The streets are about to stream, as David Simon has announced that plans have moved forward to bring Homicide: Life on the Street to your TV sometime in the future. The groundbreaking series – a precursor to Simon’s The Wire – has been tied up in music rights limbo for years but now that red tape has been cleared, we’ll soon enough be crossing the police tape.
As David Simon posted on X, “Word is that NBC has managed to finally secure the music rights necessary to sell Homicide: Life On The Streets” to a streaming platform. 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. Stay tuned for more details.” He would go on to credit showrunner Tom Fantana, EP Barry Levinson and producer Gail Mutrux for their efforts in getting the initiative moved forward. Simon added, “In the case of “Homicide,” the rights were negotiated long ago before streaming existed as a viewing platform. A fair compensation for the new use needed to be negotiated.”
Homicide: Life on the Street was created by Paul Attanasio but based on Simon’s book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Simon would go on to have numerous writing credits on the series. It featured a stellar cast that includes far too many people lost too soon, including those Simon mentioned: Andre Braugher, Richard Belzer, Yaphet Kotto, and Ned Beatty. There, too, was Daniel Baldwin, Clark Johnson, Melissa Leo, Joe Polito, Kyle Secor, and more.
Throughout its seven season run, Homicide: Life on the Street earned 16 Primetime Emmy nominations, winning once for directing, once for casting and even for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, with the late Braugher taking the award.
Music rights end up being one of the biggest issues older series run into when trying to make it to streaming. For a recent example, that’s precisely what happened with Moonlighting, which didn’t hit Hulu until just this year. Fortunately, the wait for Homicide shouldn’t be terribly long now after that positive update from Simon.
Were you a fan of Homicide: Life on the Street? If you haven’t seen it, will you be binging the series once it finally hits streaming?