David Simon said that 'Oz' was related to 'The Wire' in a couple of interviews I've seen in some of the DVD extras I've seen and he's totally right. That really struck me when I started watching the very first series.
They also have received an equal measure of contempt from Broadcasters over here. But funnily enough all those late nights on C4 watching Oz made it that much more special. (xxp = I think 'Oz' is probably much more of a TV show in that you probably need that week's gap to digest and for the memory to degrade a bit before you take another hit, maybe the huge roller coaster arc isn't made for DVD; 'The Wire' has only gotten cable broadcast in the UK but it probably works better to see 7 or 8 eps in one go, so it hasn't mattered that its only been available to me on DVD)
― xyzzzz__, Thursday, 4 December 2008 17:59 (fifteen years ago) link
you probably need that week's gap to digest and for the memory to degrade a bit before you take another hit
^^ yah i think you're right about this
― goole, Thursday, 4 December 2008 18:00 (fifteen years ago) link
pointing out old oz characters in new shows is a game me and my brother play from time to time, pretty much works with every show. Lost is sort of becoming a show like this too.
What's weirder is that Schillinger is also George's goofy boss Krueger on Seinfeld.this is obviously very wrong, but what's even weirder is that Schillinger was also Juno's dad...
― sonderangerbot, Thursday, 4 December 2008 18:01 (fifteen years ago) link
this bit always makes me lol
Sister Pete: [to CO Mineo] This session's over!Officer Joseph Mineo: Let's go, Schillinjur.Vernon Schillinger: [shouts] Schillinger! God DAMN IT! Schillinger! I've been here NINE FUCKING YEARS! You'd think you'd know how to say my goddamn name!
― Your original display name will be displayed in brackets. (dan m), Thursday, 4 December 2008 18:05 (fifteen years ago) link
You almost feel bad for Schillinger.
I laughed at the episode on SVU where some boy raped a classmate because he watched some prison drama on TV and saw all that man on man action.
― tokyo rosemary, Thursday, 4 December 2008 18:18 (fifteen years ago) link
How did Adebisi manage to rape Peter Schibetta while keeping that little hat on his head AND listening to his walkman?
― A bright pair of newcomers called BROS (King Boy Pato), Friday, 5 December 2008 11:36 (fifteen years ago) link
schillinger is also the yellow m&m to billy west's red.
― pierre some sugar henry (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Friday, 5 December 2008 12:24 (fifteen years ago) link
Come on, this show was gay porn for people who didn't have access to gay porn.
― Nomi Malone and Her Bloodstains (Stevie D), Friday, 5 December 2008 16:30 (fifteen years ago) link
duh
― pierre some sugar henry (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Friday, 5 December 2008 16:44 (fifteen years ago) link
happened to feature some really good actors/acting, tho
― pierre some sugar henry (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Friday, 5 December 2008 16:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh, most definitely. Which made for a very nice finished product.
― Nomi Malone and Her Bloodstains (Stevie D), Friday, 5 December 2008 18:57 (fifteen years ago) link
(8,698 registered users) x 10% = ....
― Nomi Malone and Her Bloodstains (Stevie D), Friday, 5 December 2008 19:00 (fifteen years ago) link
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" -> $$$$$$$
― Ca-hoot na na na oh oh (HI DERE), Friday, 5 December 2008 19:01 (fifteen years ago) link
I don't think I would be able to watch Oz these days without it becoming "Dennis Duffy: The Prison Years" in my mind.
― The Most Photographed Barn on the Internet (Pillbox), Friday, 5 December 2008 19:01 (fifteen years ago) link
I think there's a certain amount of injustice in this world over the fact that I have seen Stabler naked but never Benson.
― Ca-hoot na na na oh oh (HI DERE), Friday, 5 December 2008 19:02 (fifteen years ago) link
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:
― Are you there, God? It's Madonna, call me in Miami. (Stevie D), Thursday, 15 January 2009 06:07 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Sunday, 9 August 2009 02:01 (fifteen years ago) link
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
― claws of jungle red (Stevie D), Sunday, 9 August 2009 23:23 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Sunday, 9 August 2009 23:44 (fifteen years ago) link
OH MY GOD that musical episode was so fucking priceless!!
― claws of jungle red (Stevie D), Sunday, 9 August 2009 23:51 (fifteen years ago) link
Felt a bit gypped that Keller didn't sing in it, though.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Sunday, 9 August 2009 23:52 (fifteen years ago) link
How could anyone not love Ryan O'Reily...watching him get shit done every episode was a major part of what made Oz great.
― musically, Sunday, 9 August 2009 23:59 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:07 (fifteen years ago) link
xp because he was such a sneaky, slimy, fucking BRO ASS TOOL
― claws of jungle red (Stevie D), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:11 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Monday, 10 August 2009 00:14 (fifteen years ago) link
Done watching the final season ... pretty heartbreaking.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 22:57 (fifteen years ago) link
Dean Winters plays jerks really well.
― tokyo rosemary, Thursday, 13 August 2009 23:03 (fifteen years ago) link
My bf are in disagreement whether Keller intended to fall off the balcony and die. I kinda don't think so.
― free jazz and mumia (sarahel), Monday, 17 August 2009 18:31 (fifteen years ago) link
Yeah I don't think so either.
― Alex in SF, Monday, 17 August 2009 18:56 (fifteen years ago) link
omg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDSJkMVLiF8
(i am working my way through oz for the 1st time)
― tehresa, Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:00 (fifteen years ago) link
remember him as a broadway dude bc we reviewed the miss saigon casting suit in my ent law class but wow.
― tehresa, Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:02 (fifteen years ago) link
i only watched it a few months ago, so it's still pretty fresh in my memory.
― new clusterfuck thread will eventually provide me a funny display name (sarahel), Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:02 (fifteen years ago) link
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?
― tehresa, Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:05 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― new clusterfuck thread will eventually provide me a funny display name (sarahel), Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:06 (fifteen years ago) link
wait there's more camp in season 6? (this is s5)
― tehresa, Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:06 (fifteen years ago) link
the talent show - for some reason i thought it was the last season ... the last season has a production of macbeth
― new clusterfuck thread will eventually provide me a funny display name (sarahel), Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:10 (fifteen years ago) link
schillinger has an alright voice!
― tehresa, Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:15 (fifteen years ago) link
yeah ... that guy is also really good at being evil.
― new clusterfuck thread will eventually provide me a funny display name (sarahel), Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:16 (fifteen years ago) link
such a sucker for a good baritone, though.
not that he isn't evil and awful.
― tehresa, Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:17 (fifteen years ago) link
i want to go to karaoke.
his and Tobias' vendetta against each other lasts the entire series
― new clusterfuck thread will eventually provide me a funny display name (sarahel), Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:18 (fifteen years ago) link
thanks for the spoiler (not really)
― tehresa, Thursday, 17 September 2009 05:22 (fifteen years ago) link
He was in the 90s revival of Guys and Dolls.
― tokyo rosemary, Thursday, 17 September 2009 12:10 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:10 (nine years ago) link
It probably got more exposure for The Wire connections but I'm annoyed it still hasn't gotten more credit and viewers
whut
― kissaroo and Tyler, too (DJP), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:16 (nine years ago) link
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.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:34 (nine years ago) link
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.
― kissaroo and Tyler, too (DJP), Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:42 (nine years ago) link
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.
― sarahell, Thursday, 30 October 2014 21:46 (nine years ago) link