Why Homicide: Life On The Street is amazing.

Bolander and Munch trick a suspect into believing that a copy machine can tell whether the suspect is lying or not.

[@IDF1987]

I love how they used this on The Wire too. David Simon just loved this bit too much because it was based on reality.

[@robjj5373]

It was his idea

[@spirittammyk]

@codename617 I'm 33 now. I wasn't into Homicide right from the start. It was when the Sniper episode was being advertised, my mom wanted to check it out, and I stayed up to watch it with her. It was also, during the Homicide/L&O Crossover I became a fan of that show (Jack McCoy in particular.) When Homicide was off the air, I followed Munch onto L&O SVU, and the rest is history!

[@skatechatham]

Bunk obviously got the idea watching this show.

[@QuasiEli]

Richard and Ned... I applaud your ability to keep a straight face throughout that whole clip. This truly is why 'Homicide:LOTS' is amazing

[@Katt560]

I purchased the entire series on DVD, plus the movie. FANTASTIC purchase!!! I have gone thru the whole thing twice. Pembleton is phenomenal...I see why Andre Braugher was the breakout star. He doesn't even have to speak...just a look. I was hoping he'd be just as good in his other projects, but nothing beats the development of the Pembleton character. The writers did an amazing job with most of the cops, actually.

[@jaxcaulfield7071]

I really liked him in House

[@chernobylcoleslaw6698]

Yeah a great a TV show, but he was the clear stand out.

[@jimmtemp]

best part is it was used by actual detectives. it really worked. they took this scene straight from the book

[@doejohndoe]

isnt there a similar scene in a the wire episode ?

[@johnnyboy562]

yeah

[@portugahbk]

The story is taken from the same book, "Homicide - a year in the killing streets" by David Simon, the guy that wrote the Wire

[@veritasg9020]

@@portugahbk Brilliant. I must admit that the delivery in The Wire with Bunk got me laughing harder than ever.

[@onefive0]

This is the greatest TV series- I lived in Baltimore, and watching every episode makes brings back such nostalgia. Truly a work of art. Unfortunately, the gritty side of the show is all too real. Baltimore does have a serious narcotics and homicide epidemic. Almost 300 murders every year....

[@57babyboomer]

One of the best shows I have ever seen. would love to see the reruns again!

[@sweenyadam]

This is in the opening of the Season 5 of 'The Wire', except Bunk keeps it simpler. Still works like a gem. Who really is stupid enough not to realise it is just a photocopier?!

[@BoosterSilver]

I love how you can tell they're just making it all up on the spot, I love it!

[@Katt560]

This is great...and I do wonder how many takes it took without laughter!

[@Katt560]

That is so well said! It's exactly why it's so compelling.

[@RICKD790]

I have to agree Katt. His acting when Frank was recovering from a stroke was completely believable

[@Ally20791]

i've only recently bought the complete box set and have to say that it's one of the best tv shows i've ever seen

[@deedeelight5]

MUNCHIE! i love Homicide. have been watching since it was originally on NBC. the whole cast is great but i like Munch the best. such a great show!

[@flufffdaddy]

the wire, season 5, episode one opens up with the same photocopier lie detector, its one of the funniest things in the series, great stuff

[@irishbloke99]

i just seen the scene a week ago on season 2 DVD, it was the funniest thing ive ever seen in a cop show, great series.

[@MissRailfan]

Me & my dad love this show. Love "Satch" (black guy who was in the movie Frequency). & lov Munch.

[@theprofessor172]

I read it in the book "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" - the book upon which the movie was based - and it wasn't very clear on the details. However, here, you see that the detective are using the technique simply to get information - the Detroit detectives, however, used them to get confessions.

[@BrianInvincible]

Anyone know which season/episode this was from?

[@Coganboy]

How he kept a straight face is beyond me!!!!

[@PoilishedMahogony]

i just watched this episode today, this bit is genius

[@Katt560]

The BEST DA on TV: Ben Stone (Michael Moriarty) The BEST detective on TV: Mike Logan (Chris Noth) Hands down!!

[@atarue]

i remember watching this show and law and order when law and order first came out and i always enjoyed this one way more, idk why it got canceled

[@NUMB3RSLUV3R]

lol this is so random i love Munch

[@jordandavis3867]

Bruhh is that lansman from the wire?? Lol @0.55

[@nikoladraskovic5857]

Are you kidding haha, its Daniel Baldwin

[@MNRick041]

I read the book that this series was based on, it was a amazing book. The police do all sorts of things to get suspects to talk.

[@takeunder]

Both shows are connected by David Simon who wrote the book that was the basis for both shows and was a writer on both shows.

[@hollywoodwerewolf]

In my opinion Homicide Life on the Street was the best cop show. Even better than Blue. I liked how Homicide was filmed entirely in the mean streets of Baltimore. I like the characters, the stories. It was real. It was gritty. It was awesome.

[@Katt560]

And yes...the driving force behind Homicide, along with the gritty filming & realistic crimes, was the figurative love affair between Pembleton and Bayliss. Bayliss was soft, sensitive, patient. Pembleton was an ox in china shop who needed no one....until he partnered with Bayliss. It's a complicated friendship...but the two end up willing to die for one another.

[@chrisnu]

Fried gold!

[@TheBaltimoreKnight]

I like the wire alot better because it doesn't follow the classic Hollywood method of making a show. It shows things directly how they would go down in west baltimore and the dialogues in the wire sound more like recordings from real life conversations than written scripts from a hollywood drama.

[@spirittammyk]

@EnviousWorm Briscoe I'll give you Jack McCoy. I can't think of any other DA that is more famous or more loved, but Andre Braugher's Frank Pembleton and Kyle Secor's Tim Bayliss are by far the very best police characters ever depicted on TV. There's a reason why TV Guide and critics across the board were asking the Emmy's why they haven't awarded Braugher best actor yet. He finally got it in 1998.

[@moeezS]

They parodied this in the Unusuals first episode!

[@Katt560]

Can't handle McCoy. But I do love Pembleton and Bayliss on Homicide. Their relationship was revealed in much more depth than anything on L&O. Pembleton is gripping, Bayliss I could marry! :)

[@KaligulRomanov-uq2ox]

2am stream?

[@theprofessor172]

Back in the '80s, however, a few Detroit detectives were indicted after allegedly using this technique.

[@spirittammyk]

@codename617 Did you ever see The X-Files episode where John Munch was on that? And, if you were to watch the Homicide episode "A Doll's Eyes", there is a cameo of Mandy Patinken and Chicago Hope. Homicide is one of the rare shows that has crossed to other network shows. Special indeed!

[@JustinPone]

this is genious writing haha

[@codename617]

@spirittammyk I think that the best detective on TV was Robert Goren. He had the interrogation techniques as Pembleton with a psychological twist and as once Eames had said "is a required taste." DOnt get me wrong, Andre Braugher is a terrific actor and most deserving of his reward. he was very good on last weeks SVU. As for McCoy, it was great that he was part of a show that didn't make a prosecuter a cinical character. Just a person picking up where the cops left off.

[@bibitibi]

hahahahahahaha ooh my Good this is greaatt, lovee muunch

[@sivazh]

Based on something that REALLY happened. In Chicago I think. Most of the stuff on Homicide was based on real life stuff, crazy as it was.

[@icom1020]

It is amazing, I own all seven seasons.

[@57babyboomer]

Classic!

[@codename617]

And that's why Homicide was a god cop show i bet. I have only seen a few episodes. Two crossovers, the pilot, Subway, a few clips here and there. But so far i loved the pilot, so much tension and realism. I wish more modern police procedural shows could be more like Homicide in ways instead of just copy things from it like the board and this brilliant scene. The Wire is the only show that I see that can get away with it (mainly b/c it was David Simon's show)

[@codename617]

@Katt560 You have no argument from me there! (Well i am a McCoy fan,) But i do like Stone. He took it to the heart. All his cases. As for Logan, he's my favorite cop on the whole show. I do think the best detective was Goren, but I got use to watching Logan on CI. That's who i saw as Harry Bosch when i read Echo Park.

[@codename617]

@spirittammyk Wow. BUt that's the cool thing about it you know? COnnecting the shows. Munch used to be on Homicide, Logan who was in L&O:CI for three seasons was in L&O, Cragen was in L&O, Jerry Orbach, Jesse L Martin, Fred THompson, Carolynn McCormick and Leslie Hendrix were the only ones to be in all four L&Os. Not counting LA. I haven;t seen many Homicide eps, but the few i've seen and the clips i've seen look awesome. I have the book i still haven;t read it yet.

[@spiker6199]

Check out The Wire, another David Simon creation. Hands down the greatest TV show.

[@noteimporta1591]

Siempre Munch!!!

[@Esteban2000]

@mangohair123 wow, a criminal mastermind

[@soulcalibur22]

@obscure323 this was "wayyyyy" before its time.

[@Stimuli2000]

The wire did the same scene but they played it a bit different. Believe it or not, some criminals ARE that stupid.

[@codename617]

@flufffdaddy THat is an actual trick the Baltimore Homicide Unit uses or at least Used to do, because let's face it, how many thugs really knew what a copy machine was back then? I saw this trick being used again on THe Unusuals, a short lived cop show on ABC. It was ok. The cops caught a "cat" killer and did this trick with little effect. If you watched Detroit 187 last year, you'd have noticed "the board." I think "the board" was also in THe Wire and a couple other cop shows.

[@soulcalibur22]

@gregdshand Just like remixing music its easy to come BEHIND someone and sing their song.

[@id1337x]

Not as good as the wire.

[@sivazh]

Based on something that REALLY happened!

[@AnimeMemesz]

That was great good thing the wire was able to be produced for from the ashes

[@jakeshibby11]

@hollywoodwerewolf you need to see the wire

[@Bstudio]

hahaha XD

[@kariebeez]

And the thing that's really funny is that police have really done stuff like this. It's hilarious ( and I'd laughed many times) when I saw police do this type of phony thing. Yes, some criminals are just not too smart.

[@harrysjulie]

is this an actual scene or was it a joke scene on a DVD? This is ridiculous :)

[@captain07234]

Isn't this based on something two cops did to a suspect?

[@spirittammyk]

@codename617 Never heard of him. I'm just biased on Homicide and Law&Order because, while most 13 year old girls were watching Beverly Hills 90210, Homicide and L&O were MY shows! And I loved it that I was the only one among my peers at the time that knew it existed. Stupid kids, didn't know what they were missing.

[@globalforce]

Uh, some people are stupid. Shit like that happens; I've heard about a lot worse.

[@wardenphil]

Didn't Ned Beatty date Madonna at one time?

[@KaligulRomanov-uq2ox]

5-8 wire arc. mu'tai: not ours. we are toronto. city stupid enough.

[@codename617]

@spirittammyk Really? Check him out soemtimes. Look up Best Moments of Law & Order Criminal Intent season 1 to get an idea of his tecniques and characteristics. How old are you now? I myself am 22 and i got into Law & Order in high school and i saw SVU and eventually Criminal Intent. But when i saw the Wire i saw what any TV should be like. On HBO. I know how you feel. I hate going to facebook and reading about how the stupid fans "want eliot back." I mean, i dont wanna see that kind of drama.

[@ToruKun1]

I believe it. >_>V

[@RobbisTV]

Who else is watching this in 2024?

[@bigg130]

Yes but the acting is tenfold. The Wire is superior in every aspect.

[@theprofessor172]

Being an uncultured person doesn't entitle you to criticize artful shows.

[@bigg130]

I was looking for another series that was similar to The Wire...but this just looks stupid.

[@anons000]

@hollywoodwerewolf The Wire is miles better

[@obscure323]

the wire was waaaayyy better than this bullshit.