous send-off "Crosseti," which features work of magestic grief and strength by both Ned Beatty and Clark Johnson. Those episodes prove that Homicide was on the right track, but I disagree with most fans that think it had already entered its glory days - the best were ahead.
Maybe the peak of the series
I say maybe because I'm only now, in 2005, discovering this show and going through, season by season. Seasons 1 and 2 were obviously amazing, but I had a sense watching Season 3 that the creators and cast had hit their stride and I was probably watching the show's peak. I'm now on Season 4 and there was a noticible lag (though by midseason I would say it picked back up to Season 3's level).
I can't add much to some of the excellent consumer reviews in terms of detail. I can just say that I rarely like a television show. I can count them on one hand: NYPD BLUE, Twin Peaks, The Guardian, The Wire... and now I'm discovering this amazing TV series. I got into it through becoming a fan of the Wire and looking for past work of the show's creators. I thought NYPD Blue was the apex of the cop drama done artfully. And now I'm discovering that there was ANOTHER Cop drama airing COCURRENTLY that I had no idea of, that was actually BETTER. Why better? It simply reaches further. Blue's strength was its realism via understatement. Homicide LOTS could not be more different. There is nothing understated about this show. There is great overacting. Some of the moments from Pembleton, Giordello and Bayliss are so over the top in a wonderful way. This isn't realism to be illustrative of humanity. It's more like a play where the characters deliver wonderfully scripted lines that are ILLUMINATIVE of humanity in the way that few examples of this kind of writing do. It's also more creatively experimental. Blue found a look and a feel that was groundbreaking and fresh and stuck with it. On this show, though, I like that you can feel the constant change in directors and the non-stop tinkering with the form. And one thing that can't be overstated is how FUNNY this show is. The characters are all really grouchy and the interactions make some of the best dry humor I've ever seen.
This is a truly brilliant series and one of its best seasons.
Related DVD's Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Season 3
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... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Yaphet Kotto DVD Release Date: Released the 30 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $99.95 Your Price: $89.96YOU SAVE $9.99!
Buy it
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),... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Ned Beatty - Andre Braugher DVD Release Date: Released the 27 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $69.95 Your Price: $55.96YOU SAVE $13.99!
Buy it
Big changes were afoot for Baltimore's finest during the fifth season of Homicide. The fourth season ended with a shocker--Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) suffering a stroke while interrogating a suspect. In season premiere "Hostage," directed by the late Ted Demme, Pembleton is back on the job, but he's a changed man. His reflexes aren't what they used to be and his pride has taken a beating. Meanwhile, Megan Russert, who had been demoted the previous year, has moved abroad. Never fear, two strong women will join the squad in the form of detective Teri Stivers (Toni Lewis), on loan from narcotics, and medical examiner Julianna Cox (Michelle Forbes, just as formidable as she was on Star Trek: The Next Generation). This is especially good news for Lewis (Clark Johnson) and... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Yaphet Kotto DVD Release Date: Released the 28 September 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $99.95 Your Price: $89.96YOU SAVE $9.99!
Buy it
Homicide's sixth season begins with a bang. Three-part premiere "Blood Ties" represents the Peabody Award-winning drama at its best. The ambitious story arc introduces a case that will pit the detectives against a prominent Maryland family--and each other. The Wilson family includes Lt. Giardello's friend, Felix (James Earl Jones), his loyal wife (Lynne Thigpen), and his wayward son (Jeffrey Wright). By the time the case is put to rest, everyone involved will have lost more than they've gained. On the plus side, Pembleton (Andre Braugher) has another baby on the way and Bayliss (Kyle Secor) is about to embark on a relationship--with Dr. Cox (Michelle Forbes).
More changes are on the way. Characters introduced in season 5 will become regulars in season 6: Laura Ballard (Callie... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Yaphet Kotto DVD Release Date: Released the 25 January 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $99.95 Your Price: $89.96YOU SAVE $9.99!
Buy it
A powerful coda to what many considered the best show on TV recalls Homicide at its best: prickly character tensions, sour office politics, raging emotions, and the camaraderie of the squad room. In Homicide, the Movie that squad room becomes unusually crowded when the entire cast, past and present, converges to hunt for the gunman who shot beloved former shift commander Al Giordello (Yaphet Kotto), now a controversial Baltimore mayoral candidate.
The class reunion could have easily turned into a gimmicky series of cameos, and with such a sprawling cast many familiar faces are indeed little more than walk-ons, but the fiercely intelligent script anchors the investigation in the even more anticipated reunion of the tetchy, intense retired detective Frank Pembleton (Andre... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Jean de Segonzac DVD Release Date: Released the 22 May 2001 This item is currently not available.
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: YOU SAVE $14.98!
Buy it
