Homicide - Life on the street opening scene, created by Mark Pellington and Lynn F. Kowal

[spanglehoff]

Im going to buy the first season, i just know ill like this. I can tell right away this is real and gritty.

[DeIville8]

Ah memories, I gotta spend £52 to get the box set. Best cop series ever, closely followed by NYPD Blue. I missed The Wire but heard good things.

There was a movie of Homicide ?

[ginfan1234]

@DeIville8 Reply yep there was a movie - some of the boxsets include it.

[DeIville8]

@ginfan1234

Yes, I see boxsets with it for £99 !!! However I've been lucky to find a copy for £6, now I can get a boxset later. :)

[ccdubyas]

Best show EVER!

[frippstar47]

if you have direct tv, look on CENTRIC channel . they show homicide, miami vice and ....for true diehards the A-TEAM.

[kariebeez]

This was the best crime procedural show I had seen and that says a lot since I was employed in Public Safety when Homicide was a major series. The acting was excellent, all aspects of the criminal culture and the failures of the city's Administration descending from the Mayor to the Police Commissioner were all true to form. I knew police officers like Kay, Frank, Munch, Kyle Secor's character, Clark Johnson's character and finally "G" who had to direct and control an eclectic bunch. Great.

[Notebookwriter1]

This was the best procedural crime/police drama ever. With The Wire being the best serial crime/police drama ever.

[eachvz]

The Best cop show ever!!!!

[57babyboomer]

Excellent show...wish they would show reruns....

[Mrtinkyloo]

WGN did show the reruns (but not the movie) for a while until a few years ago.

[FBIagentNinja]

1 person was arrested in Baltimore.

[FBIagentNinja]

loved the show.

[DXslilgangsta]

it's fucking criminal this show isn't in syndication

[XrendirsejamasX]

somebody knows were i can find subtitles in spanish for this serie? i can`t find it ! or a translator for the subtitles in english, i really need it! thanks, greetings from argentina!

[TubeSteak007]

Have you ever tried this with a copy machine? It really works!

[JonaBay]

Most underrated show ever.

[napoleon146]

The show was killer.

[wabcfan]

This was the best crime drama ever. NO OTHER COP SHOW had such brilliant incidental banter. Some of the funniest Ive ever seen or heard. Other shows had good dialog, but only this show had BRILLIANT dialog. Bravo!

[pepsibookcat]

One of the most brilliant tv show openings ever.

[supereliptic]

I think the theme music is great, sounds really tribal, and fits perfectly.

[bogoio]

This show was good cause its not totally procedural, there are new stories every episode but the characters stories evolves through the series, not a barely evolution like "The Mentalist", "House", "CSI" and many others who just want to make episodes for sporadic spectators.

[soleplain234]

Ingenious TV show! I freakin' love it! I have all the episodes, and I still watch one random episode every day...Amazing cast too,especially in the first couple of seasons.

[ILuvEthnicGuys]

Purchased the COMPLETE SERIES MEGASET for under $90 from DeepDiscountDVD ... one of the best purchases I ever made. This show was WAY ahead of it's time and NBC had no idea what to do with it.

[410grimreaper]

we need another b-more show

r.i.p wire & homicide

[lujagoa]

brilliant intro of a great series !

[jhopk83388]

I still remember the phone ringing on this show.... after all these years

[thug00187]

The thing that separates homicide from all the other cop shows was that Homicide looked real in every single way, they didn't play by the book, hell they threw it out.

[thecheteam]

i never got to watch homicide is it similar to the wire

[h100spfld]

@thecheteam It's definitely the "voice in the wilderness" before the Wire. It's much more of a cop show (Homicide rarely has a scene that doesn't feature one of the detectives)

Even though a lot of people say that Homicide was best earlier, the best entry point for a Wire fan is probably the end of Season 4 (which was when David Simon, perhaps coincidentally, joined the staff): "The Damage Done" (some clips of which are on youtube) is rather Wire-esque.

[adam22833]

@thecheteam I couldn't say, I never saw it, but I think it's one of the greatest cop shows ever for the realism, mix of characters, the existentialism

[773SleepyHollow]

@thecheteam You should Netflix the whole series! Homicide isn't as gritty as The Wire, not surprisingly, as it's on network television, but so what, it's still a great show, with vivid characters, sharp writing, and real emotional resonance.

[773SleepyHollow]

@thecheteam Hmm... I just noticed that I referred to the show as if it's still on the air, even though it finished its run in 1999... I guess that's because the show will always be a part of my life... I watched it when it first ran, I Netflixed it all last year, and a decade from now I'll probably Netflix it (or whatever method I'll use then) again.

[sideim]

fuck the cops and the world order!

[spirittammyk]

I'm proud to say, when I was a teen, while everyone else loved 90210, it was this show that I loved back then, and still is my favorite show of all time! Damn, I'm glad I wasn't a sheep back then nor now!

[TheElectrish]

Best network cop I've ever seen! This sequence is so much better than the unimaginative one they replaced it with

[15upland]

This show had the best opening song

[CurlyGirlMovieMusic]

@15upland Thank you! I am the composer. Loved working on this.

[tedh754]

Ho Ho Ho Homicide! -Munch, Christmas Eve

[tedh754]

Homicide was just the beginning. Everything David Simon touches is gold

[wd675]

A great opening montage. Simple, rough and artistic. Blends beautifully with the music.

I loved this show.

[CurlyGirlMovieMusic]

@wd675 Thank you so much.  I wrote the music!

[RolexTharsus]

It's a shame Jon Polito got canned after one series, always felt that he & Clark Johnson worked really well together & Crosetti was an interesting character.

[Mmaldera]

This was so scary as a kid :D

[WildWestSamurai]

Great show. Only one to do better (and succeed infinitely) is The Wire. ^_^ Then again, both shows were created by David Simon. What do you expect?

[773SleepyHollow]

Netflix the whole series from beginning to end. (Like I did, and will do again in 5 or 10 years.)

[Killer0fTheSun]

Never seen a better intro to a show...i can also say this is the premier police show ever put on television.

[jsrosa1282]

I think this theme, along with that of Unsolved Mysteries, is probably the scariest theme song I've ever heard on tv. That said, I still believe that both Homicide and Unsolved Mysteries remain two of the greatest shows ever.

[CatherineDeneuveFan]

does anybody know, whats the song from the Homice-DvD main menu called?

[CurlyGirlMovieMusic]

@CatherineDeneuveFan The theme is titled "Afrikan Venture" by Lynn F. Kowal

[cmackatlanta]

@CurlyGirlMovieMusic It's an unbelievable intro...Always will be my favorite. Check out the new homage in the video response.

[LTmattYT]

why is bolander the only one named in the intro?

[773SleepyHollow]

I'm sure it was in Beatty's contract... he was arguably the biggest name in the cast when the show started in '93, and I guess the producers wanted him enough that they were willing to single him out like that in the credits.

[LTmattYT]

yeah, i know, dude from deliverance, but still, its still kind of weird to have a portly old fellow as your main dude

but he was still a rad character and shit so yeah

[rockdontrun]

Has anyone ever noticed how much this opening looks like the opening to The Kids in the Hall?

[lisamaria1972]

greatest cop show EVAR!

[wowbobwow37]

@lisamaria1972

Yes, greatest cop show ever. What an f-ing cast they had in the beginning!!

[jrunner44]

@lisamaria1972 Greatest TV show ever!!

[CaptainCretaceous91]

@lisamaria1972 What about Law and Order?

[lisamaria1972]

@CaptainCretaceous91 I dont like that show.

[QualDanas]

wish reruns still came on

[tanquantwal]

Reruns come on the centric channel (new from BEt). at 9:00pm est. Great to see the show again

[972someguy]

u can still watch them...MESSAGE ME FOR THE LINKS

[Libitina72]

loved this show!

[Killer0fTheSun]

Best music intro to any show i have ever seen or heard.

[danimal9579]

I agree ... Those first few seasons with Crosetti, Bolander, and Felton were awesome! Same with NYPD Blue and Caruso.

[TimsVideos17]

All the seasons are great, but Season 3 has to be the best.

[mywaydimag]

Agreed on both counts.

[somedisco]

these credits were brilliant. such a shame they changed them in the last seasons. (not that they were disastrous, but these were genius so anything would suffer in comparison.)

cheers!

[PolishGooner]

@somedisco It's all about money ;P.

[wabcfan]

@somedisco I became a fan in 1998 and it wasnt until a few years later that I saw the earlier intro. the opening credit sequence introduced in season six is a VERY POOR substitute for the original.

[cmackatlanta]

@wabcfan check out the new video response..These folks at KeyIntelMedia did a pretty damn good remake of the opening sequence of Homicide

[witttiger93]

@somedisco agreed! this particular opening sequence was an unprecedented masterpiece of video editing for a television drama!

[cmackatlanta]

@witttiger93 Yeah I agree, check out the video response on this page. These folks at KeyIntelMedia did a remake of the Homicide intro. Awesome editing, but still cant beat the original

[napoleon146]

it was nice

[yamabushins]

the best tv show ever

period.

[guzewski]

These were awesome credits for an awesome show. I just got back from Baltimore and I saw the building used for the police station in the Fell's Point neighborhood. It still has "Baltimore City Police" over the door.

[mikethegent]

The first four seasons were great....fifth sixth and seventh were totally horrible....

[evolve991]

awesome show. gave me chills alot when i worked down baltimore LOL. i bet daniel baldwin felt right at home

[Notebookwriter1]

This is the show.....that planted the seeds for what would later become "The Wire". Good thing David Chase tried out the whole "Homicide" thing once again but on HBO so he can have more freedom

[greencalx321]

I think you mean David Simon not David Chase.

[Notebookwriter1]

Yeah, I did. I was thinking of the Sopranos a that time to. So that's why "Chase" was in my mind instead of "simon"

[danimal9579]

what an awesome show

[BERSERKERpoetry]

The later seasons seriously fell apart once the better actors and writers left, but the first four seasons were totally awesome. Great theme song.

[mightycowhero]

i liked the homicide law and order crossover.

[Descanso]

It was stunning how good those early episodes of Homicide were. I'm sure they hold up well over the years.

[TubeSteak007]

I agree. I miss the early characters, like Jon Polito & all his conspiracy books about Lincoln & Kennedy, & the character played by Daniel Baldwin. (He really grew on me.) Ned Beatty was fine, too, but the staff said he became a pain in the ass right away. (Something about wanting lots of time off to travel back home. Family issues, no doubt.) Kyle Secor (Bayliss) showed up as the husband of Geena Davis on "Commander in Chief."

Oh well, it was a fun ride.

[bmgill85]

What show was better The Wire or Homicide: Life on the Streets?

[theprofessor172]

It's debatable, but I'd put my money down on Homicide.

[DrEliPhoenix]

Yeah, it's really a subjective thing, but Homicide was more to my tastes.

[tvpirate05]

I watch the show on the Sleuth Channel, and it is absolutely brilliant. I remember NBC not giving this show a lot of credit back in the 90s, but now I see just how well-written it truly is.

TV could use another show like this.

[whalefsh]

AFAIK, it ended up with C4 here in the UK basically funding it. One of the best crime drama's ever imho. The camera work in particular is fantastic, which is why I'm "borrowing" the opening sequence to show a film group for young people I'm a worker at. Great example of editing and camera angles. My mum used it to teach my media studies class 12 years ago when I was in S3 (13-14 years old), and I'm going to be using it now lol!

[Killer0fTheSun]

I have never seen a better theme to any show,this is the best by far.

[kasap78]

By far, the greatest crime show ever.

[JuniorMints93]

I adore this show! Thank you so much for this!

[easilyjaded2]

This was superior to the bland opening NBC forced the show to use during season 5-7.

Completely haunting, dark, and perfect. I love each of the characters coming out of the darkness.

[izzi617]

hey what do you think of Cold Case?

[easilyjaded2]

I don't like the show. Too Hollywood, too "trendy". The coloring irritates me, along with the bland main actress. And it's gosh darn formulaic and repetitive. I don't like "systematic" shows like Law and Order, Cold Case, and CSI. Homicide was different in that each episode, the writers went about each case differently. Sometimes they would show the murder, sometimes not, sometimes the killer would get caught, sometimes not. And sometimes they don't even show the resolution!

Why do you ask?

[easilyjaded2]

Oh, and the Homicide characters were so complex and thrilling to watch. Even the little conversations they had about nothing in particular were completely thrilling and interesting. They were just so layered and the dialogue was top-notch.

[ccfc73]

That's what made Homicide stand out for me. Every character had his or her own demons, things that chewed on their psyche, that you knew woke them up in the middle of the night. Every other show seems so flat and 2-dimensional in comparison.

[izzi617]

not for any particular reason.

just wondering what others think of it.

[BERSERKERpoetry]

I think that "Law & Order: SVU" has some of the same attributes as Homicide. Different approaches, different structures per episode. I personally think the in-depth approach with "Homicide" backfired into soap opera in the final two or three seasons. There's a fine line between personality and cheese, and most shows tend to drift over as the go on. For me, "Homicide" was an eventual causality.

[skale7]

Law and Order was much less systematic and much more gritty in its first 3 seasons (characters had serious conflicts with one another instead of just predictable wisecracks and episodes like Prince of Darkness, Out of the Half-Light, and The Blue Wall would not be made in the current season). Perhaps you would like these episodes better. Nonetheless, I would say that not even those episodes had the variety, unpredictability, and depth of Homicide's first 3 seasons (and to a lesser extent 4-6)

[izzi617]

wow, it IS chilling. what a great show this must have been.

[cscobirds2]

I miss this show! thank you for posting. I loved this orginal opening the first few notes give me chills.