"Oz" (1997) TV series 1997-2003

User Rating:

9.3/10   

Creator:

Tom Fontana

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Release Date:

12 July 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants.

Plot Keywords:

Egomaniac | Male Breast Cancer | Imprisonment | Nazi | Forbidden Love

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 11 wins & 29 nominations

Cast

Ernie Hudson	...	Warden Leo Glynn (56 episodes, 1997-2003)
Harold Perrineau	...	Augustus Hill (56 episodes, 1997-2003)
Lee Tergesen	...	Tobias 'Toby' Beecher (56 episodes, 1997-2003)
J.K. Simmons	...	Vernon 'Vern' Schillinger (56 episodes, 1997-2003)
Dean Winters	...	Ryan O'Reily (56 episodes, 1997-2003)
Terry Kinney	...	Tim McManus (54 episodes, 1997-2003)
Eamonn Walker	...	Kareem Said (50 episodes, 1997-2003)
Kirk Acevedo	...	Miguel Alvarez (46 episodes, 1997-2003)
Rita Moreno	...	Sister Peter Marie Reimondo (46 episodes, 1997-2003)
Philip Scozzarella	...	Officer Joseph Mineo / ... (46 episodes, 1997-2003)
George Morfogen	...	Robert 'Bob' Rebadow (45 episodes, 1997-2003)
Scott William Winters	...	Cyril O'Reily (45 episodes, 1998-2003)
B.D. Wong	...	Father Ray Mukada / ... (40 episodes, 1997-2003)
Otto Sanchez	...	Carmen 'Chico' Guerra / ... (40 episodes, 1998-2003)
Christopher Meloni	...	Chris Keller (38 episodes, 1998-2003)
Granville Adams	...	Zahir Arif (37 episodes, 1997-2003)
Craig muMs Grant	...	Arnold 'Poet' Jackson (37 episodes, 1997-2003)
Lauren Vélez	...	Dr. Gloria Nathan (36 episodes, 1997-2003)
Carl DiMaggio	...	Officer Len Lopresti / ... (34 episodes, 1999-2003)
Chuck Zito	...	Chucky 'The Enforcer' Pancamo / ... (33 episodes, 1998-2003)
Evan Seinfeld	...	Jaz Hoyt (33 episodes, 1998-2003)
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Simon Adebisi (32 episodes, 1997-2000)
Timothy L. Brown	...	Officer Jason Armstrong / ... (32 episodes, 1997-2003)
Tom Mardirosian	...	Agamemnon 'The Mole' Busmalis / ... (31 episodes, 1998-2001)
R.E. Rodgers	...	James Robson / ... (29 episodes, 1998-2002)
Zeljko Ivanek	...	Governor James Devlin / ... (27 episodes, 1997-2003)
David Zayas	...	Enrique Morales (27 episodes, 2000-2003)
Steven Wishnoff	...	Tony Masters (27 episodes, 1999-2003)
Robert Clohessy	...	Officer Sean Murphy (26 episodes, 1999-2003)
Kristin Rohde	...	Officer Claire Howell (26 episodes, 1999-2003)
Sean Dugan	...	Timmy Kirk (26 episodes, 1998-2003)
Edie Falco	...	Officer Diane Whittlesey / ... (23 episodes, 1997-2000)
J.D. Williams	...	Kenny Wangler / ... (23 episodes, 1997-2000)

Runtime:

100 min (series finale) | 60 min (53 episodes) | 63 min (season 4 finale) | 68 min (season 2 finale)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo (1997-1998) | Dolby (1999-)

Certification:

Australia:MA | Israel:18 | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (video rating) | USA:TV-MA

Filming Locations:

Bayonne, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Levinson/Fontana Company, The

Trivia:

Actors Terry Kinney (Tim McManus) and Kathryn Erbe (Shirley Bellinger) were married in real life.

Goofs:

Continuity: Miguel Alvarez - The large black-and-white rose tattoo on the back of the character's hand, throughout the course of the series, alternates between being on his right hand and on his left.

Quotes:

Chris Keller: Hey, I'm gonna see you today, right?
Sister Pete: Three o'clock, visiting one of your ex-wives.
Chris Keller: Yeah.
Sister Pete: Which one? Kitty or Angelique?
Chris Keller: Bonnie, wife number 2 and number 4, she's the best.
Sister Pete: Hmmm.
Chris Keller: There she is, there she is.
Sister Pete: Aha, a redhead.
Chris Keller: No, the other one.
Sister Pete: Chris she's...
[...]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Saturday Night Live: Jerry Seinfeld/David Bowie (#25.1)" (1999)

Do NOT pass go, do not travel down this "Yellow Brick Road"...

...if what you want is the usual depiction that passes for prison life in a dramatic format. No SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION here, folks, no benevolent GREEN MILE guards or saintly supernatural inmates. OZ tells it like it is, and baby, it ain't pretty.

Using at times a sense of hyper-realism, (in the narrations of the excellent Harold Perrineau, who serves as the show's conscience and Greek chorus), OZ shows us both the profane and profound aspects of prison life that we good, law-abiding citizens don't like to think about. We have the "authorities" to take care of that, don't we?

Exceptional art, no matter what the medium, has the ability to move us, make us think, make us feel both things we embrace and things we reject. The power this show has to polarize viewers into two different camps--love it or hate it--is proof enough that Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, the forces behind HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS, have fashioned something we haven't seen the likes of in a very long time.

I would strongly suggest that anyone who has not yet seen it give it a try, if you have HBO. Then I dare you to tear yourself away from it. It's rare television that makes you sit up, take notice, and actually care about even the minor characters in an ensemble such as this, no matter how heinous their crimes, or how street-and-battle-hardened their exteriors.

Augustus Hill, Simon Adebisi, Tobias Beecher, Vern Schillinger, Chris Keller, Jefferson Keane, Ryan O'Reilly, Kareem Said, Nino Schibetta, Bob Rebadow, Tim McManus, Warden Leo Glynn, Sister Peter-Marie, Father Ray, Officer Diane Wittlesey and all the others will imprint themselves on your memory and stay there, until you can't wait to find out what happens next.

A blend of black humor and outright horror, cutting commentary and the basest brutality, it is one of the very few shows being done now that can reveal the most majestic qualities of the human spirit. The ongoing struggle to resist surrendering to impulses and urges that cause the evil that men do, in the one place you would least expect to find any light--in a sea of human misery and darkness.