"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:

Prison | Gambling | Italian | Prison Life | Aryan

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 Beecher (56 episodes, 1997-2003)
J.K. Simmons	...	Vern Schillinger (56 episodes, 1997-2003)
Dean Winters	...	Ryan O'Reily (56 episodes, 1997-2003)
Terry Kinney	...	Tim McManus (55 episodes, 1997-2003)
Rita Moreno	...	Sister Peter Marie Reimondo (52 episodes, 1997-2003)
George Morfogen	...	Robert 'Bob' Rebadow (51 episodes, 1997-2003)
Eamonn Walker	...	Kareem Said (50 episodes, 1997-2003)
B.D. Wong	...	Father Ray Mukada (47 episodes, 1997-2003)
Kirk Acevedo	...	Miguel Alvarez (46 episodes, 1997-2003)
Philip Scozzarella	...	Officer Joseph Mineo / ... (46 episodes, 1997-2003)
Scott William Winters	...	Cyril O'Reily (45 episodes, 1998-2003)
Lauren Vélez	...	Dr. Gloria Nathan (42 episodes, 1997-2003)
Chuck Zito	...	Chucky 'The Enforcer' Pancamo / ... (40 episodes, 1998-2003)
Otto Sanchez	...	Carmen 'Chico' Guerra / ... (40 episodes, 1998-2003)
Tom Mardirosian	...	Agamemnon 'The Mole' Busmalis / ... (39 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)
Carl DiMaggio	...	Officer Len Lopresti / ... (34 episodes, 1999-2003)
Evan Seinfeld	...	Jaz Hoyt (33 episodes, 1998-2003)
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Simon Adebisi (32 episodes, 1997-2000)
Robert Clohessy	...	Officer Sean Murphy (32 episodes, 1999-2003)
Timothy L. Brown	...	Officer Jason Armstrong / ... (32 episodes, 1997-2003)
Kristin Rohde	...	Officer Claire Howell (30 episodes, 1999-2003)
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)
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 | Portugal:M/16 (DVD rating) | Canada:18 (Nova Scotia) (video rating) | USA:TV-MA

Filming Locations:

Bayonne, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Levinson / Fontana Company, The

Trivia:

The arm that is being tattooed in the opening credits belongs to series creator Tom Fontana.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Doctor Gloria Nathan (Lauren Velez) talks to Ryan O'Reilly (Dean Winters) about his cancerous tumour in his chest, she says that the lump is "under the left nipple". However, he was clearly bleeding from the right nipple and ever clutching the right one while in the infirmary...

Quotes:

Tobias 'Toby' Beecher: [watching the Miss Sally show] I'd like a four way with Nooter and Pecky.

Movie Connections:

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

More genius from the creators of "Homicide: Life on the Street"

OK, it's violent and bloody and vicious and cruel. It's also wildly creative, beautifully filmed, brilliantly acted (with very few exceptions) and has a great framing device. The stories are both filled with detail and minutiae, and also have overarching moral tales and "big picture" flow. At the end of almost every episode you'll probably find yourself muttering "This is SUCH a good show!"

Although it is ostensibly the story of a prison and its many prisoners, 'Oz' can be viewed as primarily the story of one man, Tobias Beecher. Beecher has committed vehicular manslaughter while driving drunk. Because Beecher is a lawyer, the court decides to make an example of him and sends him to maximum security at Oswald Penitentiary. His journey through Oz is basically the rest of the series, and it's certainly no yellow brick road he follows. Everything that you could imagine happening in a prison setting happens, and probably a lot you wouldn't imagine.

He gets assigned to "Em" City (Emerald City), an experimental unit in Oz; the goal of Em City is to try a different living environment, one that might give the prisoners a chance at changing their lives and possibly rehabilitate them. Managed by a true prison reform zealot, Tim McManus, Em City is for many prisoners the only hope in their lives. The inmates of Em City are some of the most brutal offenders in the entire penitentiary - McManus insists that these are the prisoners to try to reach. McManus also picks newer prisoners, ones that don't have life sentences, to add to the mix and to give them a shot at rehabilitation.

Every episode has a storyteller - most of the time the storyteller is Augustus Hill, shot while killing a cop and now confined to a wheelchair. Because he is unable to be physically brutal anymore, because he is more imprisoned than even his fellow prisoners, Augustus is very insightful and is used to heighten and clarify themes for the audience.

The other inmates in Em City all have their own character development and story arcs - some are impressively vibrant but brief, others last for the whole series - but ultimately the writers always return to Beecher and his story. His friends (few), his enemies (many), his family, and his relationships with the prison staff.

Amid the worst that prison can dish out, the inmates struggle with the meaning of religion, with definitions of family, with the corruption of politics, with friendship, betrayal, and ultimately, survival. There are moments of sheer wanton destruction, unspeakable violence, shocking cruelty, and pure evil. It's prison! There is nothing glorified here; inmates do drugs to escape the horror of their realities, gangs murder each other over trivialities, inmates and guards commit rape just because they can. But how they manage to survive - and IF they manage to survive - keeps you watching.

Some key performances: The always perfect J.K. Simmons as Schillinger, the leader of the Aryans; Chris Meloni as Chris Keller (quite a different part than his character on L&O: SVU!); Lee Tergesen as Beecher; Eamonn Walker as Said, the leader of the Muslims; Dean and Scott Winters (real-life brothers) as Ryan and Cyril O'Reilly; and Kirk Acevedo as Miguel Alvarez, a member of the Latinos. But honestly, the whole cast is excellent. Even most of the "guest starring" roles - new inmates who practically have an expiration date stamped on them - are good, and at least are pretty interesting.

It's coming out on DVD in dribs and drabs - rent it, borrow it, steal it, whatever. But watch it!