Very good writing & acting. The storylines are quite bleak (naturally). It’s quite graphic in respect to sex and violence (and you have to remember it’s an all male prison). One of my favourite drama series of all time.
The seasons are quite short (8 episodes per season bar season four which was twice the length) and you’ll (assuming you like it) find yourself flying through an entire season on a weekend and getting nowt else done.
I re-watched the whole thing a few years back and when I did it pretty much monopolised my viewing. It is quite old, so may be recorded in 4:3 rather than 16:9 (can’t quite remember).
Definitely worth watching the first season to see what you think.
It's not really like anything else I've seen before or since. Although it can be pretty brutal and graphic at times, it is presented more like a play than a super realistic drama such as The Wire, or The Sopranos. For that reason, it gets away with some of the plot lines seeming a little more contrived than they might do in other shows.
yeah i already have series 1 so wasn't really wanting to have to buy the entire box set. I've managed to find a region 2 copy of series 2 and will keep looking around for the rest of them
I remember watching Oz first time round on telly............can't remember which channel
At the time it was probably groundbreaking hard-hitting drama with lots of violence and racism
Sometimes you felt like watching through your fingers.........:eek:
Rather strangely a black British actor who played the gay 'home help' in Alf Garnett's house turns up as a gang leader of the Black Muslims...............:eek:
Yeah this is one of those shows I must check out at some point
I like Christopher Meloni, who is in this show so that is another reason why i wanna check it out
Yeah this is one of those shows I must check out at some point
I like Christopher Meloni, who is in this show so that is another reason why i wanna check it out
Also Dean Winters who played Cassidy in Season 1 of SVU is in it - he's so so different in Oz! Obviously I know it's acting but I was quite shocked at how different he is in it.
Also Dean Winters who played Cassidy in Season 1 of SVU is in it - he's so so different in Oz! Obviously I know it's acting but I was quite shocked at how different he is in it.
Again i know their actors, but JK Simmons is poles apart from this and as the dad in Juno!!
It used to be on Channel 4, I came across it by accident one night and was instantly hooked. Very graphic sex and violence. Eamonn Walker was the black Muslim.
Watch out for a discussion on gay teletubbies, and ground glass condiments, yikes.
The boxset was going for under £30 a while back, so keep an eye out. Definitely recommend.
Law & Order seems to be the natural resting place for ex Oz actors for some reason, and I have to say it was difficult to see JK Simmons who played Schillinger as anything other than a pervert.:D
Was there any male member of the cast of Oz who did not do a full frontal naked scene at some point? You needed a strong constitution to work on this show that's for sure. It was not for the bashful, either those on screen or those watching. All the more remarkable considering it was an American made show, where over there they tend to shy away from male nudity in film, especially the more graphic type as in Oz, and infact when I first saw it I thought it was Australian!
Was there any male member of the cast of Oz who did not do a full frontal naked scene at some point? You needed a strong constitution to work on this show that's for sure. It was not for the bashful, either those on screen or those watching. All the more remarkable considering it was an American made show, where over there they tend to shy away from male nudity in film, especially the more graphic type as in Oz, and infact when I first saw it I thought it was Australian!
It was made by HBO (one of their first original series iirc) and pretty much set the template for the channel's interesting approach to censorship - which is to disregard it completrely. As a subscription channel, they have no sponsors/advertisers to keep happy, other than those that have signed up knowing full well the style and content of HBO's shows. It's also unlikely that people will 'stumble across' their programs and be offended by the language/nudity/violence etc.
I watched episode 14, season 11 of SVU last night which has Christopher Meloni and Lee Tergesen in it and now I really need to watch Oz again, I've only seen a couple of series of it but I remember being very impressed.
I bought the boxset for this about 5-6 years ago after really enjoying the first 2 seasons of Prison Break. I only watched a couple of episodes before something distracted me (I think I bought the West Wing or The Shield) and I've never gone back to it. One day!
I'm about half way through the box set. I used to watch it on CH4 but they would always piss about with it in the schedules so I missed big bits of story.
Took me a long time to like Eames on L&O:CI and Stabler on SVU because of Oz (and some of the others on Dexter) because their Oz characters were so powerful.
Its one of the greatest tv shows of all time. It must be 15 years or so old now, but even now it seems very graphic in terms of nudity and violence - but never in a exploitative way.
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But yes it was good although might look a little dated now.
Quite hard to watch at times.
Thanks, I was just wondering what people who had watched it thought
The seasons are quite short (8 episodes per season bar season four which was twice the length) and you’ll (assuming you like it) find yourself flying through an entire season on a weekend and getting nowt else done.
I re-watched the whole thing a few years back and when I did it pretty much monopolised my viewing. It is quite old, so may be recorded in 4:3 rather than 16:9 (can’t quite remember).
It's not really like anything else I've seen before or since. Although it can be pretty brutal and graphic at times, it is presented more like a play than a super realistic drama such as The Wire, or The Sopranos. For that reason, it gets away with some of the plot lines seeming a little more contrived than they might do in other shows.
Anyway, I loved it. Hope you do too.
That's a very good point, especially the use of a narrator
Amazon UK have the box set and single volumes.
yeah i already have series 1 so wasn't really wanting to have to buy the entire box set. I've managed to find a region 2 copy of series 2 and will keep looking around for the rest of them
At the time it was probably groundbreaking hard-hitting drama with lots of violence and racism
Sometimes you felt like watching through your fingers.........:eek:
Rather strangely a black British actor who played the gay 'home help' in Alf Garnett's house turns up as a gang leader of the Black Muslims...............:eek:
I like Christopher Meloni, who is in this show so that is another reason why i wanna check it out
Also Dean Winters who played Cassidy in Season 1 of SVU is in it - he's so so different in Oz! Obviously I know it's acting but I was quite shocked at how different he is in it.
Again i know their actors, but JK Simmons is poles apart from this and as the dad in Juno!!
Watch out for a discussion on gay teletubbies, and ground glass condiments, yikes.
The boxset was going for under £30 a while back, so keep an eye out. Definitely recommend.
Law & Order seems to be the natural resting place for ex Oz actors for some reason, and I have to say it was difficult to see JK Simmons who played Schillinger as anything other than a pervert.:D
It was made by HBO (one of their first original series iirc) and pretty much set the template for the channel's interesting approach to censorship - which is to disregard it completrely. As a subscription channel, they have no sponsors/advertisers to keep happy, other than those that have signed up knowing full well the style and content of HBO's shows. It's also unlikely that people will 'stumble across' their programs and be offended by the language/nudity/violence etc.
Took me a long time to like Eames on L&O:CI and Stabler on SVU because of Oz (and some of the others on Dexter) because their Oz characters were so powerful.
In just 8 episodes, I love how they have completed changed Beecher's character.