Shark Bytes

The Critics RAVED that this was "The BEST show on television!" For ONCE, they got it right!! I wish the viewers were there when the show was running! Instead...they flocked to crap like "Nash Bridges", where Homicide producers always hoped they could draw the viewers that they did! A pity..crap wins over quality!!!

Seasons 1-6..SUPERB!!! You cannot find better acting, writing, directing and overall greatness that THIS show had!! True, the grittiness became "watered-down" as the seasons progressed. I could cope with the cast changes- the departures of Beatty, Polito,Baldwin, Leo, Perlich, & Hoffman took some wind out of the sails, but flourished with the addition of Reed Diamond, Michelle Forbes, Callie Thorne, & Peter Gerety. i could even stomach Jon Seda...I wish they could've made his character a little shadier (a'la Kellerman) Even Giancarlo Esposito became likable after awhile... but the addition of Michael Michelle just SUNK this show right to the bottom!! She contributed NOTHING, but making this show into a Soap Opera, making the squad guys panting over her with their tongues out!!!
When the Squad room got cleaned up, a new coat of paint,the "box" was gone (replaced with soft lighting fer God's sake!!) Gaffney no longer had the crew-cut, and Andre' Braugher & Reed Diamond GONE...you KNEW the shark was making circles!!!! About this time, it was now revealed...EVEN the producers were losing interest~~ Thank goodness the TV Movie wrapped it all up nicely!
Jumped the shark??? NEER..no THIS show--although Season 7, the Shark's licking his chops~~~ LONG LIVE HOMICDE:L.O.T,S!!! BEST SHOW ON TV- EVER!!! The crap on TV today can't come close!!!

Upon further review, the jump came at the exact moment when Falsone licked the peach. The absolute low moment in an otherwise stellar series...

Jump #1-When Pembleton left.
Jump #2-When Falsone took his shirt off at the gym. Please.
Jump #3-The decline in script writing. You never would have heard "No, he really likes you!" from Stan or Frank.
Jump #4-Michael Michele. Enough said.
Jump #5-Callie Thorne in tennis shoes.

Oh, and the same is true for Ballard; her introduction was terrible. We are told - rather than shown - that she is a "oooh, so great" detective, and have several regular characters compliment her throughout the season, including Pembleton (!), the arrogant loner who would start being kind to Bayliss after being his partner for about 4 years, and Munch (!!), the cynical man who didn't want the rookie Tim to drink their coffee, who sardonically told Kellerman he was going to be regarded new guy until someone else came, and who actually MOCKED Pembleton when Frank returned after the stroke.

When you have regular characters go out of character to compliment the new entry, you know that the writers are losing it

Two things:

- First, Falsone was awful. He was a two-dimensional Mary Sue of the highest order, a character shoved down the throats of the viewers and highly acclaimed as wonderful cop, good partner and friend, etc. Therefore, he came across as phoney and unlikeable. Characters in Homicide have always been believably flawed and human - trying to make Falsone a supercop only made him dull. I think they were on the right track when they introduced him in season 5, where he was a snivelling, obnoxious twerp. He could have been an interesting character, sort of a callous, meaner Felton who still manages to get the job done. Instead they turned him into a smug, arrogant wonderboy - WITHOUT acknowledging that he was smug and arrogant;

2)Second, unlike others, I liked Kellerman better after the arson and Mahoney storylines. They weren't perfect, but they added some much-needed depth to his character. Mr. "Happy go Lucky, Fun is my God, Tombeur de Femmes" became a self-pitying, bitter jerk; instead of being a two-dimensional Mary Sue (see Falsone, again) he became a flawed, interesting human being. I'd take the obnoxious, whiny Kellerman who drinks too much and mocks dead drug dealers on the crime scene over the baby-faced, self-satisfied, spotless arson detective of the beginning of season 4 any day

I kinda watched this show when it started, but really got nailed by it in season 2 with the Robin Williams episode, Bop Gun. I happened to notice the book credit for David Simon early on and went and got the book and read it also. AWESOME READ! This show/book is the reason I took up a career in law enforcement and am now a Detective. For the most part, it was the most realistic primetime cop drama until The Wire came along (thanks again to David Simon).

It was warming up to jump in season 6, and jumped the shark after Pembleton left. Season 6 had that very powerful episode called in the subway. I thought that it was a pretty solid show up unitl season 7. Season 7 was too soap opera-y for me, but I watched it none-the-less.

Best stand out episodes in my opinion...

Season 1-Gone for Goode(pilot), 3 Men and Adina
Season 2-Bop Gun
Season 3-Every Mother's Son
Season 4-A Dolls Eyes
Season 5-Prison Riot,The Documentary,Deception
Season 6-Subway

If you haven't seen The Wire, or The Corner (both David Simon projects) I highly recomend those also. All on DVD available for your viewing pleasure.

Rich...I must agree that one of my favorite episodes to re-wat h is the one with Pembleton in his dress blues...
Love the show....not so much after Falzone joined the cast. REally enjoyed Daniel Baldwin.

I had heard that this show was top notch for during it's initial run on NBC I never watched it, wasn't into tv that much. I started TiVo-ing episodes early in 2008 off WGN in Chicago, needing something to watch in the evenings that wasn't crappy reality show material.

I was stunned at how great the show was, even though I started watching Season 3. The character development was wonderful, you knew and fell in love with these detectives in a matter of a few episodes, something most shows on tv now never can pull together. I loved Stan. To this day the "Thrill of the Kill" episode sends the hairs on the back on my neck shooting up! I hated when Stan left more then Beau. Isabella Hoffman's character was whiny and slow speaking as molassas and I never believed she was "murder police" material. I loved Kay and agree that making her detective turned her into a bit of a shrew, which was a big injustice to her. Tim and Frank were perfection and Medrick and Munch made me laugh. I even liked the addition of early Kellerman and the lady medical examiner, but when she slept with Kellerman and Baylis the show was heading for typical network fare. I loved how Gee was stone cold Italian and so proud of it. I HATED Falsone and those who say he was added to the cast for sex appeal have to be kidding! He looks like a pudgy bulldog. He came in will all attitude and we as viewers had to just "believe
" he was a badass?? And Callie Thomas? I have to say, when she or Falsone were on cases I started to fast forward, had no interest in even looking at either. I ordered Season 1-3 and have been watching them on the weekends and will probably get Season 4 but not sure of 5. I hated Michelle Michaels or whatever her name if when she was on ER. Her acting range doesn't get past B in the alphabet. And she always looks totally pissed off. I like Toni Lewis when she was in narcotics but didn't want her to be a murder detective. All in all I am happy to have this show to own and I know I will watch seasons 1-4 over and over and probably just keep the best episodes from Season 5-6 on my TiVo to watch. I'd rate this show #2 with The Sopranos being #1.

I have been a die hard fan of Homicide for years!

Won't say the show jumped the shark because it never did, in eyes.

But I will say that Season 7 was a bit of a leak in the ship.

And I might offer a few reasons for that. I think the primary problem with Season 7 was that there was really no way to top the astounding Season 6. Braugher was the glue of the show, and once he left, the show just seemed to collapse on itself.

I will say that I was a fan of Giancarlo Esposito at G's son. I felt he was a great addition to the cast. And while noone could ever take Braugher's place, I loved how they were developing the Mike G character. It's a shame that they were not given another season for him to develop even further.

I would also like to step forward and say that I was a very big fan of Jon Seda as Det. Falzone. I've read over the years that there were fans of the show who just hated him, and I've never understood why.

Falzone brought a much needed approachable character and dynamic to the show. He was a down to earth, hard working cop with good instincts and a good heart. He was always written to downgrade his own intelligence and never take the credit that he deserved as the sharp cop that he really was.

Let's face it, Frank was intimidating because he was ALWAYS right. Bayliss was too troubled and too trapped in his own head. Kellerman was too pissed off and trigger happy.

Falzone was much more like Lewis in the sense that he just did the job and put his heart into it. You could talk to a character like that. Falzone could also partner with anyone except Kellerman. I really always liked to see him work with Bayliss, Lewis or Stivers. Good chemistry. Nice little bit of versatility Seda had going on there

Just my opinion

Jumped when the detectives began ganging up on Kellerman for killing Luther Mahoney. Cops do NOT turn on one of their own for killing a scumbag drug lord who routinely used the court system to escape justice. If anything, they would demand that he transfer before seeing him go to prison for it.

Clearly the best cop show, ever.From Gee's acerbic wit as a means to motivate detectives who have too much red on the board; Pembleton's profound observations in his arguments with Bayliss: Munch's overblown intellect, Lewis' down home street smarts, and Howard's flaming red hair! Bayliss' obsession with Adena, and even his subsequent weakened character in the last season, brought him to rebound when he killed the online slasher, and the series ending as it began with Lewis and a partner searching the exact same alley as Meldrich and his first partner did in the opening sequence in the series. Nice device to close the circle. Homicide could be astonishing witty, grim and profound. I liked the early seasons' title sequence better: streets and alleys of Baltimore, that helped make the city a central character. Despite certain weaknesses near the end, Homicide never jumped the shark

Once again, we have ANOTHER know-it-all who goes by the anonymous "guest" who claims to clear some misconceptions here, but doesn't appear to have done his homework by paying attention to the ACTUAL statments made online and in print over the years. Like Daniel Baldwin being the only cast member fired.

I call bull$#!+ on that, since it was clearly stated that Baldwin actually QUIT the same time as Beatty, sharing the belief that the show was getting too commercial. Melissa Leo was let go because the NBC bosses weren't enamored with her un-glamorous approach to playing a female detective (i.e. keeping it REAL) and used the bad publicity of her being harassed by her ex as the excuse to dump her. Jon Polito's mistrust of the producers' after his past experiences on TV led him to speak out of turn which is what got him FIRED. And Max Perlich (as Brodie, remember HIM?) was definitely fired for apparently waving a gun around at his neighbors. So how about getting your FACTS right the next time you'd like to make a clever anology about real-life mirroring Hollywood, huh?

To clear up some misconceptions here. The only person that was ever fired amongst the cast was Daniel Baldwin and he was actually someone that they wanted to keep.

All the actors, Polito, Leo, Braugher, Beatty, Hoffman left on their own.

Also, in a weird way the departures of the actors mirrored the real life departures of the actual Homicide Unit that Simon wrote about it. The world of homicide is as volatile as the world of Hollywood.

Season 1 was poetry. The most brilliant thing to be seen on television to date. The next 4 seasons still were the best thing on TV, and deserve respect. The final seasons had their moments, and still were the best thing on TV, but now only due to the inanity of television fare than a compliment to Homicide.

Then came "The Wire" on HBO, and I'm not sure that television will ever surpass that.

Great show! Two moments especially stand out for me. The fiorst is the scene where Pembelton dresses up in his 'blues' to salute his fellow officer - despite thew fact that the department won't grant Crochetti the funeral he deserved because he committed suicide. The second is the episode that relies on flashbacks to show the 'bounty hunter' that was the ancestor of the victim who was hung in the basement of a station in the 'underground railway'. The hair still stands up on the back of my neck every time I see these episodes in re-runs.