Homicide: Life on the Street has been absent from streaming, but the critically acclaimed crime drama has finally found a new home and will launch next month. It has been announced that all seven seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street will be available on Peacock in the US starting on August 19th. All 122 episodes have been remastered for HD and 4K viewing, and Homicide: The Movie is also included.
The series was based on David Simon’s book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and was created by Paul Attanasio. It followed the Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit. Bleak and unglamorous, the show was praised for its more realistic treatment of detectives and their work; threads weren’t always tied up at the end, and criminals sometimes got away. It also boasted one hell of a cast, including Andre Braugher, Ned Beatty, Yaphett Kotto, Melissa Leo, Giancarlo Esposito, Clark Johnson, Daniel Baldwin, Jon Polito, Kyle Secor, Reed Diamond, Michelle Forbes, Jon Seda, Željko Ivanek, and many more. It was also the debut of Richard Belzer as John Munch, who would go on to join Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as the same character once Homicide came to an end.
David Simon teased last month that the show’s streaming debut was imminent now that the music rights had been sorted out. “Word is that NBC has managed to finally secure the music rights necessary to sell Homicide: Life On The Streets” to a streaming platform,” Simon wrote. “Andre, Richard, Yaphet, Ned, and so many others who labored on that wonderful show on both sides of the camera will soon regain a full share of their legacy.” He credited showrunner Tom Fontana, executive producer Barry Levinson, and producer Gail Mutrux for doing the work to get the show ready for streaming. “In the case of ‘Homicide, the [music] rights were negotiated long ago before streaming existed as a viewing platform,” Simon wrote. “A fair compensation for the new use needed to be negotiated.“
For many, this streaming debut of Homicide: Life on the Street will be their first introduction to the series, and boy, are you in for a treat.