"Oz" (1997) TV series 1997-2003

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 | Violence | Aryan | Christian | Gay

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	...	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 Pancamo (41 episodes, 1998-2003)
Otto Sanchez	...	Chico Guerra (40 episodes, 1998-2003)
Tom Mardirosian	...	Agamemnon Busmalis (39 episodes, 1998-2003)
Christopher Meloni	...	Chris Keller (38 episodes, 1998-2003)
Granville Adams	...	Zahir Arif (37 episodes, 1997-2003)
Craig muMs Grant	...	Poet (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 prisoner's inmate numbers begin with two digits indicating the year they were incarcerated and then a letter which is the first letter of their last name. The only exception is inmates whose last name begins with O, such as Ryan O'Reilly. Because prison officials believed that an O could be easily mistaken for a zero, they use the letter I for inmates whose last name begins with O.

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:

Arnold 'Poet' Jackson: [after Seeing White Patches on Skin] DAMN, I might be able to get a cab now
[homeboys laugh]

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "South Park: Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000 (#4.2)" (2000)

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.