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Homicide: Life on the Streets--the Unofficial Companion [Paperback]

David P. Kalat (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)


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Book Description

July 15, 1998
Intelligent writing, intense characters, a dark sense of humor, innovative editing, and complex plots--Homicide: Life on the Street has raised the caliber of television police drama

Homicide: Life on the Street is addictive television. Each week we watch to see who Detective Pembleton will spar with in "the Box," or what conspiracy theories Detective Munch will be espousing as the truth, but more than anything we tune in to see the gritty reality that makes this show the best police drama to ever grace the small screen. There aren't any car chases, rarely any shootouts, and sometimes the cases don't get solved. Instead, these detectives keep their clothes on, have a relentlessly morbid sense of humor, and catch the criminals because they have brains, not necessarily brawn. In other words, they're real.
Homicide: Life on the Street, The Unofficial Companion by David P. Kalat--the first and only full-length guide to this Emmy Award-winning and three-time Peabody Award-winning television series--brilliantly captures the essence of this groundbreaking show.

You'll Learn About:

famed filmmaker Barry Levinson's decision to bring Homicide to television instead of making a film of David Simon's novel Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

the behind-the-scenes anecdotes about cast regulars, including the onscreen clutches that led to offscreen romances

the producers' many battles with the network suits over poor placement in the schedule, and the series' repeated trips to the land known as hiatus

cast casualties--why they left or were let go

the esteemed cast--including Andre Braugher, Ned Beatty, Daniel Baldwin, and Yaphet Kotto, among others--the characters they've created, and their beyond-Homicide careers

season-by-season critiques of each episode

Revealing, resourceful, and thoughtful, Homicide: Life on the Street, the Unofficial 0Companion is a must-have for any fan!


Editorial Reviews

Review

"This show is so good, it's hardly TV."--the Boston Herald

"The blazingly original drama still finds fresh ways to subvert cop-show cliches."--Entertainment Weekly

About the Author

David Kalat is the author of A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series (McFarland and Co., 1997), a study of the forty-year history of Japan's most famous film exports.

Mr. Kalat is also the founder of All Day Entertainment, a producer of Digital Video Discs (DVDs), releasing classic and obscure motion pictures in high-quality collector's editions exclusively on this new home video format.

As a member of the Washington-Baltimore film production community where Homicide: Life on the Street is shot, Kalat has had many contacts with the television series. He previously worked at the motion-picture lab where Homicide processed each episode's film, and was involved in the very first season's production. As operations manager of D.C. Post, one of the region's most esteemed film and video postproduction houses, Kalat worked closely with Emmy-winning editor Tony Black, who edited Homicide's pilot installment.

Mr. Kalat taught screenwriting at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington, Indiana, and was on the Board of Directors for the Bloomington Playwrights Project, one of Indiana's most acclaimed theater companies. Kalat also sprots credentials as a freelance cinematographer and animator, and has directed several award-winning short films. His most recent film premiered at Washington, D.C.'s famed Biograph Theater.

He was born in Philadelphia on April 7, 1970, and grew up in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. He earned his bachelor of arts at the University of Michigan in 1988, graduating with highest honors from the Film and Video Studies program. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife Julie and daughter Ann.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 348 pages
  • Publisher: Renaissance Books; 1st edition (July 15, 1998)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1580630219
  • ISBN-13: 978-1580630214
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #379,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite the Goods, February 28, 2000
This review is from: Homicide: Life on the Streets--the Unofficial Companion (Paperback)
Eager to read anything about one of the best television shows on braodcast networks in the past decade, I found this book to be somewhat filling but not necessarily satisfying. The author certainly understands the nature of Homicide and its impact on the history of television. One of the most intense but unpredictable shows, you cannot watch Homicide while reading the paper. The characters are all fully fleshed, 3 dimensional characters. Rarely did the show resort to the cliche, and when it did, it turned the cliche on its head. Most notable is the diversity of the case in terms of race and gender, and its refusal to define its characters in those terms. Mr. Kalat explores all these aspects of Homicide, but at times, jarring comparisons to other, more successful television shows, especially NYPD Blue and Law & Order, as well as numerous editorial mistakes, keep the discussion largely superficial. The discussion with the actors comes from other sources for the most part, and scandously neglects Toni Lewis, who at the time of publication, was a recurring character involved in the brutal Luther Mahoney case. In other words, watch Homicide reruns on cable and leave this book on the shelf.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars useful overview of the greatest TV drama ever!, June 18, 2000
By 
Louisianian (Lake Charles, LA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Homicide: Life on the Streets--the Unofficial Companion (Paperback)
It's too bad this book abruptly ends in the middle of season six. Although the last season and a half was far from the show's best period, there were still some good episodes scattered in there, and it just seems annoyingly incomplete. The publisher should really issue a revised edition, although now that the show has ended that seems unlikely. But it's great having a resource like this w/ details about each episode, each season, the characters and actors, etc. The Court-TV website borrows shamelessly from this book for the episode summaries. "Homicide" is simply a fabulous show, and once you start watching it, you just want to know everything about it. This book, while it isn't perfect, contains a lot of information that wouldn't be easily accessible elsewhere, and is highly recommended for the show's fanatical fans for that reason.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Homicide: Life of the streets, October 4, 2000
By 
M. D. Stanley (Spring Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Homicide: Life on the Streets--the Unofficial Companion (Paperback)
I discovered the tv series first then had to read the related books. Having served for thirty three years as a police officer and investigator I must say that the authors of the respective books and the superb cast of the series have and continue to bring memories crashing back from my own time on the streets. I have never been a great fan of police "thrillers" but, captured in the pages and on the screen are the words, the exhilaration, the elation, the depths of despair and depression. Present is the action/reaction of the squad room; here is the bond of friendship and, yes "love", between partners. Here is the quiet appreciation of your brother officer and here also is the death of close friends and companions. I suspect "Non-police types" enjoy these tales but, unless one has lived what is depicted on the pages and screen, one cannot truly appreciate what is being presented. To the authors of both books, the Producer, Mr. Atanasio ( I think that is it ) and to the cast, each and every one, a special thanks from an old-time cop and from a generation of war horses either still in harness or, like me, retired and looking back at a career in law enforcment.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
In October of 1996, Carlester Eric Robinson tore out of a Rite-Aid drug store in Baltimore, Maryland, with security guards hot on his heels. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
best damn show, air date, primary detective, sixth season, homicide unit, fifth season, production code, guest director, guest stars, fourth season, recurring role, season premiere, episode features, guest roles, supervising producer, premiere episode, episode guide, shift commander, season episode, regular cast, third season
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tom Fontana, New York, Barry Levinson, David Simon, Frank Pembleton, James Yoshimura, Andre Braugher, Kay Howard, Henry Bromell, Julie Martin, Meldrick Lewis, Richard Belzer, Megan Russert, Kyle Secor, Tim Bayliss, Everett Collection, Beau Felton, Clark Johnson, Zeljko Ivanek, Sharon Ziman, Luther Mahoney, Mike Kellerman, Yaphet Kotto, Ralph Tabakin, Assistant State's Attorney Ed Danvers
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