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Why I Will Soon Be Purchasing a DVD Player

Filed under: Imported

One of the great tragedies of recent memory was the cancellation of Homicide: Life on the Streets. I'm not even talking about the cessation of new episodes but rather the foolhardy decision to stop broadcasting reruns on Court TV.

I used to have three opportunities daily to catch episodes of, by my estimation, the greatest television program ever. (Hailing from Maryland, I may be biased: I also believe Eddie Murray is the greatest baseball player of all time and that the anniversary of Len Bias's death should be a national holiday.) I would estimate that I've seen each episode, on average, roughly 2.3 times.

Apparently Homicide can still be seen on TV in Canada. This fact is of little consolation to me.

Finally, some good news. Next Tuesday, A & E Home Video will release the first 13 episodes of Homicide on DVD. These shows feature arguably the best cast ever assembled on Homicide, with mainstays Yaphet Kotto (certainly the darkest-skinned Sicilian in the history of network television), Andre Braugher, and Richard Belzer, along with short-timer Ned Beatty. It's also the time period that I'm least familiar with: for whatever reason, the Court TV reruns tended to focus on the later years.

Until Tuesday, devotees of the show can satiate themselves by checking out this insanely obsessive glossary of all things Homicide. Unfortunately, it's missing an entry for my friend Quinn Hanchette, so I'll write it myself.

Hanchette, Quinn. Episode 108. Played seedy motel clerk in episode that featured a teenage couple who murdered their unwanted baby behind the motel.

 

Posted by Paul Demko at May 22, 2003 6:03 PM

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