History Series / HomicideLifeOnTheStreet

* DavidVersusGoliath: Full-Court Press features a sympathetic killer named [[MeaningfulName David]], a weak teenager who literally kills a giant bully with a shot (two actually).

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:Felton and Crosetti.]]

** A possible subtle one. When Pembleton is interrogating Gordon Pratt he mentions Creator/JimThompson and ''Film/TheGetaway''. Talking about the film and its remake, Munch concludes that the remake wasn't worth remembering. The remake starred Creator/AlecBaldwin, brother of Daniel Baldwin who played Beau Felton.

Over time, the show managed to build a comfortable – if not spectacular – audience, and traded in several of the older, less conventionally attractive cast members for young studs. Still, the series continued to achieve critical acclaim for what was then considered to be a realistic look at police life, with cases going unsolved, killers getting off the hook and officers having very real character flaws. It finished after seven seasons in 1999, with a [[https://youtu.be/CzVPCSao5wY TV movie]] wrapping up the remaining plot threads in 2000. It is generally considered to be the high water mark for PoliceProcedural shows, at least until Creator/DavidSimon returned with another Baltimore-based cop show, HBO's ''Series/TheWire''. The realism stems in large part from Simon's experience writing his non-fiction book about a year embedded with BPD Homicide; viewers familiar with the book will have fun trying to work out which scenes are ripped from its pages (TOW has a list of the book's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_A_Year_on_the_Killing_Streets#Content notable cases]]).

** Rose Halligan (Creator/LilyTomlin) from "The Hat" is a charming, friendly woman who gets along well with Kellerman and Lewis even as they escort her to prison. The two start to consider her as a friend and let their guard down, [[spoiler!which proves disastrous as she manages to escape because of it and murder another person.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "Fallen Heroes" part one, Pembleton has the chance to shoot [[spoiler: Junior Bunk during his killing spree in the police station]], but he hesitates. In part two, [[spoiler: he freezes in front of an armed suspect and Bayliss takes a bullet for him]]. In general, Frank being a NonActionGuy prone to making mistakes in dangerous situations had been foreshadowed several times (see also: first episode of season four).

* SerialKiller: A couple of them, but only after the sober minimalism of the first two seasons.

* DisappointedByTheMotive: Bayliss is disgusted to learn that [[spoiler:a homeless man had murdered a Buddhist monk who was feeding him [[DisproportionateRetributiom simply because he was offended that the monk had offered him a spoon.]]]]

* PayEvilUntoEvil: Mostly subverted.

* YouDidntAsk: In "In Search of Crimes Past".

** During the second part of the three-part Season 6 premiere "Blood Ties", in which Munch and Kellerman are investigating a murder during a [[UsefulNotes/MLBTeams Baltimore Orioles]] home game, real-life Orioles pitchers Scott Erickson and Armando Benítez made appearances.

The character of Detective JustForFun/JohnMunch proved so popular that the character – always played by actor Richard Belzer – went on to make guest appearances in two ''Series/LawAndOrder'' series (including a French spin-off), ''Series/TheXFiles'', ''The Beat'', ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', ''Series/TheWire'' and even ''Series/SesameStreet''. Following the end of ''Homicide'', Munch appeared as a regular character on ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' from its premiere until his retirement early in the 15th season, and has made occasional appearances since.

** Eventually played straight with Kellerman. After [[DirtyCoward Lewis and Stivers]] let him take all the blame for the Luther Mahoney shooting and [[TurnInYourBadge quit so they wouldn't be fired]], his fellow detectives treated him like trash over both it and that he was now [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets working as a private detective]], even with him helping the solve the case of the episode arc he had returned in.[[note]]It also may have been the reason that he had worked exclusively with Mike Giardello in the ''Homicide'' movie; he was there with Kellerman's fellow, previous detectives upon his return, but wasn't around to let his past actions color his perceptions of him[[/note]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Season 5 main cast. Left to right: Max Perlich, Melissa Leo, Andre Braugher (front row); Reed Diamond, Richard Belzer, Clark Johnson, Michelle Forbes (middle row); Kyle Secor, Yaphet Kotto (back row).]]
--> "''You go when you're supposed to go, and everything else is homicide."''\\

Before ''Series/TheWire'' - hell, even before ''Series/NYPDBlue'' - there was ''Homicide: Life On The Street''. Based on the factual book ''Homicide: A Year On the Killing Streets'' by ''Baltimore Sun'' journalist Creator/DavidSimon and airing on Creator/{{NBC}}, the series charted the lives of a team of homicide detectives in UsefulNotes/{{Baltimore}}, both on and off the clock. The show actually hung under the threat of cancellation after the first, but two Emmy nominations and the popularity of fellow soapy police show ''Series/NYPDBlue'' got it renewed for a second season of just four episodes, making it the shortest season ever commissioned by a US network.

Over time, the show managed to build a comfortable - if not spectacular - audience, and traded in several of the older, less conventionally attractive cast members for young studs. Still, the series continued to achieve critical acclaim for what was then considered to be a realistic look at police life, with cases going unsolved, killers getting off the hook and officers having very real character flaws. It finished after seven seasons in 1999, with a [[https://youtu.be/CzVPCSao5wY TV movie]] wrapping up the remaining plot threads in 2000. It is generally considered to be the high water mark for PoliceProcedural shows, at least until Creator/DavidSimon returned with another Baltimore-based cop show, HBO's ''Series/TheWire''. The realism stems in large part from Simon's experience writing his non-fiction book about a year embedded with BPD Homicide; viewers familiar with the book will have fun trying to work out which scenes are ripped from its pages (TOW has a list of the book's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_A_Year_on_the_Killing_Streets#Content notable cases]]).

The character of Detective JustForFun/JohnMunch proved so popular that the character - always played by actor Richard Belzer - went on to make guest appearances in two ''Series/LawAndOrder'' series (including a French spin-off), ''Series/TheXFiles'', ''The Beat'', ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', ''Series/TheWire'' and even ''Series/SesameStreet''. Following the end of ''Homicide'', Munch appeared as a regular character on ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' from its premiere until his retirement early in the 15th season, and has made occasional appearances since.