OZ the tv show not the other thing

Oh, most definitely. Which made for a very nice finished product.

(8,698 registered users) x 10% = ....

somewhere there is eight-tenths of a homosexual wandering these boards.

so i can't help but notice that pretty much everyone (that wasn't beecher) that was in this show have disproportionally (compared to the sopranos or whatever) gone on to have fairly successful careers on other shows.

It seems that for a bunch of these folks, "Oz" -> "Law & Order" -> $$$$$$$

I don't think I would be able to watch Oz these days without it becoming "Dennis Duffy: The Prison Years" in my mind.

I think there's a certain amount of injustice in this world over the fact that I have seen Stabler naked but never Benson.

I have started to watch this from ep 1; five days later I'm about to start season 4 ep 3. I am addicted. My spoiler-filled observations so far:

• I hated Kenny, what a fucking little twat. I'm so glad he got offed as uneventfully as he did.
• I absolutely adore Wittlesey, Father Mukada, and Sister Pita Marie. I want them all to be my neighbors and/or friends IRL.
• I seriously thing Beecher + Keller is the single hottest couple ever portrayed in moving pictures.
• I find it amusing and triumphant how it throws around cock like MTV throws around cleavage. The entire program is quite ripe for a gender studies/queer theory analysis.
• God, Ryan O'Reilly is such a fucking tool. And Claire whats-her-face, what a fucking BITCH
• Rebadow is such a perfect character; I'm so glad he's on the show. The light-hearted comic relief he provides is priceless.
• The music, editing, and cinematography from season 1--not to mention Hill's rotating cell--in my opinion make it a candidate for one of the single best seasons in television history. Motherfucking riot, anyone?

recently gotten into this because a lot of the Wire actors were in this (same casting director as The Wire, makes sense).

Finished watching Season 4 last night. Was definitely "eh" on the narrator at first, but then decided that without those interludes the show would be excessively grim ... more so than the Wire. Thanks for the recommendation.

Oh man, I saw this thread and thought "Oh there's all this stuff I want to say about it!" and realized I'd already said it 6 months ago. This is definitely one of my favorite television series of all time

I find it amusing and triumphant how it throws around cock like MTV throws around cleavage. The entire program is quite ripe for a gender studies/queer theory analysis.

seriously. I watched season 5 yesterday ... and the variety show episode with the interstitial singing ... especially Father Mukada doing the Tori Amos song ...probably the most obvious example of self-knowing camp.

When Ryan asks Dr. Nathan (in season 4, I think) whether she'd still love him if he was old and wrinkled, my first thought was, "Dude, if you weren't boyishly cute, and seemed to have mysterious access to quality hair product ... not a chance." Honestly, if I didn't find him attractive, I'd loathe him.

Rebadow is such a perfect character; I'm so glad he's on the show. The light-hearted comic relief he provides is priceless.

Yeah, him and the tunnel guy together are great. When Rebadow tried to kill him, I was really sad.

OH MY GOD that musical episode was so fucking priceless!!

Felt a bit gypped that Keller didn't sing in it, though.

How could anyone not love Ryan O'Reily...watching him get shit done every episode was a major part of what made Oz great.

I did grow to love him over the seasons ...

It's definitely one of those shows where it was genuinely heartwarming when something nice happened (or something awful didn't happen) because it was just so grim. When Alvarez got the dog, I was terribly afraid that someone was going to kill the dog to get back at him.

xp because he was such a sneaky, slimy, fucking BRO ASS TOOL

Schillinger was kinda the same way, and I can't stand that guy ... honestly, I think it boiled down to me being fond of him because he was cute. He also appeared quite well-endowed.

Done watching the final season ... pretty heartbreaking.

Dean Winters plays jerks really well.

My bf are in disagreement whether Keller intended to fall off the balcony and die. I kinda don't think so.

Yeah I don't think so either.

omg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDSJkMVLiF8

(i am working my way through oz for the 1st time)

remember him as a broadway dude bc we reviewed the miss saigon casting suit in my ent law class but wow.

i only watched it a few months ago, so it's still pretty fresh in my memory.

also i read m. butterfly in theater history and know he was in that originally but it that kind of knowledge just does not convey bd wong singing tori amos, you know?

no - that is potentially the campiest of the variety show performances, but they all are fairly campy ... this doesn't happen until the last season, however.

wait there's more camp in season 6? (this is s5)

the talent show - for some reason i thought it was the last season ... the last season has a production of macbeth

schillinger has an alright voice!

yeah ... that guy is also really good at being evil.

such a sucker for a good baritone, though.

not that he isn't evil and awful.

i want to go to karaoke.

his and Tobias' vendetta against each other lasts the entire series

thanks for the spoiler (not really)

schillinger has an alright voice!

He was in the 90s revival of Guys and Dolls.

Sometimes I still think this is my favourite tv drama. It probably got more exposure for The Wire connections but I'm annoyed it still hasn't gotten more credit and viewers. It should've been more acclaimed than Sopranos (I liked that too, much more than I thought I would).

Two questions linger...

Schillinger calls that guy who destroyed a museum sculpture a "sicko". I could never work out wether he is just joking because he doesn't care about art or he does find something genuinely perverse in the crime.

Alvarez trains the dog for the guy he blinded but quietly says something (which I don't think was subtitled/translated) when he hands over the dog. It felt like a sinister moment but nothing before or after that moment suggests any bad intent on Alvarez's part.

It probably got more exposure for The Wire connections but I'm annoyed it still hasn't gotten more credit and viewers

whut

please tell me you aren't in the US because otherwise nothing about that statement makes a lick of sense

UK.

I meant the cast and crew shared by Wire and OZ. I think some Wire fans watched OZ after but it still seems neglected to me.

It was HBO's first drama and was watched by a bunch of people; it's more accurate to say that The Sopranos and The Wire wouldn't have had the audiences they had without OZ preceding them.

there wasn't anything sinister about it -- the dog training bit was one of his acts of redemption that ended up amounting to little, because everyone in the show is pretty much damned. I recently rewatched this show -- it really is one of the most impressively feel-bad US tv dramas. The Wire is much "nicer" by comparison. Probably the only thing that comes close is The Walking Dead. I feel like OZ definitely paved the way for a lot of shows in terms of subject matter and tone.

Oz's role etc is acknowledged.

The Sopranos had more of a central performance of stature to focus on, not so macaronic and medieval violent as Oz. I do prefer it (not by much) but I can understand why people who buy into 'new golden age of TV' wouldn't like it as much.

OZ is about the prison industry. The Sopranos is essentially a family/character study.

I'm certain there is a weird moment when Alvarez hands the dog over and whispers something, then the blind guy looks confused. It's very brief but I kept rewinding it trying to figure out what he whispered.

I feel like The Sopranos was more in keeping with television of the past, whereas OZ and the "social issues dramas" that followed were more of a departure. I also finally got around to watching The Sopranos, and I liked it a lot, so it isn't an issue of "which is better"

Oh the moment is weird -- he does whisper something -- but I don't think it's actually malevolent, but it is ambiguous

For me there wasn't a 'prison industry' angle so much although I'm sure I'd be more attentive to that on a re-watch. It was crazy plots, fucking and murder. It had some strong storylines and people you cared for and looked forward to watching.

that is really odd to me, it's like watching the Sopranos and saying "Tony was in the mob?"

haha well I don't quite see that. I was young when I watched it so what I'm saying is its any political angle wasn't so much a thing.

The opening monologues were all about that! It is what framed the show, like, the stories were often predominantly illustrations of these issues.

Has there been many re-runs in the last decade? Because I think maybe it would do better now. Maybe audiences are more accustomed to brutality now too.