This show is an excellent drama of which you will rarely find on network TV(perhaps NYPD Blue in its first five or six years,St.Elsewhere,L.A.Law,Hill Street Blues might compare). This show,set in the Homicide division(of course) of the Baltimore Police Department and centered around the elite detectives of the precinct was an edgy,intense show which took some big-time chances(For example:One episode was set exclusively around two of the detectives grilling a suspect)and it's time slot,Friday nights at 10 eastern/9 central,made this a constant candidate for the cancellation blocks,but the loyal viewer-ship and the loud protestations of TV critics helped keep this show afloat for the six and a half years it ran. The acting and writing were by far some of the best on network t.v.,the characters fleshed out by Andre Braugher,Yaphett Kotto(As the chief),Ned Beatty,Melissa Leo,Isabella Hoffman,Clark Johnson,Daniel Baldwin,Kyle Secor,Reed Diamond and long-time stand-up comedian Richard Belzer,who has found his niche as a dramatic actor(and as the SAME character,Detective John Munch,in no fewer than five TV shows,now on Law and Order:Special Victims UNit)stand out maybe the most! I believe they could even revive this show someday in the future with some different characters in the roles and,with roughly the same writing and exactly the same kind of no-hold-barred risk-taking,could be at least half as good,if not equal.
