Oz (HBO Series)

[Pitty]

Is this the most underrated show ever on television? Discuss.

 

[Matt]

I will be watching this after I finish Sopranos.

 

[Glenbino]

:nope:

Wooden characters which for the most part were nothing more than one note stereotypes. The plausibility of several of the story arcs were iffy at best.

Thar said it was the show that paved the way for a lot of what we see today. It's amazing how much of the OZ cast has been able to have a lot of success after their run on the show ended.

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[Pitty]

I will be watching this after I finish Sopranos.

Everyone always talks about The Sopranos and The Wire as the penultimate HBO crime dramas, but Oz was a tour de force that is often left at the wayside. The sheer complexity of the portrayal of prison life makes my jaw drop when watching this series.

 

[Pitty]

:nope:

Wooden characters which for the most part were nothing more than one note stereotypes. The plausibility of several of the story arcs were iffy at best.

Thar said it was the show that paved the way for a lot of what we see today. It's amazing how much of the OZ cast has been able to have a lot of success after their run on the show ended.

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No offense, but were you expecting prisoners to magically be portrayed as poet laureates?

 

[Buzzman]

I always thought the finale was a little meh. Loved most of the show though.

 

[EmpireWF]

Never watched an entire season, but would check out an episode here, an episode there. For the time, obviously unique and a lot of graphic stuff.

Only really recall one storyline, where the white supremacist guy fucking around with the white guy who just wanted to mind his business until he got the black gang involved....I think.

Probably should go back one of these days and watch the series....but I've been saying that about Deadwood for a while now, too.

 

[Pitty]

Never watched an entire season, but would check out an episode here, an episode there. For the time, obviously unique and a lot of graphic stuff.

Only really recall one storyline, where the white supremacist guy fucking around with the white guy who just wanted to mind his business until he got the black gang involved....I think.

Probably should go back one of these days and watch the series....but I've been saying that about Deadwood for a while now, too.

I would say Deadwood is better than all HBO shows, however I'm a period drama whore and Boardwalk is up there for me too.

The recreation of the Old West in Deadwood is one of the most accurate historical portrayals ever put on film.

 

[Matt]

I watched Deadwood in a weekend. Great show.

 

[Glenbino]

No offense, but were you expecting prisoners to magically be portrayed as poet laureates?

There were several characters throughout the series I could have done without.. for example Robson and Omar White were a couple of characters I could have cared less about and yet had storylines built around them constantly (some were cringeworthy like Robson getting a black man's gums and getting kicked out of the Brotherhood and Omar's singing to keep himself put of trouble.)

Not to mention the people who worked at the prison were so naive that it was completely unbelieveable. Peter Marie continually trying to get Beecher to work things out with Schillenger because "this time I think something is different with Vern, Tobias" was a staple of every season and idiotic.

On top of that the series was different from Deadwood, The Sopranos, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire and Six Feet Under in the way it was so over the top in its portrayal of prison life (Tom Fontana has said as much) and didn't seem as concerned with being grounded in reality as much as it did with pushing the envelope to see what they could get away with.

Leo Glynn and Karim Sayid's murders also bothered me because of the lack of plausibility behind both of them. The prisoners choosing who would run Em City would never happen in a real institution, not to mention the era of Querms in charge of Em City and what Adebisi was able to get away with during his reign would never happen.

Nor would so many violent criminals be lumped together in a minimum security area like Em City.

I probably would have felt different had you asked me this in 2000 bit there has just been too much good TV at this point where, like Homicide: Life on the Streets, Oz can be recognized as a gatekeeper for all the great TV we see today it doesn't hold a candle to it from a story, performance or creative standpoint.

I believe its adequately rated.


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[Pitty]

There were several characters throughout the series I could have done without.. for example Robson and Omar White were a couple of characters I could have cared less about and yet had storylines built around them constantly (some were cringeworthy like Robson getting a black man's gums and getting kicked out of the Brotherhood and Omar's singing to keep himself put of trouble.)

Not to mention the people who worked at the prison were so naive that it was completely unbelieveable. Peter Marie continually trying to get Beecher to work things out with Schillenger because "this time I think something is different with Art, Tobias" was a staple of every season and idiotic.

On top of that the series was different from Deadwood, The Sopranos, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire and Six Feet Under in the way it was so over the top in its portrayal of prison life (Tom Fontana has said as much) and didn't seem as concerned with being grounded in reality as much as it did with pushing the envelope to see what they could get away with.

Leo Glynn and Karim Sayid's murders also bothered me because of the lack of plausibility behind both of them. The prisoners choosing who would run Em City would never happen in a real institution, not to mention the era of Querms in charge of Em City and what Adebisi was able to get away with during his reign would never happen.

Nor would so many violent criminals be lumped together in a minimum security area like Em City.

I probably would have felt different had you asked me this in 2000 bit there has just been too much good TV at this point where, like Homicide: Life on the Streets, Oz can be recognized as a gatekeeper for all the great TV we see today it doesn't hold a candle to it from a story, performance or creative standpoint.

I believe its adequately rated.


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Robson and White only started picking up steam in the last two seasons IIRC, and wasn't Peter Marie's whole character supposed to be the portrayal of the nativity that could exist, even in a prison, if one trusts too blindly in religion and faith? At least that's what I took from her lenient nature.

Also, Em City wasn't intended to be Low Security, it was an experimental unit to see if a Maximum Security, controlled environment ward, with some of the amenities of civil society, would be able to facilitate rehabilitation and social re-assimilation. Of course it's not plausible for these things to happen, then again I doubt it's plausible that real life mobsters stole Pokemon cards, or Baltimore PD homicide detectives redefining a department's entire mission based on one post-court 3 minute conversation.

 

[Glenbino]

Robson and White only started picking up steam in the last two seasons IIRC, and wasn't Peter Marie's whole character supposed to be the portrayal of the nativity that could exist, even in a prison, if one trusts too blindly in religion and faith? At least that's what I took from her lenient nature.

Also, Em City wasn't intended to be Low Security, it was an experimental unit to see if a Maximum Security, controlled environment ward, with some of the amenities of civil society, would be able to facilitate rehabilitation and social re-assimilation. Of course it's not plausible for these things to happen, then again I doubt it's plausible that real life mobsters stole Pokemon cards, or Baltimore PD homicide detectives redefining a department's entire mission based on one post-court 3 minute conversation.

I must have missed the Pokemon episode of the Sopranos...

And yeah some shows have strained credulity from time to time. Oz does it at least every other episode.

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[Warner2BruceTD]

I must have missed the Pokemon episode of the Sopranos...

And yeah some shows have strained credulity from time to time. Oz does it at least every other episode.

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There was a Pokemon heist storyline which was the catalyst for Big Pussy getting in a car wreck while trying to tail Christopher. This was when Pussy was playing make believe FBI agent hoping to kiss ass and avoid his prison stint that was coming before being shipped off to witness protection.

Anyway, Oz should not be compared to shows like Sopranos, The Wire, Boardwalk, etc. Totally different tone, and right from the start the viewer should know this. There are some deeper themes, but they don't need to be understood to enjoy the show. You can just turn your brain off, treat it like mindless entertainment, wait to see who dies next, and just enjoy the goofy ride.

I happen to love it. Yes, it's goofy and none of it is plausible. Em City is a disaster, with more prison murders in a month than real prisons have in years, and it would be shut down half way through Season 1 in real life. Who cares? It's a lot of fun, and for all of its goofiness and over the top characters & scenarios, the show still produces some tense moments, and you find yourself caring about some of the characters. I know a few of the deaths bummed me out, and you end up "rooting" for & against certain characters.

Oz jumped the shark as soon as the words "I love Ryan O'Reilly" were uttered. But that's OK. Still a fun ride all the way until the end.

 

[riley420]

I still can't look at Christopher Meloni without picturing him with his pecker out. Scarred for life.


I NEED TEEEEEETS!!!!

 

[Buzzman]

My favorite moment in the series

 

Is when Siad and Adebisi get into the brawl, the sheet turns red and Adebisi walsk out looking victorius, but then falls to the ground with a knife in the back. So fucking good.

Its weird to me that my dad let me watch this with him when I was 12 years old.

 

[SethMode]

I really like Oz, at least, up until the break in S4. When the character they kill off after that break is gone, it's just not the same (and that feels to me when the storylines just have too many one-off dudes that come in just to get killed). Still, it's just enjoyable as hell to watch, as W2B said. And yes, it is goofy as shit. I like that Em City is supposed to be this break through means to get these prisoners back on track to be in society, and it is more fucked up than literally everywhere else in the prison.

 

[Senser81]

I like shows that constantly feature anal rape. Highly underrated. Here is my top 5 underrated shows list...

1) Oz (HBO Series)
2) The Smurfs
3) Love Connection
4) Dad's A Dog!
5) Alf

 

[Kuzzy Powers]

I always thought the finale was a little meh. Loved most of the show though.

Great show, AWFUL finale.

 

[Glenbino]

I really like Oz, at least, up until the break in S4. When the character they kill off after that break is gone, it's just not the same (and that feels to me when the storylines just have too many one-off dudes that come in just to get killed). Still, it's just enjoyable as hell to watch, as W2B said. And yes, it is goofy as shit. I like that Em City is supposed to be this break through means to get these prisoners back on track to be in society, and it is more fucked up than literally everywhere else in the prison.

I'll agree with this.. the show was always over the top but once Adebisi gets stabbed they turned Sayid into a cartoon character and introduced people like Omar White into the fold.

Like I said before I think a lot of my problem with the show is that I watched it this year for the first time after having watched pretty much every other quality TV series from the last decade before it.

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[SHOGUN]

Loved OZ, even though it started to fall off by Season 4.

The way Keller did Beecher in the finale was real fucked up. :crying: