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crack_van2003-09-25 08:54 am
umbo.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2003-09-25 08:54 am
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Homicide: Life on the Street Overview
Okay, we're talking an ensemble show that ran for seven years, plus a movie, with a huge cast and many complex plot arcs. This is long, yo, and there are spoilers for everything. And because of the extensive cast list (we're talking *nineteen people* just as the *major characters*), I don't have pictures of *everyone*, just most people. And I was going to have this looked over before I posted it, but I got too impatient and posted it anyway, so any errors are my fault.
Overview and Background
David Simon, then a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, spent 1988 following around the detectives in the Criminal Investigation Department, Homicide Division, in the Baltimore Police Department. He then wrote a book about it, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana read it, and Homicide: Life on the Street was born.
The show premiered on NBC after the Superbowl in January 1993 to good ratings and great reviews, although some found the jerky camera style and washed out colors, not to mention the extremely realistic plots and characters, a little hard to deal with. The first season only had 9 episodes, the second only 4. Constantly under threat of cancellation, constantly being overlooked by the Emmys, H:LotS went on for 5 more (full) seasons before finally being cancelled in 1999, although there was a Homicide tv movie in 2000.
Referred to as "The Best Damned Show on Television," Homicide pulled no punches. The original characters and plotlines were all based on the real people and crimes described in Simon's book. The series was filmed exclusively in Baltimore, on the streets, not on soundstages; this was no Hollywood version of New York cops--this was Baltimore, in all its glory and decay, and this was a real detective squad, not some shoot 'em up, good guys versus bad guys, happy ending bunch of bullshit. These detectives joked about their love lives while standing over murdered women. These detectives screwed up and lost important evidence, or failed to get an all-important confession. They argued over whose turn it was to tell another family their son or daughter or brother or husband had been killed.
The style of Homicide was also different from any other television show. NYPD Blue, The Shield, ER, and many other shows owe it a huge debt of gratitude. The hand-held cameras, the jump cuts, the triple takes, filming on the streets, using local actors, casting the best people for the roles, not the best-looking (at least until the last couple seasons), all of it was brilliant.
The rights to the episodes belong to Court TV until August 2004, although they stopped showing the repeats over a year ago. TNT owns the rights to four episodes only, the ones that were crossovers with Law & Order; a recent airing of one of those episodes won its timeslot, I believe. So write to TNT and tell them to buy the rest from Court TV and start airing it as part of their commitment to good television drama. In the meantime, the first two (abbreviated) seasons are out on DVD, and the third season will be coming out October 28. A & E Home Video is planning on releasing two seasons a year, so we can look forward to seasons 4 and 5 next year!
A few important terms:
The Box
This is the name given to the interrogation room. It's small, damp, and unevenly heated, furnished simply with a table and a couple chairs, plus some handcuffs.
The Board
The whiteboard where all homicide cases for the year are written. Each detective has the names of their primary cases written underneath their name. Unsolved cases are in red; when someone's charged or someone confesses, the names are changed to black.
Primary
The detective who picks up the phone on a murder call becomes the primary detective for that case. He or she works with a partner, the secondary.
Redball
A case that will get a lot of media attention, and thus a lot of attention from the bosses as well--a murdered child, a tourist murdered right outside Camden Yards, a sniper, a gaybashing, someone killing women live on the internet, that sort of thing.
The Waterfront
The bar across the street from the Police Headquarters, bought and then managed by Lewis, Munch, and Bayliss together. This is where the detectives go after a long shift to drink some Natty Bo and wind down.
CID Homicide: The Detectives and Their Leader
Lieutenant Al Giardello, played by Yaphet Kotto (seasons 1-7)
Gee, as he is known, is the Lieutenant in charge of one of the two shifts of Homicide detectives. He's huge, over 6'5, he's African American, and he's also Sicilian--it's never explicitly spelled out, but apparently his Sicilian father married an African American woman. Gee has three children, two daughters and a son; his wife has been dead for several years. The son is referred to as Al Junior in early episodes, but in the seventh season is introduced to us as Mike Giardello, played by Giancarlo Esposito.
Gee is a benevolent dictator in the Homicide squad, respected by all his detectives and usually obeyed without question. He is passed over for promotion several times throughout the series' run, and in the last regular episode turns down a captaincy. In the Homicide movie he is running for Mayor when he is shot.
The character of Giardello was based on Gary D'Addario, an Italian-American who appeared in several episodes of Homicide as the QRT commander, Lt. Jasper. Originally the people who read for the part of Gee were "old, white, Italian guys," per Fontana--then Kotto came in and the rest was history.
Detective Timothy Bayliss, played by Kyle Secor (seasons 1-7)
Just look at him--how could you not love him?
Tim Bayliss is quite simply the heart of the series. He's naïve and almost willfully innocent at first, then grows increasingly confident and hardened, until the last season, which leaves him struggling for completely different reasons. He's conflicted, intelligent, dedicated, deeply caring, capable of great violence, the kind of man who can threaten a suspect with bodily harm (and be totally believable) and then cry openly thinking about a child murdered years earlier.
We first meet Tim as a rookie detective who manipulated the system to get into Homicide but doesn't have a clue what to do now that he's there. He's never seen a dead body, he's carrying around a textbook that's supposed to tell him how to be a detective, and he doesn't even have a desk, but he's where he wants to be. In the next seven years he is partnered with someone who doesn't want a partner; fails to solve his first, big, case; quits smoking and admits to trying yoga; is given a leather biker jacket by a dominatrix half his size; is initially a bit of a redneck homophobe; embraces his dark side; sleeps with a woman named Emma Zoole, in a coffin; pulls his gun on a convenience store clerk; gets more confident and hotter every year; deals with other cops' suicides and murders; deals with his partner's nearly fatal stroke and slow recovery; tells his partner he was sexually abused by his uncle; goes undercover as a priest and winks at hookers while in his robes; realizes he's bisexual; solves lots of murders; gets shot, saving his partner, who's unable to shoot his own gun; dies on the operating table and is brought back; is abandoned by his partner; starts practicing Buddhism; solves lots more murders; shoots someone in self-defense and decides he can't be a Buddhist anymore; is outed to the entire police department by a murderer; and slowly sinks into a deep and violent depression. Then he solves one last murder and confesses one last time, and it's heart-wrenching and horrible and made many, many people hate Tom Fontana with the hatred of a million blazing suns, but at no point does Kyle Secor portray him with anything other than perfection. And hotness. Because Kyle Secor is 6'5" of pure beauty, yo, and he just keeps getting better looking every year, and no one plays angst as well as Secor playing Bayliss.
Bayliss has a sister and a niece, and a cousin, Jim, who's like a brother to him; the two of them were high school basketball stars together, but not good enough to pursue it as a career. Jim calls him Teej, apparently a family nickname. His father is dead, but his mother is still alive. His uncle George, the one who abused him, is also alive, although in poor health.
Bayliss has a bachelor's degree and minored in drama in college. He worked in QRT (Quick Response Team, referred to in the pilot as SWAT and later changed)--he was a recruit for QRT because he's an excellent marksman, a sharpshooter--and then in the Mayor's Security Detail. He took that position, even though it wasn't what other police considered real police work, because he knew it would give him his pick of jobs afterwards, and he wanted to get into the elite Homicide squad. This sharpshooter wanted to be a cop who used his brain, not his gun.
Kyle Secor was responsible for many of the character ideas for Bayliss, most notably the sexual abuse storyline and the conversion to Buddhism (Secor practices Zen and is ordained in the Zen Peacemakers Order).
Detective Laura Ballard, played by Callie Thorne (seasons 6-7)
Yeah, I know Ballard comes before Bayliss in the alphabet, but Ballard was such an annoying character that there's no way I'm putting her ahead of my Timmy.
Callie Thorne's not nearly as bad an actress as Michael Michele (I'm not sure anyone's *that* bad), but the character of Laura Ballard was ill-conceived and poorly written. Ballard's a transplant from Seattle, apparently moving cross-country after a bad break-up. She flirts with Bayliss and has an affair with Falsone. She solves cases left and right and attempts to banter with her partner, Gharty, but all in all she's best forgotten.
Detective Stanley Bolander, played by Ned Beatty (seasons 1-3)
Known as The Big Man among the other detectives, even though he's shorter than most of them, Stanley Bolander is a veteran detective who's seen it all. Partnered with Munch for years, Bolander still compares his new partner to his old partner and demands a quarter every time Munch doesn't act as Bolander thinks he should. Bolander's based closely on a detective from Simon's book, although he does stray from that characterization later. Odd writing aside (cf. the whole storyline with Julianna Margolies as a violin-playing waitress in her twenties that Stanley falls for), Beatty does an excellent job portraying an excellent detective, warts and all. Bolander is shot in the head in season 3. He briefly loses, then regains, his memory, but he never really regains his former dedication to the job.
J.H. Brodie, played by Max Perlich (seasons 4-5)
Brodie is a free-lance cameraman for television news when he manages to get a murder on tape. He gets fired for sharing the tape with the cops, then starts working for the detectives, filming crime scenes. He's mostly played for comic relief, but Perlich does a great turn with Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Howser fame in the 5th season episode Valentine's Day. Brodie leaves the squad after PBS airs his documentary on them and it wins an Emmy, provoking the comment "They'll give those to anyone" in the following season, a dig at the Emmy voters' consistent overlooking of Homicide.
Detective Steve Crosetti, played by Jon Polito (seasons 1-2)
Crosetti is a conspiracy nut, obsessed with the Lincoln assassination. He's partnered with Lewis. His friend Officer Chris Thormann (played by Oz's Lee Tergesen) is shot in the head, and Crosetti loses control trying to solve the crime, then cares lovingly for the bedridden and blind Thormann. Crosetti commits suicide at the beginning of the third season, never appearing on camera after the 13th episode of the series (until the movie), but inspiring one of the best episodes the series ever aired, episode 304, Crosetti.
Crosetti is short (especially compared to the cast of Homicide, most of whom are well over six feet), balding, and overweight, loves the blues, smokes cigars, and writes letters to the bosses about the insults heaped upon him by his partner. Great character portrayed by a great actor.
Detective Paul Falsone, played by Jon Seda (seasons 6-7)
Seda's a not too terrible actor in a thankless role. Falsone, the divorced father who has an affair with Ballard, is a poor retread of Felton, never that great a character to begin with (sorry, Felton fans ;-)). Also, he was introduced as being this hotshot who solves cases left and right, immediately getting the respect of his peers (as was Ballard), which is jarring when you contrast it to the introduction of other new detectives (cf. Bayliss and Kellerman). Falsone vies with Sheppard (and, to a lesser extent, Ballard) for the title of most hated new character.
Detective Beauregard Felton, played by Daniel Baldwin (seasons 1-3)
Felton is blessed and cursed by being partnered with Kay Howard, the detective with the best closure rate in the whole squad. He's in a bad marriage, he drinks too much, his wife leaves him, he can't find her or his kids, and he's not that great a detective. He's a bit of a redneck and a racist, doesn't get along with Pembleton, and has been known to make ill-advised comments about overtime in front of the family of murder victims. He, along with Bolander and Howard, is shot taking a door to bring in a suspect. He has an affair with Russert, then gets into trouble at a party and (apparently) quits the force after he's suspended. We find out later he actually went undercover in an autotheft ring, which ends up getting him killed, which devastates both Russert and Howard, especially when it's thought he committed suicide.
Officer/Detective/Lieutenant Stu Gharty, played by Peter Gerety (seasons 6-7)
Gharty actually first shows up in season 4, where, as a patrol officer in a dangerous area of town, he sits in his car and waits instead of going into a dangerous housing project alone. Russert, in particular, is disgusted, which doesn't help when Gharty shows up again as an IA detective helping with the investigation of Felton's apparent suicide. He joins Homicide in the sixth season. Gharty's getting older, he's scared to be on the streets, and he has flashbacks of some horrific stuff that went on in Vietnam. He's a decent detective, but he's just putting in his time until he can retire and get his pension, and he's homophobic, a bit of a racist, and pretty screwed up in general. Eventually he's promoted to Lieutenant when Giardello leaves. As a lieutenant, he leaves a lot to be desired, although he does try, especially when confronted by an angry Frank Pembleton.
The character's subject to uneven writing, especially with the whole Munch-Gharty-Billie Lou triangle, but Gerety does an excellent job, making him believable and even likeable--not an easy task.
Special Agent Michael Giardello, FBI, played by Giancarlo Esposito (season 7)
Mikey Gee is another one of the producers' attempts to make things more interesting in the seventh season, and another character who's very well portrayed, but not as well-written/conceived as he could be. Mike is Gee's son, now an FBI agent, who comes to Baltimore to visit and ends up staying as a liaison between Baltimore CID and the local field office of the FBI. He has predictable conflicts with his father and with the local FBI, and ends up quitting the Bureau at the end of the series; in the movie he's a BPD patrol officer, working his way up to detective.
Detective/Sergeant Kay Howard, played by Melissa Leo (seasons 1-5)
They had Melissa Leo wear make up for the first three episodes, but after that the true nature of Det. Howard came out. Howard had a perfect clearance rate, held her own as the only female detective in the squad, and generally kicks all kinds of ass. She has gorgeous long, red, curly hair, but she's all detective. And when she gets it on with the state's attorney, she talks about him like the male detectives talk about their love interests. She scores the second highest grade ever (or something like that; I can't remember for sure) on the Sergeant's exam, but once she becomes a sergeant, she starts struggling--she's now in a position of authority over the boys club, not as much a member, and it causes problems. It also caused problems for the writers, who didn't seem to know what to do with her anymore, unfortunately. I've always envisioned her as the logical replacement for Gharty as the Lieutenant in Homicide, but, as of the end of the movie, she was still stuck over in the Fugitive squad.
Detective Michael Kellerman, played by Reed Diamond (seasons 4-6)
Kellerman was introduced in what I consider to be one of Homicide's best seasons, the one when the show really hit its stride, season 4. Kellerman comes over from Arson, and he's unsure of himself, ribbed by the other detectives, and finally takes the rookie heat off Bayliss. In season 4 he's happy go lucky with a hint of desperation, but his downslide through seasons 5 and 6 is beautifully acted and painful to watch. Kellerman's partnership with Lewis in season 4 is a joy, and all the careful build-up they've done of his character makes his disintegration (and the disintegration of his friendship with Lewis) even more powerful.
This guy who says his philosophy of life is to have fun is put on desk duty in season 5 while IAD investigates him and the rest of the detectives in Arson. He's eventually cleared, but we now know that he knew the other detectives were taking bribes and he never said anything. He becomes obsessed with taking down Luther Mahoney and eventually kills him--and it's *not* a good shoot, although Stivers and Lewis back him up anyway. At the end of season 6, when the fallout over the Mahoney shooting has gotten three uniforms killed and nearly killed Bayliss (Gharty and Ballard are also shot, although not as seriously injured), Pembleton and Falsone (yet another reason a lot of fans hate Falsone) get him to confess that Luther's gun was down, not raised, and he's forced to quit being a police.
And, yeah, one of those shots is from The Shield and not Homicide, but it was one of the best icons of Reed Diamond I had, so there ;-).
Detective Meldrick Lewis, played by Clark Johnson (seasons 1-7)
Meldrick Lewis is partnered with Crosetti, who commits suicide, with Kellerman, who almost commits suicide and ends up having to resign after his part in Luther Mahoney's death finally comes to light, and then with Sheppard, who gets her gun taken from her and almost gets him killed. Along the way, he gets married, giving everyone in the squad less than 12 hours to plan his spur of the moment wedding, then separated and eventually divorced.
Lewis is often a little grumpy, but in a good-natured way. He's funny, and he's usually a good detective, although he has his moments--he and Kellerman have a tendency to lose suspects, for example. His and Kellerman's partnership and friendship is golden in season 4, then begins to slide downhill when Kellerman's accused of being dirty in season 5. By the end of season 6, he can't stand Kellerman, and by the middle of season 7, he can't stand Sheppard.
Clark Johnson plays Meldrick Lewis to perfection. He also directs several episodes of the show, and does a bang up job. He's since moved on to direct episodes for The Wire, The Shield, and other series, and this summer helmed his first feature, S.W.A.T., which contains scenes that clearly owe a lot to his years on Homicide.
Detective John Munch, played by Richard Belzer (seasons 1-7)
Munch is the character who has appeared on the most cross-overs ever. He's been on the X-files, Law & Order, the Simpsons (and that was all in one week), and he's now a character on Law & Order: SVU, although that John Munch is a pale imitation of the original. Munch is not your typical detective--apt to shout at a suspect that he's not Montel Williams, or to make knowing reference to drug cultivation techniques, Munch has been married three times (four by the end of the series). He's as much of a conspiracy theorist as Crosetti, but on a wider range of subjects. And he appears nude, smoking a bong, in a photography exhibit, much to his embarrassment and everyone else's amusement.
Detective Frank Pembleton, played by Andre Braugher (seasons 1-7)
If Bayliss is the heart of Homicide, Pembleton is the ethical center. Trained by Jesuits, Frank is sure and precise and ordered in his thinking, his life, and his job. He feels he works best alone, but he's forced to take a partner when Bayliss joins the squad. By first putting Pembleton with Felton, Gee masterfully orchestrates what turns into a strangely successful partnership. Bayliss always wants to know the why--Pembleton says it doesn't matter; all that matters is finding the killer and getting enough evidence to get him or her charged. Bayliss, at the beginning, is an eager puppy learning at the feet of a master, but then Pembleton's high stress life, not to mention all the coffee and cigarettes, catches up to him when he falls victim to a stroke. When he comes back to work, Bayliss is the stronger partner; eventually they work as equals, two men who respect and love each other.
Pembleton moved to Baltimore from New York City, and an air of superiority infuses all of his scenes in the early seasons. He's an African American cop who wears braces, pink shirts, and ties with polo players on them. He can read Greek, and when he retires from the police force, he ends up teaching ethics to college students.
Pembleton's relationship with his God goes through a crisis when Annabella Wilgis starts murdering prominent Catholic women. His relationship with his wife, Mary (played by Braugher's own wife, Ami Brabson), suffers as a result, especially when he doesn't show up for the christening of his new daughter. They separate for a time, then get back together--Frank and Mary's marriage is the *only* long-term relationship that we see succeeding, among all the detectives. He loves his wife deeply, and they eventually have two children--a daughter, Olivia, and a son, Frank Junior.
Frank is a lousy shot, unlike his partner. He has even more problems hitting the target after the stroke, and has to go off his blood pressure medication to pass the firearms exam so he can go back to working cases. When Junior Bunk (Luther Mahoney's nephew) shoots up the squadroom, Frank cannot shoot him. A short while later, his inability to shoot nearly costs Bayliss his life--Tim steps in front of the bullet to save Frank. While Tim is in surgery, Frank is asked by Gee to get to the bottom of the Luther Mahoney shooting. He gets Kellerman to confess, then quits. He and Bayliss talk exactly twice in the following year.
Lieutenant/Captain/Detective Megan Russert, played by Isabella Hoffman (seasons 3-4)
Russert is brought in as the shift commander for the other shift of detectives in season 3. She struggles a bit in the role, then is promoted to Captain, basically as a PR move. They find an excuse to demote her back to lieutenant fairly quickly and then, when she complains, demote her back to detective, where she stays for a season. While she's a lieutenant, she has an affair with Felton, an affair which is never very believable, given the characters' histories. Fortunately the affair doesn't last very long.
We get to see the most of Russert, and get to like her the most, once she's been demoted. She doesn't stay long, though, soon leaving to marry a French diplomate, although she returns briefly in season 5 when Felton is found murdered.
They could have done a lot more than they did with the prickly relationship between Russert and Howard.
Detective Renee Sheppard, played by Michael Michele (season 7)
Hired because Tom Fontana thought she was "fuckable," Michael Michele did an absolutely wooden job as "Detective Cutie Pie" in the last season of Homicide. Despite having an excellent storyline and the opportunity to act with Kyle Secor, she failed to make any positive impression whatsoever. Her character was a struggling rookie cop with possible bisexual tendencies who was the former Miss Anne Arundel County. She partnered with Lewis, got her gun stolen, got beat down, and solved the Luke Ryland case only with a great deal of luck and help from Bayliss. We hate her.
Detective Terri Stivers, played by Toni Lewis (season 5-7)
Stivers didn't become a regular character until season 7, but she first made waves as a detective in Narcotics during the Luther Mahoney arc of season 5. Stivers is tough--no one messes with her, because she's got the cop attitude down, unlike Ballard or Sheppard. Despite her obvious chemistry with Lewis, she, like Howard, prefers to rely on her detective skills rather than any feminine wiles to get ahead. Doesn't kick quite as much ass as Howard did, but she's close.
Bosses
Captain/Colonel Barnfather. A political animal, determined to work his way to the top. Sometimes a decent boss, sometimes an idiot.
Detective/Lieutenant/Captain Roger Gaffney. The worst kind of asshat, kicked out of the homicide squad by then Lt. Russert. A total toady, given to completely arbitrary displays of authority.
Medical Examiners
Dr. Julianna Cox, played by Michelle Forbes (seasons 5-6). A kick-ass ME played by a kick-ass actress. Great at her job. Very dedicated, and unwilling to sacrifice the truth. Sometimes likes to act like a detective, which annoys the detectives. God forbid they should interfere with her job, though--she'll tear them a new one. Drinks way too much, drives her Mustang way too fast, and has a destructive affair with Kellerman, then a short affair with Bayliss which she ends because "the holidays are over." Comes to Baltimore to spend time with her ailing father, who promptly dies. Fired because she won't fiddle with lab results to get the city out of a lawsuit.
Dr. Scheiner. A fixture in the ME's lab, this hunchbacked coroner was there for all seven seasons.
Dr. Griscomb. A total hoot, especially when he's discussing tantric sexual practices with Lewis and Bayliss over a murder victim ("The less I hear about your 'jade stalk,' the better," Lewis tells him).
Dr. Carol Blythe. A first season love interest for Bolander, she's from New Zealand and has a totally obnoxious teen age son.
Dr. Alyssa Dyer. A brief love interest for Munch, played by Richard Belzer's real life wife.
Suspects, Bodies, Relatives, and other Important Folks
Adena Watson. Bayliss' first case as primary, a murdered, molested, 11 year old girl found in an alley in the rain. He never puts down the case, and it haunts him always. This case, along with most of the other cases in the first two seasons, was based on a real Baltimore murder and its aftermath as witnessed by David Simon.
Risley Tucker (the Araber), played by Moses Gunn. The vegetable peddler, or Araber in local parlance, who most likely murdered Adena Watson. Bayliss and Pembleton are unable to get him to confess during the intense first season episode "Three Men and Adena," the script of which got Kyle Secor to sign on for the part of Bayliss. One of the best hours of television ever, as Braugher, Secor, and Gunn are all amazing.
Luke Ryland. The man who killed two women live on the internet. Sheppard was primary on the case but was losing it; she was partnered by Bayliss, who was much more helpful in solving the case than Pembleton was to him on his first redball. Ryland uses Bayliss' anonymous website on Buddhism and bisexuality to stage one of the murders, thus outing Bayliss to the entire police department. He gets off on a technicality in the last episode of the series, then ends up murdered; Bayliss confesses to killing him in the Homicide movie.
Luther Mahoney, played by Erik Todd Dellums. Luther is the Big Bad of season 5, the only season that focused so closely on one criminal. He's a thoroughly charming and nasty drug dealer, with a sister who ends up taking over the business after he's dead and a nephew who shoots up the whole squadroom at the end of season 6. Kellerman's obsessed with him and eventually ends up shooting him pretty much point blank. Lewis and Stivers, who are present, agree to call it a good shooting, but it eventually comes back to bite all three of them on the ass, and also causes the disintegration of the partnership and friendship between Lewis and Kellerman.
George Bayliss. Tim's uncle, his father's brother, who abused him sexually, for years, starting when Tim was 5.
Jim Bayliss. Tim's cousin, like a brother to him. Jim kills an exchange student who comes up to his house, drunk and dressed in a Halloween costume, in the third season episode Colors, which is a brilliant examination of prejudice and vigilanteeism.
Gordon Pratt, played by Steve Buscemi. The guy who shoots Bolander, Felton, and Howard when they knock on the wrong door looking for a suspect. Brilliant interrogation scene between Pratt and Pembleton, but Frank doesn't get him to confess. Someone kills him; Bayliss has to investigate. Bayliss suspects Munch, who was the only one taking the door who didn't get shot, but he deliberately doesn't pursue it hard enough to actually do anything.
Chris Rawls, played by Peter Gallagher. A chef who finds a beaten body in his dumpster, then compliments the detective investigating the case on his tie. The first man that Tim Bayliss ever dates.
Asst. State's Attorney Ed Danvers, played by Zeljko Ivanek. Danvers is short, but he's tough. He makes deals when he has to and wins when he can. Goes out with Kay Howard for awhile--she describes him as "a stallion among ponies" and says he can go all night--then eventually gets engaged to another lawyer, who is murdered while trying on her wedding gown. It's Pembleton's first case as primary after the stroke, and Ivanek is brilliant as he walks around in his bloody shirt and yells at Gee to replace Frank with another detective.
Pairings
There's actually a lot of good Homicide fanfic that's gen, and with such a huge ensemble cast, the pairing possibilities are endless, but here are the major non-crossover pairings out there:
Frankentim, or Bayliss/Pembleton. There is definitely subtext going on between these partners, and Fontana called their relationship "the greatest love story in television history." There's no doubt at all Bayliss loves Pembleton, and Pembleton shows signs of love for Bayliss as well. For me and some other fans, though, Pembleton's devotion to his wife, his bald statement to Bayliss that he doesn't care to ever see two men dancing together, and his Jesuit background all make it pretty clear Pembleton's straight. Bayliss, of course, is not. Hooray for canon bisexuality!
Bayliss/Rawls. This one's canon, yo, or close enough. Tim Bayliss gets asked out on a date with Chris Rawls, a gay man played by Peter Gallagher, and, after he basically tells Frank he thinks he might be bisexual, Tim goes on said date. We never really get to hear much about it--Tim and Frank's post-date discussion is interrupted by Ballard--but we do know that Tim continues to explore his bisexuality and does have sex with men. And there are some *great* stories out there that take it from there.
Lewkell, or Lewis/Kellerman. Another set of cop partners who are very close and have some definite subtext, especially in season 4. Of course, they're practically mortal enemies by the end of season 6, but for some folks that just adds to the fun.
Munchenkay, or Munch/Howard. Yeah, it's a het pairing. It's also got some really great stories, and I, for one, could really see these two getting together.
Kellerman/Bayliss. Mr. "I'll try anything" and Mr. Bisexual. It's the prettiest pairing out there, in my opinion, and you do have that time Bayliss finally comes out for a ride on Kellerman's boat…
Of course, anyone who knows anything knows that Tim Bayliss actually belongs with Billy Tallent, but we won't go into that here ;-). Suffice it to say there are some good crossovers out there, including a long series that pairs Bayliss with Mulder.
Archives, Lists, Communities, and Links
Schism. The list is no longer, but the archive is still up for this great Homicide fanfic group. As with the other Homicide archives, gen (often referred to as "case files"), het, and slash are all represented.
11 Cents is still going, although there's not much new traffic. Good archive, with lots of great stories.
Autofocus is another Homicide archive, also with a lot of great stories.
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dhappy Double Happiness is a community devoted to two (happy) purposes: Fanfic and discussion for both Homicide: Life on the Street and for any and all roles played by Canadian actor Callum Keith Rennie. Yeah, I started it. Yeah, Callum Keith Rennie played Billy Tallent in Hard Core Logo. Your point?
hlots is a general discussion group for Homicide fans.
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police_drama is a general discussion group for police dramas.
Soon to come, a new Homicide fanfic community moderated bykellinator and yours truly. Watch dhappy and hlots for an announcement when it's up and running.
Homicide: Links on the Sites is *the* comprehensive source for Homicide info. Anything that's out there, you'll find here.
ETA: There is another LJ community devoted to Homicide,thewaterfront. Thanks to kellinator for the link!
If anyone has anything else to add, or some icon-sized pics of the folks I don't, please do share!
Overview and Background
David Simon, then a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, spent 1988 following around the detectives in the Criminal Investigation Department, Homicide Division, in the Baltimore Police Department. He then wrote a book about it, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana read it, and Homicide: Life on the Street was born.
The show premiered on NBC after the Superbowl in January 1993 to good ratings and great reviews, although some found the jerky camera style and washed out colors, not to mention the extremely realistic plots and characters, a little hard to deal with. The first season only had 9 episodes, the second only 4. Constantly under threat of cancellation, constantly being overlooked by the Emmys, H:LotS went on for 5 more (full) seasons before finally being cancelled in 1999, although there was a Homicide tv movie in 2000.
Referred to as "The Best Damned Show on Television," Homicide pulled no punches. The original characters and plotlines were all based on the real people and crimes described in Simon's book. The series was filmed exclusively in Baltimore, on the streets, not on soundstages; this was no Hollywood version of New York cops--this was Baltimore, in all its glory and decay, and this was a real detective squad, not some shoot 'em up, good guys versus bad guys, happy ending bunch of bullshit. These detectives joked about their love lives while standing over murdered women. These detectives screwed up and lost important evidence, or failed to get an all-important confession. They argued over whose turn it was to tell another family their son or daughter or brother or husband had been killed.
The style of Homicide was also different from any other television show. NYPD Blue, The Shield, ER, and many other shows owe it a huge debt of gratitude. The hand-held cameras, the jump cuts, the triple takes, filming on the streets, using local actors, casting the best people for the roles, not the best-looking (at least until the last couple seasons), all of it was brilliant.
The rights to the episodes belong to Court TV until August 2004, although they stopped showing the repeats over a year ago. TNT owns the rights to four episodes only, the ones that were crossovers with Law & Order; a recent airing of one of those episodes won its timeslot, I believe. So write to TNT and tell them to buy the rest from Court TV and start airing it as part of their commitment to good television drama. In the meantime, the first two (abbreviated) seasons are out on DVD, and the third season will be coming out October 28. A & E Home Video is planning on releasing two seasons a year, so we can look forward to seasons 4 and 5 next year!
A few important terms:
The Box
This is the name given to the interrogation room. It's small, damp, and unevenly heated, furnished simply with a table and a couple chairs, plus some handcuffs.
The Board
The whiteboard where all homicide cases for the year are written. Each detective has the names of their primary cases written underneath their name. Unsolved cases are in red; when someone's charged or someone confesses, the names are changed to black.
Primary
The detective who picks up the phone on a murder call becomes the primary detective for that case. He or she works with a partner, the secondary.
Redball
A case that will get a lot of media attention, and thus a lot of attention from the bosses as well--a murdered child, a tourist murdered right outside Camden Yards, a sniper, a gaybashing, someone killing women live on the internet, that sort of thing.
The Waterfront
The bar across the street from the Police Headquarters, bought and then managed by Lewis, Munch, and Bayliss together. This is where the detectives go after a long shift to drink some Natty Bo and wind down.
CID Homicide: The Detectives and Their Leader
Lieutenant Al Giardello, played by Yaphet Kotto (seasons 1-7)
Gee, as he is known, is the Lieutenant in charge of one of the two shifts of Homicide detectives. He's huge, over 6'5, he's African American, and he's also Sicilian--it's never explicitly spelled out, but apparently his Sicilian father married an African American woman. Gee has three children, two daughters and a son; his wife has been dead for several years. The son is referred to as Al Junior in early episodes, but in the seventh season is introduced to us as Mike Giardello, played by Giancarlo Esposito.
Gee is a benevolent dictator in the Homicide squad, respected by all his detectives and usually obeyed without question. He is passed over for promotion several times throughout the series' run, and in the last regular episode turns down a captaincy. In the Homicide movie he is running for Mayor when he is shot.
The character of Giardello was based on Gary D'Addario, an Italian-American who appeared in several episodes of Homicide as the QRT commander, Lt. Jasper. Originally the people who read for the part of Gee were "old, white, Italian guys," per Fontana--then Kotto came in and the rest was history.
Detective Timothy Bayliss, played by Kyle Secor (seasons 1-7)
Tim Bayliss is quite simply the heart of the series. He's naïve and almost willfully innocent at first, then grows increasingly confident and hardened, until the last season, which leaves him struggling for completely different reasons. He's conflicted, intelligent, dedicated, deeply caring, capable of great violence, the kind of man who can threaten a suspect with bodily harm (and be totally believable) and then cry openly thinking about a child murdered years earlier.
We first meet Tim as a rookie detective who manipulated the system to get into Homicide but doesn't have a clue what to do now that he's there. He's never seen a dead body, he's carrying around a textbook that's supposed to tell him how to be a detective, and he doesn't even have a desk, but he's where he wants to be. In the next seven years he is partnered with someone who doesn't want a partner; fails to solve his first, big, case; quits smoking and admits to trying yoga; is given a leather biker jacket by a dominatrix half his size; is initially a bit of a redneck homophobe; embraces his dark side; sleeps with a woman named Emma Zoole, in a coffin; pulls his gun on a convenience store clerk; gets more confident and hotter every year; deals with other cops' suicides and murders; deals with his partner's nearly fatal stroke and slow recovery; tells his partner he was sexually abused by his uncle; goes undercover as a priest and winks at hookers while in his robes; realizes he's bisexual; solves lots of murders; gets shot, saving his partner, who's unable to shoot his own gun; dies on the operating table and is brought back; is abandoned by his partner; starts practicing Buddhism; solves lots more murders; shoots someone in self-defense and decides he can't be a Buddhist anymore; is outed to the entire police department by a murderer; and slowly sinks into a deep and violent depression. Then he solves one last murder and confesses one last time, and it's heart-wrenching and horrible and made many, many people hate Tom Fontana with the hatred of a million blazing suns, but at no point does Kyle Secor portray him with anything other than perfection. And hotness. Because Kyle Secor is 6'5" of pure beauty, yo, and he just keeps getting better looking every year, and no one plays angst as well as Secor playing Bayliss.
Bayliss has a sister and a niece, and a cousin, Jim, who's like a brother to him; the two of them were high school basketball stars together, but not good enough to pursue it as a career. Jim calls him Teej, apparently a family nickname. His father is dead, but his mother is still alive. His uncle George, the one who abused him, is also alive, although in poor health.
Bayliss has a bachelor's degree and minored in drama in college. He worked in QRT (Quick Response Team, referred to in the pilot as SWAT and later changed)--he was a recruit for QRT because he's an excellent marksman, a sharpshooter--and then in the Mayor's Security Detail. He took that position, even though it wasn't what other police considered real police work, because he knew it would give him his pick of jobs afterwards, and he wanted to get into the elite Homicide squad. This sharpshooter wanted to be a cop who used his brain, not his gun.
Kyle Secor was responsible for many of the character ideas for Bayliss, most notably the sexual abuse storyline and the conversion to Buddhism (Secor practices Zen and is ordained in the Zen Peacemakers Order).
Detective Laura Ballard, played by Callie Thorne (seasons 6-7)
Yeah, I know Ballard comes before Bayliss in the alphabet, but Ballard was such an annoying character that there's no way I'm putting her ahead of my Timmy.
Callie Thorne's not nearly as bad an actress as Michael Michele (I'm not sure anyone's *that* bad), but the character of Laura Ballard was ill-conceived and poorly written. Ballard's a transplant from Seattle, apparently moving cross-country after a bad break-up. She flirts with Bayliss and has an affair with Falsone. She solves cases left and right and attempts to banter with her partner, Gharty, but all in all she's best forgotten.
Detective Stanley Bolander, played by Ned Beatty (seasons 1-3)
Known as The Big Man among the other detectives, even though he's shorter than most of them, Stanley Bolander is a veteran detective who's seen it all. Partnered with Munch for years, Bolander still compares his new partner to his old partner and demands a quarter every time Munch doesn't act as Bolander thinks he should. Bolander's based closely on a detective from Simon's book, although he does stray from that characterization later. Odd writing aside (cf. the whole storyline with Julianna Margolies as a violin-playing waitress in her twenties that Stanley falls for), Beatty does an excellent job portraying an excellent detective, warts and all. Bolander is shot in the head in season 3. He briefly loses, then regains, his memory, but he never really regains his former dedication to the job.
J.H. Brodie, played by Max Perlich (seasons 4-5)
Brodie is a free-lance cameraman for television news when he manages to get a murder on tape. He gets fired for sharing the tape with the cops, then starts working for the detectives, filming crime scenes. He's mostly played for comic relief, but Perlich does a great turn with Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Howser fame in the 5th season episode Valentine's Day. Brodie leaves the squad after PBS airs his documentary on them and it wins an Emmy, provoking the comment "They'll give those to anyone" in the following season, a dig at the Emmy voters' consistent overlooking of Homicide.
Detective Steve Crosetti, played by Jon Polito (seasons 1-2)
Crosetti is a conspiracy nut, obsessed with the Lincoln assassination. He's partnered with Lewis. His friend Officer Chris Thormann (played by Oz's Lee Tergesen) is shot in the head, and Crosetti loses control trying to solve the crime, then cares lovingly for the bedridden and blind Thormann. Crosetti commits suicide at the beginning of the third season, never appearing on camera after the 13th episode of the series (until the movie), but inspiring one of the best episodes the series ever aired, episode 304, Crosetti.
Crosetti is short (especially compared to the cast of Homicide, most of whom are well over six feet), balding, and overweight, loves the blues, smokes cigars, and writes letters to the bosses about the insults heaped upon him by his partner. Great character portrayed by a great actor.
Detective Paul Falsone, played by Jon Seda (seasons 6-7)
Seda's a not too terrible actor in a thankless role. Falsone, the divorced father who has an affair with Ballard, is a poor retread of Felton, never that great a character to begin with (sorry, Felton fans ;-)). Also, he was introduced as being this hotshot who solves cases left and right, immediately getting the respect of his peers (as was Ballard), which is jarring when you contrast it to the introduction of other new detectives (cf. Bayliss and Kellerman). Falsone vies with Sheppard (and, to a lesser extent, Ballard) for the title of most hated new character.
Detective Beauregard Felton, played by Daniel Baldwin (seasons 1-3)
Felton is blessed and cursed by being partnered with Kay Howard, the detective with the best closure rate in the whole squad. He's in a bad marriage, he drinks too much, his wife leaves him, he can't find her or his kids, and he's not that great a detective. He's a bit of a redneck and a racist, doesn't get along with Pembleton, and has been known to make ill-advised comments about overtime in front of the family of murder victims. He, along with Bolander and Howard, is shot taking a door to bring in a suspect. He has an affair with Russert, then gets into trouble at a party and (apparently) quits the force after he's suspended. We find out later he actually went undercover in an autotheft ring, which ends up getting him killed, which devastates both Russert and Howard, especially when it's thought he committed suicide.
Officer/Detective/Lieutenant Stu Gharty, played by Peter Gerety (seasons 6-7)
Gharty actually first shows up in season 4, where, as a patrol officer in a dangerous area of town, he sits in his car and waits instead of going into a dangerous housing project alone. Russert, in particular, is disgusted, which doesn't help when Gharty shows up again as an IA detective helping with the investigation of Felton's apparent suicide. He joins Homicide in the sixth season. Gharty's getting older, he's scared to be on the streets, and he has flashbacks of some horrific stuff that went on in Vietnam. He's a decent detective, but he's just putting in his time until he can retire and get his pension, and he's homophobic, a bit of a racist, and pretty screwed up in general. Eventually he's promoted to Lieutenant when Giardello leaves. As a lieutenant, he leaves a lot to be desired, although he does try, especially when confronted by an angry Frank Pembleton.
The character's subject to uneven writing, especially with the whole Munch-Gharty-Billie Lou triangle, but Gerety does an excellent job, making him believable and even likeable--not an easy task.
Special Agent Michael Giardello, FBI, played by Giancarlo Esposito (season 7)
Mikey Gee is another one of the producers' attempts to make things more interesting in the seventh season, and another character who's very well portrayed, but not as well-written/conceived as he could be. Mike is Gee's son, now an FBI agent, who comes to Baltimore to visit and ends up staying as a liaison between Baltimore CID and the local field office of the FBI. He has predictable conflicts with his father and with the local FBI, and ends up quitting the Bureau at the end of the series; in the movie he's a BPD patrol officer, working his way up to detective.
Detective/Sergeant Kay Howard, played by Melissa Leo (seasons 1-5)
They had Melissa Leo wear make up for the first three episodes, but after that the true nature of Det. Howard came out. Howard had a perfect clearance rate, held her own as the only female detective in the squad, and generally kicks all kinds of ass. She has gorgeous long, red, curly hair, but she's all detective. And when she gets it on with the state's attorney, she talks about him like the male detectives talk about their love interests. She scores the second highest grade ever (or something like that; I can't remember for sure) on the Sergeant's exam, but once she becomes a sergeant, she starts struggling--she's now in a position of authority over the boys club, not as much a member, and it causes problems. It also caused problems for the writers, who didn't seem to know what to do with her anymore, unfortunately. I've always envisioned her as the logical replacement for Gharty as the Lieutenant in Homicide, but, as of the end of the movie, she was still stuck over in the Fugitive squad.
Detective Michael Kellerman, played by Reed Diamond (seasons 4-6)
Kellerman was introduced in what I consider to be one of Homicide's best seasons, the one when the show really hit its stride, season 4. Kellerman comes over from Arson, and he's unsure of himself, ribbed by the other detectives, and finally takes the rookie heat off Bayliss. In season 4 he's happy go lucky with a hint of desperation, but his downslide through seasons 5 and 6 is beautifully acted and painful to watch. Kellerman's partnership with Lewis in season 4 is a joy, and all the careful build-up they've done of his character makes his disintegration (and the disintegration of his friendship with Lewis) even more powerful.
This guy who says his philosophy of life is to have fun is put on desk duty in season 5 while IAD investigates him and the rest of the detectives in Arson. He's eventually cleared, but we now know that he knew the other detectives were taking bribes and he never said anything. He becomes obsessed with taking down Luther Mahoney and eventually kills him--and it's *not* a good shoot, although Stivers and Lewis back him up anyway. At the end of season 6, when the fallout over the Mahoney shooting has gotten three uniforms killed and nearly killed Bayliss (Gharty and Ballard are also shot, although not as seriously injured), Pembleton and Falsone (yet another reason a lot of fans hate Falsone) get him to confess that Luther's gun was down, not raised, and he's forced to quit being a police.
And, yeah, one of those shots is from The Shield and not Homicide, but it was one of the best icons of Reed Diamond I had, so there ;-).
Detective Meldrick Lewis, played by Clark Johnson (seasons 1-7)
Meldrick Lewis is partnered with Crosetti, who commits suicide, with Kellerman, who almost commits suicide and ends up having to resign after his part in Luther Mahoney's death finally comes to light, and then with Sheppard, who gets her gun taken from her and almost gets him killed. Along the way, he gets married, giving everyone in the squad less than 12 hours to plan his spur of the moment wedding, then separated and eventually divorced.
Lewis is often a little grumpy, but in a good-natured way. He's funny, and he's usually a good detective, although he has his moments--he and Kellerman have a tendency to lose suspects, for example. His and Kellerman's partnership and friendship is golden in season 4, then begins to slide downhill when Kellerman's accused of being dirty in season 5. By the end of season 6, he can't stand Kellerman, and by the middle of season 7, he can't stand Sheppard.
Clark Johnson plays Meldrick Lewis to perfection. He also directs several episodes of the show, and does a bang up job. He's since moved on to direct episodes for The Wire, The Shield, and other series, and this summer helmed his first feature, S.W.A.T., which contains scenes that clearly owe a lot to his years on Homicide.
Detective John Munch, played by Richard Belzer (seasons 1-7)
Munch is the character who has appeared on the most cross-overs ever. He's been on the X-files, Law & Order, the Simpsons (and that was all in one week), and he's now a character on Law & Order: SVU, although that John Munch is a pale imitation of the original. Munch is not your typical detective--apt to shout at a suspect that he's not Montel Williams, or to make knowing reference to drug cultivation techniques, Munch has been married three times (four by the end of the series). He's as much of a conspiracy theorist as Crosetti, but on a wider range of subjects. And he appears nude, smoking a bong, in a photography exhibit, much to his embarrassment and everyone else's amusement.
Detective Frank Pembleton, played by Andre Braugher (seasons 1-7)
If Bayliss is the heart of Homicide, Pembleton is the ethical center. Trained by Jesuits, Frank is sure and precise and ordered in his thinking, his life, and his job. He feels he works best alone, but he's forced to take a partner when Bayliss joins the squad. By first putting Pembleton with Felton, Gee masterfully orchestrates what turns into a strangely successful partnership. Bayliss always wants to know the why--Pembleton says it doesn't matter; all that matters is finding the killer and getting enough evidence to get him or her charged. Bayliss, at the beginning, is an eager puppy learning at the feet of a master, but then Pembleton's high stress life, not to mention all the coffee and cigarettes, catches up to him when he falls victim to a stroke. When he comes back to work, Bayliss is the stronger partner; eventually they work as equals, two men who respect and love each other.
Pembleton moved to Baltimore from New York City, and an air of superiority infuses all of his scenes in the early seasons. He's an African American cop who wears braces, pink shirts, and ties with polo players on them. He can read Greek, and when he retires from the police force, he ends up teaching ethics to college students.
Pembleton's relationship with his God goes through a crisis when Annabella Wilgis starts murdering prominent Catholic women. His relationship with his wife, Mary (played by Braugher's own wife, Ami Brabson), suffers as a result, especially when he doesn't show up for the christening of his new daughter. They separate for a time, then get back together--Frank and Mary's marriage is the *only* long-term relationship that we see succeeding, among all the detectives. He loves his wife deeply, and they eventually have two children--a daughter, Olivia, and a son, Frank Junior.
Frank is a lousy shot, unlike his partner. He has even more problems hitting the target after the stroke, and has to go off his blood pressure medication to pass the firearms exam so he can go back to working cases. When Junior Bunk (Luther Mahoney's nephew) shoots up the squadroom, Frank cannot shoot him. A short while later, his inability to shoot nearly costs Bayliss his life--Tim steps in front of the bullet to save Frank. While Tim is in surgery, Frank is asked by Gee to get to the bottom of the Luther Mahoney shooting. He gets Kellerman to confess, then quits. He and Bayliss talk exactly twice in the following year.
Lieutenant/Captain/Detective Megan Russert, played by Isabella Hoffman (seasons 3-4)
Russert is brought in as the shift commander for the other shift of detectives in season 3. She struggles a bit in the role, then is promoted to Captain, basically as a PR move. They find an excuse to demote her back to lieutenant fairly quickly and then, when she complains, demote her back to detective, where she stays for a season. While she's a lieutenant, she has an affair with Felton, an affair which is never very believable, given the characters' histories. Fortunately the affair doesn't last very long.
We get to see the most of Russert, and get to like her the most, once she's been demoted. She doesn't stay long, though, soon leaving to marry a French diplomate, although she returns briefly in season 5 when Felton is found murdered.
They could have done a lot more than they did with the prickly relationship between Russert and Howard.
Detective Renee Sheppard, played by Michael Michele (season 7)
Hired because Tom Fontana thought she was "fuckable," Michael Michele did an absolutely wooden job as "Detective Cutie Pie" in the last season of Homicide. Despite having an excellent storyline and the opportunity to act with Kyle Secor, she failed to make any positive impression whatsoever. Her character was a struggling rookie cop with possible bisexual tendencies who was the former Miss Anne Arundel County. She partnered with Lewis, got her gun stolen, got beat down, and solved the Luke Ryland case only with a great deal of luck and help from Bayliss. We hate her.
Detective Terri Stivers, played by Toni Lewis (season 5-7)
Stivers didn't become a regular character until season 7, but she first made waves as a detective in Narcotics during the Luther Mahoney arc of season 5. Stivers is tough--no one messes with her, because she's got the cop attitude down, unlike Ballard or Sheppard. Despite her obvious chemistry with Lewis, she, like Howard, prefers to rely on her detective skills rather than any feminine wiles to get ahead. Doesn't kick quite as much ass as Howard did, but she's close.
Bosses
Captain/Colonel Barnfather. A political animal, determined to work his way to the top. Sometimes a decent boss, sometimes an idiot. Detective/Lieutenant/Captain Roger Gaffney. The worst kind of asshat, kicked out of the homicide squad by then Lt. Russert. A total toady, given to completely arbitrary displays of authority.Medical Examiners
Dr. Julianna Cox, played by Michelle Forbes (seasons 5-6). A kick-ass ME played by a kick-ass actress. Great at her job. Very dedicated, and unwilling to sacrifice the truth. Sometimes likes to act like a detective, which annoys the detectives. God forbid they should interfere with her job, though--she'll tear them a new one. Drinks way too much, drives her Mustang way too fast, and has a destructive affair with Kellerman, then a short affair with Bayliss which she ends because "the holidays are over." Comes to Baltimore to spend time with her ailing father, who promptly dies. Fired because she won't fiddle with lab results to get the city out of a lawsuit.Dr. Scheiner. A fixture in the ME's lab, this hunchbacked coroner was there for all seven seasons.
Dr. Griscomb. A total hoot, especially when he's discussing tantric sexual practices with Lewis and Bayliss over a murder victim ("The less I hear about your 'jade stalk,' the better," Lewis tells him).Dr. Carol Blythe. A first season love interest for Bolander, she's from New Zealand and has a totally obnoxious teen age son.
Dr. Alyssa Dyer. A brief love interest for Munch, played by Richard Belzer's real life wife.
Suspects, Bodies, Relatives, and other Important Folks
Adena Watson. Bayliss' first case as primary, a murdered, molested, 11 year old girl found in an alley in the rain. He never puts down the case, and it haunts him always. This case, along with most of the other cases in the first two seasons, was based on a real Baltimore murder and its aftermath as witnessed by David Simon.
Risley Tucker (the Araber), played by Moses Gunn. The vegetable peddler, or Araber in local parlance, who most likely murdered Adena Watson. Bayliss and Pembleton are unable to get him to confess during the intense first season episode "Three Men and Adena," the script of which got Kyle Secor to sign on for the part of Bayliss. One of the best hours of television ever, as Braugher, Secor, and Gunn are all amazing.
Luke Ryland. The man who killed two women live on the internet. Sheppard was primary on the case but was losing it; she was partnered by Bayliss, who was much more helpful in solving the case than Pembleton was to him on his first redball. Ryland uses Bayliss' anonymous website on Buddhism and bisexuality to stage one of the murders, thus outing Bayliss to the entire police department. He gets off on a technicality in the last episode of the series, then ends up murdered; Bayliss confesses to killing him in the Homicide movie.
Luther Mahoney, played by Erik Todd Dellums. Luther is the Big Bad of season 5, the only season that focused so closely on one criminal. He's a thoroughly charming and nasty drug dealer, with a sister who ends up taking over the business after he's dead and a nephew who shoots up the whole squadroom at the end of season 6. Kellerman's obsessed with him and eventually ends up shooting him pretty much point blank. Lewis and Stivers, who are present, agree to call it a good shooting, but it eventually comes back to bite all three of them on the ass, and also causes the disintegration of the partnership and friendship between Lewis and Kellerman.George Bayliss. Tim's uncle, his father's brother, who abused him sexually, for years, starting when Tim was 5.
Jim Bayliss. Tim's cousin, like a brother to him. Jim kills an exchange student who comes up to his house, drunk and dressed in a Halloween costume, in the third season episode Colors, which is a brilliant examination of prejudice and vigilanteeism.
Gordon Pratt, played by Steve Buscemi. The guy who shoots Bolander, Felton, and Howard when they knock on the wrong door looking for a suspect. Brilliant interrogation scene between Pratt and Pembleton, but Frank doesn't get him to confess. Someone kills him; Bayliss has to investigate. Bayliss suspects Munch, who was the only one taking the door who didn't get shot, but he deliberately doesn't pursue it hard enough to actually do anything.
Chris Rawls, played by Peter Gallagher. A chef who finds a beaten body in his dumpster, then compliments the detective investigating the case on his tie. The first man that Tim Bayliss ever dates.
Asst. State's Attorney Ed Danvers, played by Zeljko Ivanek. Danvers is short, but he's tough. He makes deals when he has to and wins when he can. Goes out with Kay Howard for awhile--she describes him as "a stallion among ponies" and says he can go all night--then eventually gets engaged to another lawyer, who is murdered while trying on her wedding gown. It's Pembleton's first case as primary after the stroke, and Ivanek is brilliant as he walks around in his bloody shirt and yells at Gee to replace Frank with another detective.Pairings
There's actually a lot of good Homicide fanfic that's gen, and with such a huge ensemble cast, the pairing possibilities are endless, but here are the major non-crossover pairings out there:
Frankentim, or Bayliss/Pembleton. There is definitely subtext going on between these partners, and Fontana called their relationship "the greatest love story in television history." There's no doubt at all Bayliss loves Pembleton, and Pembleton shows signs of love for Bayliss as well. For me and some other fans, though, Pembleton's devotion to his wife, his bald statement to Bayliss that he doesn't care to ever see two men dancing together, and his Jesuit background all make it pretty clear Pembleton's straight. Bayliss, of course, is not. Hooray for canon bisexuality!
Bayliss/Rawls. This one's canon, yo, or close enough. Tim Bayliss gets asked out on a date with Chris Rawls, a gay man played by Peter Gallagher, and, after he basically tells Frank he thinks he might be bisexual, Tim goes on said date. We never really get to hear much about it--Tim and Frank's post-date discussion is interrupted by Ballard--but we do know that Tim continues to explore his bisexuality and does have sex with men. And there are some *great* stories out there that take it from there.
Lewkell, or Lewis/Kellerman. Another set of cop partners who are very close and have some definite subtext, especially in season 4. Of course, they're practically mortal enemies by the end of season 6, but for some folks that just adds to the fun.
Munchenkay, or Munch/Howard. Yeah, it's a het pairing. It's also got some really great stories, and I, for one, could really see these two getting together.
Kellerman/Bayliss. Mr. "I'll try anything" and Mr. Bisexual. It's the prettiest pairing out there, in my opinion, and you do have that time Bayliss finally comes out for a ride on Kellerman's boat…
Of course, anyone who knows anything knows that Tim Bayliss actually belongs with Billy Tallent, but we won't go into that here ;-). Suffice it to say there are some good crossovers out there, including a long series that pairs Bayliss with Mulder.
Archives, Lists, Communities, and Links
Schism. The list is no longer, but the archive is still up for this great Homicide fanfic group. As with the other Homicide archives, gen (often referred to as "case files"), het, and slash are all represented.
11 Cents is still going, although there's not much new traffic. Good archive, with lots of great stories.
Autofocus is another Homicide archive, also with a lot of great stories.
dhappy Double Happiness is a community devoted to two (happy) purposes: Fanfic and discussion for both Homicide: Life on the Street and for any and all roles played by Canadian actor Callum Keith Rennie. Yeah, I started it. Yeah, Callum Keith Rennie played Billy Tallent in Hard Core Logo. Your point?hlots is a general discussion group for Homicide fans.police_drama is a general discussion group for police dramas.Soon to come, a new Homicide fanfic community moderated by
kellinator and yours truly. Watch dhappy and hlots for an announcement when it's up and running.Homicide: Links on the Sites is *the* comprehensive source for Homicide info. Anything that's out there, you'll find here.
ETA: There is another LJ community devoted to Homicide,
thewaterfront. Thanks to kellinator for the link!If anyone has anything else to add, or some icon-sized pics of the folks I don't, please do share!
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