Wednesday, November 15, 2006

The Best Reruns You Aren't Watching

Homicide: Life on the Street
I'm usually not home on weekdays in the daytime hours. But when I am, I'm bored with a lot of the television programming. Since Ellen DeGeneres has moved to the afternoons here in the NYC area, the morning and noon hour is a bit of a vast wasteland of Jerry Springer and The Maury Show.

Now, nothing against those fine gentlemen - they've both made their mark in their genres and seem successful - but they're just not my cuppa tea, not at all. If I had children, I'd know who the father was and drag queens duking it out can only hold my attention for so long.

So, there I was, channel-flipping today. And there it was. I now have a new must-see 11 AM program on any weekdays I happen to be home. A series which ranks amongst my personal all-time favorites is regularly shown on Superstation WGN (cable). Perfect! And, today, the day I made the discovery, aired one of the most notable episodes from the series. I'm beside myself with the glee. Yes, truly I am!

The series is Homicide: Life on the Street. In my opinion, it remains one of the best police shows ever on television. I have the boxed DVD set of the first two seasons, but it doesn't include the show I (re)watched today. The show enjoyed a six-year run from 1993 through 1999, so my two-year collection is only a taste. Seeing today's show is going to make me hit up the boxed set again, but now I have Homicide fever once again. I may have to tape daily shows on WGN.

Today's episode was "The Hat" with guest star Lily Tomlin. I found her performance as Rose Halligan mesmerizing and chilling. The role garnered her an Emmy nomination and was certainly worthy of winning (although it didn't). Rose was a prim and proper opera fan and voice coach suspected of murdering her husband. Detectives Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Kellerman (Reed Diamond) were assigned to pick up Rose to transport her back to Baltimore for questioning, yet lose her on the way. They take a liking to the unusual, but oh-so-respectable murder suspect. After all, she could be a great aunt. She couldn't be a cold-blooded killer, could she?

Ah, but yes, she certainly could be. Rose escaped from them with the goal to return the hat of the woman who had an affair with her husband. It was the hat she wore throughout the episode. Well, that is until the end, when her friend and reason for killing her husband wore the hat - as she lay dead on the floor while Rose sat singing an opera tune outside on a porch swing.

This is one of the finest episodes of that season, but I never saw a "bad" episode of the show. And, it's one of the best reruns on daytime television that I haven't been watching. But I will be from now on.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I LOVE homicide. Third Watch is still my favorite though. I'm still not over it being cancelled!-Jessiesgirl

Anonymous said...

Oh Jessiesgirl,I am so with you on Third Watch,I loved that show and was crushed when it went off. It was just hitting it's stride,too and the storyline was getting very good! But that happens with a lot of shows I like....LOL. I like Homicide too and I always was a Hill Street Blues fan as well!

Here where I live,it's almost impossible to turn on the TV during the day and not find a Law and Order epi of some sort. They are everywhere.....LOL. But the good thing is,they are worth watching over. And I agree with Jackie,in her previous post, Goren(or D'onfrio) is getting stranger and stranger. I always liked his "edge" but he's really going out there!

Anonymous said...

Emmitt Smith won on DWTS. Mario was robbed!! He should have won.

Sydney said...

Susan -- Wow, thanks for writing, I missed it tonight, taking a class... I had a feeling that the public would go for him... he has so much fun when he dances, is a family man, and seemed to be one fo the few to have a clean relationship with his dance partner... I figured people would vote for all that. Emmit is a really good dancer, But Mario did have the technical edge... He should have won on that. Did you vote? How did Mario take it? More -- how did Mario's mother take it????

Anonymous said...

So,my boy didn't win,but,like I said earlier,I'm not upset because EMMITT was every bit as qualified to win as MARIO. I just loved those dimples.....LOL. I think Mario took it just fine,but his partner seemed more than a little miffed. I think she has a little bit of a temper. And I agree,whoever gets Cheryl as a partner has a distinct advantage,cause tha girl is good!!
Congrats to Emmitt,he did an amazing job and he seems to be such a nice man.

Anonymous said...

I agree with all of you (if that's possible).. I wanted Mario to win because he was technically the best, but I'll give Emmitt his due, he is so smooth. But when you see ballroom dancing, you don't see any of that kind of "get down" dancing. So that said, Mario should have won.

Emmitt's daughter was cute the night before when she said her daddy was going to win cause he had the "fan base" and Mario only had dimples. Oh my...yes he does!

I think Mario's partner was upset because she knew they should have won.

And yes, I voted my 5 times for Mario. It was the only time I had voted.

Anonymous said...

Since the subject went to DWTS here I will add my 2 cents. LOL I felt from the start that Mario had some prior dancing training, BUT wait as I watched him he only had so many certain step he ever did except for the lifts which were wonderful ,justs not enough to win on, neither were his dimlpes.
With Emmitt you saw someone who was ready to fall on his face on the first show who progresses into a a heck of a dancer. And no You can't touch that. LOL J/K Got carried away a minute there. So when people say Mario was robbed they need to go back and watch the season over and watch the dances and not his dimples. Plus another thing to keep in mind is look at the extra weight Emmitt had to learn to shake and move plus the age difference. I think Emmitt Smith won DWTS hand down and so did Lynn, he all but said he would have given it to him.
Let's pray we don't have the cry baby thingy from last year where John couldn't admit defeat. Please No. Let Mario be a man about it as Emmitt would have if he had lost.
Well I guess I went ove my 2 cents a long way back.. LOL The check is in the mail. Thanks for always being here for us Jackie. You are worth your weight in gold to us people that like reading these.

Anonymous said...

Redbearzfeather - John O'Herley was from season one of DWTS. Last year Drew Lachey won. I am an older woman and liked Emmitt's style, BUT I'll stick with my guns - Mario was the best dancer and he should have won.

Sydney said...

Susan-- you know what, I wonder if there's a way to watch the ep thru the website or some other place, like at least snippets of the crucial moments through Utube. Jackie seems to have some magic way of finding out about these things... I'm amazed that I can rewatch an ep if I've missed it on the network's website when just a year or two ago that wasn't true... since it's not a regular series, and is not something you can catch in repeats, maybe someone knows of a source...

AND I'd call comcast for a credit, though it might not be worth the hassle fo going through that call with all the prompts and recordings. Takes a year off my life everytime I have to do something like that!

dawn said...

Jackie,
your right on about homicide. It was the best, most well written show. that is why I watch the wire, same kind of grit.

Anonymous said...

I too LOVE Homocide,Third Watch, Hill Street & NYPD Blue! To me, they just don't make them like that anymore. (except for maybe Rescue Me)