Before becoming the home of prestige TV, HBO was primarily known for its movies and sports offerings in the mid to late 1990s. The premium cable network regularly broadcast boxing pay-per-view events, as well as the latest and greatest in cinema. While it had experimented with original programming in the past, the network’s first big hit came in 1997 by way of its first scripted one-hour thriller, which to this day remains a TV masterpiece with no bad seasons.
Titled Oz, the crime thriller was created by Tom Fontana and aired its first episode on July 12, 1997. Right from the start, viewers knew they were getting something different with the prison drama, which utilized unique camera angles, sound, and the brilliant narration of Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau) to help create something people had never seen before. This wasn’t a traditional crime drama with good guys and bad guys. No, Oz set the standard for anti-heroes, delivering a morally ambiguous series that was as uncomfortable as it was compelling.
Lasting for six seasons, there isn’t a bad one in the bunch. The longer Oz went, the better it got – which is a testament to not only its creator, but the amazing writers that worked on the series, like Bradford Winters. Sunil Nayar, and Sean Whitesell. Set in a fictional men’s prison, Oz proved to the HBO brass that original scripted programming could work on the cable channel, which in turn gave birth to shows like The Wire, The Sopranos, and Six Feet Under. The official synopsis reads:
“Inmates and correctional officers inside the Oswald State Correctional Facility, nicknamed ‘Oz,’ battle for power and survival amid warring factions and explosive acts of retribution. Much of the show takes place in Emerald City, an experimental unit in the facility that tries to emphasize rehabilitation and learning responsibility while being incarcerated. Tim McManus (Terry Kinney) is the unit manager of Emerald City.”
‘Oz’ Starred a Who’s Who of Talent
Holding a 93% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a 94% from fans, Oz starred a who’s who of talent that would go on to appear in other prestige dramas over the course of their careers. There’s the aforementioned Perrineau, who would later star in Sons of Anarchy, LOST, and can currently be seen in the TV series From. Edie Falco also starred in Oz as Officer Diane Whittlesey before going on to land the iconic role of Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos.
Other notable names that appeared on Oz include Michael K. Williams (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire), Lance Reddick (The Wire, Bosch), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (LOST, Game of Thrones), Lauren Vélez (Dexter), J.K. Simmons (Law & Order, Spider-Man), Dean Winters (Law & Order: SVU), Luis Guzmán (Wednesday, Shameless), Christopher Meloni (Law & Order: SVU, True Blood), and J.D. Williams (The Sopranos, The Wire). Of course, we can’t forget about Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), who also appeared in Oz for all six seasons as Warden Leo Glynn.
Needless to say, with that much talent, the success of Oz comes as a surprise to no one. Even now, 29 years after it first premiered, the HBO series remains an absolute classic that we can binge again and again.
- Release Date
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1997 – 2003-00-00
- Network
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HBO Max
- Showrunner
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Tom Fontana
- Writers
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Tom Fontana, Bradford Winters, Sunil Nayar, Sean Jablonski, Sean Whitesell
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
