Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (1993) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Back in the mid-1990's, I was connected with an organization called "Viewers for Quality Television," or "VQT." It was a group of people championing television programs, especially dramas, that didn't get much attention from the Emmy's, but should have.
"Homicide Life: Life on the Streets" was one of our shows we fought for. While NBC stuck with it, often halfheartedly, for several years while erratically scheduling it alternately in good time slots (following the Superbowl one week, then not showing it for several weeks), then moving it to a different night every couple of months, e.g. January 1993 (Sunday), Feb-March 1993 (Wednesday), then keeping it off the air until January 1994 (Thursday), and then moving it after a few months in October 1994 (Friday), it was doomed to fail, but we watched it anyway...hoping that we'd get to see another episode.
The characters were an odd collection of people who cared about what they did, and we as viewers cared about them: Ned Beatty as Stanley (the Big Man), Richard Belzer as Munch, Daniel Baldwin as Beau Felton, Andre Braugher as Frank, and Yaphet Kotto as Lieutenant Giardello (Gee).
SPOILER ALERT! I could write ten pages about wonderful moments from this show: The "small talk" of Stanley and Munch. The pain Frank felt after the death of Crosetti in December 1994. the shooting of Felton, Kay Howard (Melissa Leo) and Stan in January 1995. The warmth of the snowball fight at the end of one show in December with Christy Hyde singing "Have yourself a very Merry Christmas" in the background.
This was great Television that through the advent of DVD we'll be able to watch again and again. Which only goes to show you that in a world that often, from time-to-time, looks like it is going to hell in a handbasket, something wonderful, like these first two years of Homicide, come along.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (1993)

One of the most critically acclaimed shows in TV history, Homicide: Life on the Street reinvigorated a tired genre by focusing on the grueling work of solving murders instead of an endless succession of bloody crimes and car chases.Inspired by David Simon's Edgar Award-winning account of Baltimore homicide detectives and brought to television by writer Paul Attanasio (Gideon's Crossing) and director Barry Levinson (Analyze This, The Perfect Storm, Oz), Homicide boasted a powerhouse ensemble cast featuring Ned Beatty (Network, Deliverance), Yaphet Kotto (Alien, Midnight Run), Richard Belzer (Law & Order: SVU), and breakout star Andre Braugher (Frequency, Gideon's Crossing).Now this Emmy and Peabody Award winner debuts on DVD with this collector's set featuring all 13 episodes from the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street.

Get 23% OFF

Click here for more information about Homicide Life on the Street - The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (1993)

Read More...

The Mod Squad - Season 1, Volume 1 (1968) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Time to rejoice, the original counter-culture Classic TV Police Series phenomenon that remains an iconic favorite, replete with one of the best and most memorable TV musical themes ever composed, will at along last be released on DVD in season boxed sets. Can you dig it?
Season 1 Set 1 will include the first 13 episodes and is expected to include interviews with the cast.
Premiering Sept. 24, 1968, during the height of the Viet Nam War and Civil Rights Movement, Mod Squad lasted for five action packed seasons with episodes that dealt as much with social issues as it did crime in the streets.
Set in Los Angeles, the premiss was simple enough: Three young people in trouble with the law are given the opportunity of avoiding jail sentences by infiltrating the counter-culture as undercover cops and exposing criminal who prey on youth. The idea is for them to bridge the generation gap between the youth and the "fuzz."
The three "delinquents" were Pete Cochran, portrayed by Michael Cole, who was arrested for car theft; Julie Barnes, portrayed by Peggy Lipton, who ran away from her prostitute mother in San Francisco; and Lincoln Hayes, portrayed by Clarence Williams III, who was arrested during the Watts riots. Tough talking Capt. Adam Greer, portrayed by Tige Andrews, was in charge of the special squad and eventually became a father-figure to them. (Lipton, who later played Norma the waitress in another cult classic - Twin Peaks - was nominated for an Emmy for her role as Julie, and won a Golden Globe in 1970 for her portrayal of the character.)
In the series, Cochran drove an old green "woody" side-paneled stationwagon that became a lasting symbol of the show, along with cooooool bell-bottomed pants! Sadly, the wheels were destroyed in the second season when the car was set ablaze by an arsonist.
The stellar series spawned a block-buster movie in the 1990's that was horrible by comparison, failing in all respects to capture the chemistry and remarkably innocent sincerity of the original.
Included in this set are the first 13 of the 26 episodes that comprised the first season: Teeth of the Barracuda: Bad Man on Campus; What a Pretty Bus; When Smitty Comes Marching Home; You Can't Tell the Players Without a Programmer; A Time to Love, A Time to Cry; Find Tara Chapman; The Price of Terror; A Quiet Weekend in the Country; Love; Twinkle, Twinkle Little Starlet; and The Guru.
Episodes expected in the Season 1 Volume 2 DVD set are: The Sunday Drivers; Hello Mother, My Name is Julie; Flight Five Doesn't Answer; Shell Game; Fear is the Bucking Horse; A Hint of Darkness, A Hint of Light; The Uptight Town; A Reign of Guns; A Run for the Money; Child of Sorrow, Child of Light; Keep the Faith, Baby; Captain Greer, Call Surgery; Peace Now - Arly Blau; and A Seat by the Window.
Created by the legendary TV mogul Aaron Spelling, he produced it along with Danny Thomas and Sheldon Leonard. Harve Bennett replaced Spelling in later seasons.


Click Here to see more reviews about: The Mod Squad - Season 1, Volume 1 (1968)

Meet Pete, Linc and Julie: The Mod Squad. This trio consisted of rich, long-haired Pete Cochran, Lincoln "Linc" Hayes from the tough streets of inner city Los Angeles, and beautiful flower child Julie Barnes, a runaway from San Francisco. They're recruited by police captain Adam Greer (Tiger Andrews) for a covert unit that will help bridge the generation gap. Each week these three cops with love beads wrestled with criminals – and their own consciences. They may have been the "fuzz," but they were determined to never compromise their values. They were The Mod Squad!

Get 32% OFF

Click here for more information about The Mod Squad - Season 1, Volume 1 (1968)

Read More...