If Homicide: Life on the Street had an introductory statement at the beginning of each episode (like Law and Order) for Season Five, it might have gone something like this:
In the Baltimore Police Department, the Homicide unit consists of 7 individual detectives: Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) , a sensitive and dedicated detective who must come to terms with his disturbing past; proud and confident Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) who is dealing with the humbling effects of a recent stroke; the somewhat manipulative Mike Kellerman (Reed Diamond) who's impulsiveness and self-pity tend to put him in awkward situations; Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson), who is as caring as he is tough; the darkly humorous John Munch (Richard Belzer), who is willing to voice his unique opinions on everything; Sgt. Kay Howard (Melissa Leo)who's promotion to Sergent means that she answers phones more than she works cases; and the demanding, yet kind and fatherly Lt. Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto). They are assisted by the new Chief Medical Examiner Julianna Cox (Michelle Forbes) who is intelligent and strong, but is also haunted by more ghosts than she wants to admit; and Crime Scene Videographer J.H. Brodie (Max Perlich) who aspires to make documentaries, but for now just wants to please his detectives. Working together, this team attempts to solve the unfortunatly frequent murders occuring on the streets of Baltimore each year. This is the story of their lives through their work.
Even if you could make sense out of that complicated and horribly punctuated paragraph, you still wouldn't have a very good grasp of what Homicide is about. Homicide is a character based drama based on very complex and intriguing characters that could never be fully explained in a phrase or two. On Homicide you see how each charaters personality affects the way they perform as homicide detectives and how being "murder police" makes them who they are. Every main character on Homicide is very original and multi-dimensional. This depth is what makes them seem real.
Homicide is a cop show like few others. It has, especially in episodes from the first few seasons, much less violence that other police dramas. Car chases and gun fights are rare. (As is nudity. This is no NYPB Blue!!! )Much of the time, Homicide detective would rather put a suspect in "the Box" for interrogation, than shoot him or beat him up. Intelligent well written dialogue takes the place of mindless action on Homicide .
Homicide is based on a nonfiction book by David Simon calles Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. This is one of the things that gives Homicide it's realism. Just about all of the original characters (and many of the remaining) are based on actual people from The Book, and many of the cases in The Book have been used in the show. Much of the first season was taken right out of The Book, dialogue and all! While Homicide is not "ripped from the headlines" Law and Order style, it reflects the reality of Baltimore (it's setting and filming location) and the rest of the world giving every viewer something to relate to.
Despite it's realism, Homicide is not all gloom and doom. Homicide is very loveable and can also be quite funny. Sometimes its poigniency is what is funny (the grilled cheese, for example) preventing Homicide from falling into Touched by an Angel idiocy. When the detectives awkwardly try to express their affection for eachother (Munch doesn't want Kay to get shot again, Lewis gives Beau a stuffed giraffe...) you just can't help but love them. Humor itself is also not uncommon on Homicide . Much of it is sarcastic or dark and twisted, but things are frequently funny in a very lighthearted and crazy way. (Kellerman's brothers, Kay telling Frank how she feels about Ed Danvers...) Like the detectives, the viewer whould have a hard time dealing with all of the death and violence without lightness and humor.
Homicide is not an easy show to watch. It requires the viewer to think and to feel and to care and even to get involved at some level. it deals with more than just issues and events. It is concerned with whole peole and whole ideas, and that is what makes Homicide: Life on the Street The Best Damn Show On Television.