Homicide succeeds dramatically in part because it is maniacally truthful to reality whenever possible. Like, they do come up with outlandish crimes -- especially in the middle seasons -- but the people and the demographics and the accents and the geography are absolutely right. In part because the people behind it are Baltimore all the way; in part because one of those people was a beat reporter.
I like to think of the show as a series of intimate dyads: the cops' job is to look into the ugly private details of a life (often details that turn out to be irrelevant to the crime); the cops look into each other's lives, sometimes way more than they'd rather (see Kay Howard and Beau Felton, rest of S1); the cops generate chemistry as partners (there's a reason they're called "Frankentim"); the cops generate that intimacy in the box that can be brotherly or parental or penitential or adversarial.
Also? Best guest star roster in the history of the galaxy. All the New York regulars you're used to seeing on Law & Order, but given meaty roles; plus quite a few visitors from Hollywood. I think the guest-star track record started because Barry Levinson called in favors from his friends; but as the show went along, it became clear that the scripts themselves were a huge draw, even though the show was never CSI-level exposure.
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Sun, May. 13th, 2007 10:03 pm (UTC)I like to think of the show as a series of intimate dyads: the cops' job is to look into the ugly private details of a life (often details that turn out to be irrelevant to the crime); the cops look into each other's lives, sometimes way more than they'd rather (see Kay Howard and Beau Felton, rest of S1); the cops generate chemistry as partners (there's a reason they're called "Frankentim"); the cops generate that intimacy in the box that can be brotherly or parental or penitential or adversarial.
Also? Best guest star roster in the history of the galaxy. All the New York regulars you're used to seeing on Law & Order, but given meaty roles; plus quite a few visitors from Hollywood. I think the guest-star track record started because Barry Levinson called in favors from his friends; but as the show went along, it became clear that the scripts themselves were a huge draw, even though the show was never CSI-level exposure.