I've been rewatching this on demand recently.

and I think this show would be insanely popular if it came out now. The first hour long HBO drama, it is incredibly violent. It gets a little soap opera-ey at times with the story lines, but it has more "action" than most of the shows that have followed it. Hell, a major cast member was murdered pretty much every week. It also had a pretty unique approach with the intros to the segments by Augustus Hill. With the graphic and frankly pretty dark nature of most of the shows that are popular now (GoT, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, etc.) it seems like it would fit right in. It's use of music at times is pretty well done also.

I think another element was it's homosexual themes. At the time, that seemed to be the biggest complaint about the show. In the last 5 years that has become a lot more universally acceptable to the point that it wouldn't be the deterrent it was 15 years ago.

that was a great show

i never watched this show when it was first out, but i caught up on it sometime last year. i agree, its pretty awesome. i remember it being pretty popular when it was first on, but i didnt watch it so im not sure how popular it actually was. the gay themes are super weird and interesting, like how the anti-gays rape dudes to initiate them into the prison. the way the different gangs/cliques interact was really cool too.

whats up w/ these guys doing insurance commercials now? i cant be the only person who noticed

I think they're famous enough to be recognizable, but not expensive.

So I finished this last night, and really was struck how good this show was. I always counted it among my favorites, but Im not sure I appreciated how good it truly is. It was also nice going a decade since it ended- as there were actual surprises about some things. Characters i didn't remember, outcomes i had forgotten, etc.

I know a lot of you have shows backed up to this point that you want to watch, but I would strongly recommend putting this on your list.

I loved that show and thought that although a little over the top at times it probably accurately depicted prison life. However, every time I tried to talk to someone about it or encourage them to watch it I just got responses like "Isn't there a lot of dudes kissing/fucking on there?" and usually the topic switched elsewhere. Damn homophobes

Anyway, my favorite part of the show

Spoiler: show

was when McManus came back to Em City and kicked a bunch of the homeboys out and Adebisi confronts Saïd in thier pod leading to a scuffle we don't see but can hear. Everyone sees a back get pushed against the door and a bloodspot forms. Adebisi emerges, hands raised in victory, only to spew up some blood and collapse. Good shit right there. Great build up and great misdirection

It's really incredible how the characters develop. How some are affected by their actions, others are not. I really enjoyed rewatching this show.

Absolutely. Ryan O'Reilly plays both sides of the fence and usually escapes any serious punishment while, although doing a terrible thing to a guard, Alvarez gets the extreme opposite - left in his cell with no food for a period of time and then ultimately told he will never paroled. He tried to change, but it was futile.

There was a lot of great charecter development and I loved the change that came over Beecher. I myself have a DUI on my record and I could only imagine what would have happened had I hit someone that night. Obviously there would be the heartbreak of hurting someone because I chose to be stupid and selfish but aside from that I do not see myself as someone who could survive in jail, but Beecher was able to transition to a tough guy over time.

bump

I've always meant to watch this, but I still haven't finished Breaking Bad. Just too much to watch.

But dat Jon Seda tho

Are you pro or anti seda?

Wait, wasn't this incredibly popular at the time? Isn't considered one of the things that made HBO, HBO? I thought people loved the holy shit out of Oz.

It was their first drama, so it was known. But in reality, I don't really know of many that really watched it

Interesting.

I feel like it's the one that gets named right after The Wire.

I just remember it had a lot of buttfucking.

and there you have it. It was a show that was known, in large part because it tackled gay themes and showed a LOT of dicks.

So a lot of people would say "id watch that show, but theres too many cocks"

it was a little cockheavy for me.

Honestly it has the same problem for me that Game of Thrones does: It presents itself as "real life" but undercuts itself with shock value and clumsy sexual exploitation. Oz seemed preoccupied with pushing the envelope just for the sake of it. I don't think its any more "real" than the one with dragons and witches. I don't think that stuff is going on as rampantly as its depicted on the show. I'm not sure I would call these "gay themes" either, heh. At least not the episodes I watched. It was mostly just rape.

I'm a fan...

Pro-Seda.