Oz (TV series)

Oz
Genre	Crime drama Suspense Dark Comedy
Created by	Tom Fontana
Written by	Tom Fontana Bradford Winters Sunil Nayar Sean Jablonski Sean Whitesell
Starring	Kirk Acevedo Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Ernie Hudson Terry Kinney Christopher Meloni George Morfogen Rita Moreno Harold Perrineau J. K. Simmons Lee Tergesen Eamonn Walker Dean Winters
Theme music composer	Steve Rosen Dave Darlington
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	56 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Tom Fontana Barry Levinson Jim Finnerty
Producer(s)	Debbie Sarjeant Mark A. Baker Irene Burns Bridget Potter Jorge Zamacona Greer Yeaton
Editor(s)	Deborah Moran
Running time	55 minutes
Production company(s)	The Levinson/Fontana Company Rysher Entertainment HBO Original Programming
Release
Original network	HBO
Original release	July 12, 1997 – February 23, 2003
Website

Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes.^[1][2] It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by the premium cable network HBO.^[3] Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons; the series finale aired February 23, 2003.

Overview

"Oz" is the nickname for the Oswald State Correctional Facility, formerly Oswald State Penitentiary, a fictional level 4 maximum-security state prison, apparently in New York (given the New York state flag and motto seen in the background when public officials are shown speaking publicly, references to "upstate", a term commonly used in New York, and the format of the prisoner ID numbers). The prison is most likely named after New York Commissioner of Correctional Services Russell George Oswald, who was the head of New York's penal system at the time of Attica Prison riot. The character Tim McManus refers to Attica as his hometown and the riot as his original impetus for his wanting to set up Emerald City.

The nickname "Oz" is also a reference to the classic film The Wizard of Oz (1939), which popularized the phrase "There's no place like home." In contrast, the series uses the tagline: "It's no place like home". Moreover, most of the series' story arcs are set in "Emerald City", a setting from the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).

In 2008, the show was placed at #73 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list.^[4]

Plot

The majority of Oz's story arcs are set in "Emerald City", named for a setting from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). In this experimental unit of the prison, unit manager Tim McManus emphasizes rehabilitation and learning responsibility during incarceration, rather than carrying out purely punitive measures. Emerald City is an extremely controlled environment, with a carefully managed balance of members from each racial and social group, intended to ease tensions among these various factions.

Under McManus and Warden Leo Glynn, all inmates in "Em City" struggle to fulfill their own needs. Some fight for power – either over the drug trade or over other inmate factions and individuals. Others, corrections officers and inmates alike, simply want to survive, some long enough to make parole and others just to see the next day. The show offers a no holds barred account of prison life. The show's wheelchair-bound narrator, inmate Augustus Hill, explains all of the show's plots, subplots, and conflicts, and provides context, thematic analysis, and a sense of humor.

Oz chronicles McManus' attempts to keep control over the inmates of Em City. There are many groups of inmates throughout the show, and not everyone within each group survives the show's events. There are the African American Homeboys (Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keane, Supreme Allah) and Muslims (Said, Arif, Hamid Khan), the Wiseguys (Pancamo, Nappa, Schibetta, Zanghi, Urbano), the Aryan Brotherhood (Schillinger, Robson, Mark Mack), the Latinos of El Norte (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), the Irish (the O'Reily brothers), the gays (Hanlon, Cramer), the bikers (Hoyt, Sands), the Christians (Cloutier, Coushaine, Cudney) and many other individuals not completely affiliated with one particular group (Rebadow, Busmalis, Keller, Stanislofsky). In contrast to the dangerous criminals, character Tobias Beecher gives a look at a usually law-abiding man who made one fatal drunk-driving mistake.

The ensemble cast includes Christopher Meloni, Ernie Hudson, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Harold Perrineau Jr., Eamonn Walker, Rita Moreno, Terry Kinney, Betty Buckley, Kathryn Erbe, Lee Tergesen, B. D. Wong, J.D. Williams, J. K. Simmons, Dean Winters, Scott William Winters, Kirk Acevedo, Erik King, Evan Seinfeld, David Zayas, Lauren Vélez, Otto Sanchez, Robert Clohessy, and Edie Falco.

Mason Adams, Bill Boggs, Didi Conn, Peter Criss, Jonathan Demme, Charles S. Dutton, Gordon Elliott, Bill Fagerbakke, Rick Fox, Uta Hagen, Roxanne Hart, Edward Herrmann, Dana Ivey, Lord Jamar, David Johansen, Eartha Kitt, Robert Klein, Tom Ligon, LL Cool J, Gavin MacLeod, Master P, Anne Meara, Method Man, Milo O'Shea, Luke Perry, Roger Rees, Eric Roberts, Grant Shaud, Ally Sheedy, Elaine Stritch, Roy Thinnes, Treach, Joyce Van Patten, Ben Vereen, Kathleen Widdoes and Manny Yarbrough have made appearances on the show.

Cast and characters

From left to right: Ryan O'Reily, Vernon Schillinger, Miguel Alvarez, Tobias Beecher, Kareem Saïd, In the front sits Augustus Hill (this photo was also used as the cover for Hill's book)

Main

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3	4	5	6
Ernie Hudson	Warden Leo Glynn	Starring
Terry Kinney	Tim McManus	Starring
Harold Perrineau	Augustus Hill	Starring
Eamonn Walker	Kareem Saïd	Starring
Kirk Acevedo	Miguel Alvarez	Also Starring	Starring
Rita Moreno	Sister Peter Marie Reimondo	Also Starring	Starring
J. K. Simmons	Vernon Schillinger	Also Starring	Starring
Lee Tergesen	Tobias Beecher	Also Starring	Starring
Dean Winters	Ryan O'Reily	Also Starring	Starring
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	Simon Adebisi	Guest	Also Starring	Starring

Recurring

Actor	Character	Seasons
		1	2	3	4	5	6
Edie Falco	Officer Diane Whittlesey	Also Starring			Guest
Sean Whitesell	Donald Groves	Also Starring
Tony Musante	Nino Schibetta	Also Starring
B.D. Wong	Father Ray Mukada	Also Starring
Leon Robinson	Jefferson Keane	Also Starring					Guest
Jon Seda	Dino Ortolani	Guest					Guest
George Morfogen	Bob Rebadow	Guest	Also Starring
J. D. Williams	Kenny Wangler	Guest		Also Starring
Željko Ivanek	Governor James Devlin	Guest		Also Starring
Lauren Vélez	Dr. Gloria Nathan	Guest	Also Starring
Rick Fox	Jackson Vahue	Guest			Also Starring		Also Starring
muMs da Schemer	Arnold "Poet" Jackson	Guest		Also Starring
Granville Adams	Zahir Arif	Guest		Also Starring
Eddie Malavarca	Peter Schibetta	Guest				Guest
Tom Mardirosian	Agamemnon Busmalis		Guest	Also Starring
Kathryn Erbe	Shirley Bellinger		Guest	Also Starring			Guest
Christopher Meloni	Chris Keller		Guest	Also Starring
Scott William Winters	Cyril O'Reily		Guest	Also Starring
Sean Dugan	Timmy Kirk		Guest		Guest		Also Starring
Austin Pendleton	William Giles		Guest	Also Starring
Luis Guzmán	Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez		Guest	Also Starring
Mark Margolis	Antonio Nappa		Guest	Also Starring			Guest
Chuck Zito	Chucky Pancamo		Guest		Also Starring
Evan Seinfeld	Jaz Hoyt		Guest				Also Starring
R.E. Rogers	James Robson		Guest				Also Starring
Otto Sanchez	Carmen "Chico" Guerra		Guest				Also Starring
Philip Casnoff	Nikolai Stanislofsky			Also Starring
Robert Clohessy	Officer Sean Murphy			Also Starring
Seth Gilliam	Officer Clayton Hughes			Also Starring
Kristin Rohde	Officer Claire Howell			Also Starring
Kevin Conway	Seamus O'Reily			Guest	Also Starring
Charles Busch	Nathaniel 'Nat' Ginzburg			Guest	Also Starring
David Zayas	Enrique Morales				Also Starring
Reg E. Cathey	Martin Querns				Also Starring		Guest
Erik King	Moses Deyell				Also Starring
Lance Reddick	Johnny Basil / Desmond Mobay				Also Starring
Lord Jamar	'Supreme Allah' / Kevin Ketchum				Also Starring
Michael Wright	Omar White				Also Starring
Anthony Chisholm	Burr Redding				Also Starring
Luke Perry	Jeremiah Cloutier				Also Starring
Betty Buckley	Suzanne Fitzgerald				Also Starring
Blake Robbins	Officer Dave Brass				Guest		Also Starring
Patti Lupone	Stella Coffa						Also Starring
Joel Grey	Lemuel Idzik						Also Starring
Bobby Cannavale	Alonzo Torquemada						Also Starring

Episodes

Oz took advantage of the freedoms of premium cable to show elements of coarse language, drug use, violence, frontal nudity, homosexuality, and male rape, as well as ethnic and religious conflicts that would have been unacceptable to traditional advertiser-supported American broadcast television.^[3]

International broadcast history

In Australia, Oz was screened uncensored on the free-to-air channel, SBS. This was also the case in Brazil, where it was aired by the SBT Network Corporation, late at night; in Ireland, where the series aired on free-to-air channel TG4 at 11 p.m.; in Israel, where Oz was displayed on the free-to-air commercial Channel 2; in Italy, where it was aired on the free-to-air Italia 1; and in the United Kingdom, where Channel 4 aired the show late at night.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was aired on the federal TV station called FTV. In Canada, Oz aired on the Showcase Channel at Friday 10 p.m. EST. In Croatia, Estonia, and Slovenia, the show was aired late at night on public, non-commercial, state-owned channels HRT, ETV, and RTV SLO, respectively. In Denmark, it appeared late at night on the non-commercial public service channel DR1. In Finland, it broadcast on the free-to-air channel Nelonen (TV4). In France, the show aired on commercial cable channel 'Serie Club,' also late at night. In Malaysia, full episodes of Oz aired late at night on ntv7, while the censored version aired during the day. In the Netherlands, Oz aired on the commercial channel RTL 5. In New Zealand Oz aired on The Box at 9.30pm on Wednesdays in the early 2000s (decade). In Norway and Sweden, it aired on the commercial channels ZTV and TV3 late at night. In Panama, Oz aired on RPC-TV Channel 4 in a late-night hour. In Portugal, Oz aired late at night on SIC Radical, one of the SIC channels in the cable network. In Serbia, Oz aired on RTV BK Telecom. In Spain, the show aired on premium channel Canal+. In Turkey, Oz was aired on Cine5; DiziMax also aired the re-runs.

Syndication

On April 21, 2009, Variety announced that starting May 31, DirecTV will broadcast all 56 episodes in their original form without commercials and in up-scaled "high definition" on The 101 Network available to all subscribers. The episodes will also be available through DirecTV's On Demand service.^[5]

Rights

The series was co-produced by HBO and Rysher Entertainment, and the underlying U.S. rights lie with HBO, which has released the entire series on DVD in North America. The international rights were owned originally by Rysher, then Paramount Pictures/Domestic Television after that company acquired Rysher. CBS Studios International currently owns the international TV rights, and Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD owns the international DVD rights.

DVD releases

HBO Home Video has released all six seasons of Oz on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2. The Region 1 releases contain numerous special features including commentaries, deleted scenes and featurettes. The Region 2 releases do not contain any special features.

Title	Episodes	Release date			Rating
		Region 1	Region 2	Region 4	BBFC	ACB
The Complete First Season	8	March 19, 2002 (DVD & VHS)	February 5, 2007	February 15, 2007	15	MA 15+
The Complete Second Season	8	January 7, 2003 (DVD & VHS)	August 6, 2007	August 16, 2007	18	MA 15+
The Complete Third Season	8	February 24, 2004	October 29, 2007	November 8, 2007	18	MA 15+
The Complete Fourth Season	16	February 1, 2005	March 3, 2008	March 20, 2008	18	MA 15+
The Complete Fifth Season	8	June 21, 2005	June 30, 2008	June 19, 2008	18	MA 15+
The Complete Sixth Season	8	September 5, 2006	September 22, 2008	September 18, 2008	18	MA 15+
The Complete Series	56	September 5, 2006 (Special Edition)	September 7, 2009 (The Emerald City Collection)	N/A	18	N/A

Critical reception

Critical reception of Oz is mostly positive. The first season of Oz has been ranked a 70 based on the rating aggregator website Metacritic, indicating generally favorable reviews by critics.^[6] James Caryn from The New York Times stated: "Set almost entirely in the prison, a high-tech horror with glass-walled cells, Oz can also be unpleasant to watch, gruesome and claustrophobic. Yet as the series moves beyond its introductory shock value, it becomes more serious, disturbing and gripping. Even for likely fans the series is not perfect and that its depiction of guilty men in torturous circumstances, is never subtle, but complicated and strong."^[7] Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Engaging, often Brutal."^[8]

Other reviews were more critical of the series. Frederic Bidle of the Boston Globe said: "A pretentious exercise in cheap thrills, by great talents allowed to run amok."^[9] Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times reported: "Its unique and arresting style don't earn endorsements here... there's no light at the end of the tunnel, or a tunnel- that offer central characters to root or pull for... Be forewarned that Oz is flat-out the most violent and graphically sexual series on TV."^[10]

Soundtrack

Avatar Records released a soundtrack containing East Coast, West Coast, and Southern hip hop on January 9, 2001. It peaked at #1 on the Billboard Soundtrack Charts, #42 on the Billboard 200, and #8 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.^[11] The soundtrack featured the song "Behind the Walls" recorded by Kurupt & Nate Dogg.

References

1. Adam Dunn (21 February 2003). "The end of 'Oz'". CNN. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
2. "Oz Production Notes". Retrieved 2010-08-05.
3. Bruce Fretts (11 July 1997). "Nasty As He Wanna Be". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
4. "The New Classics: TV". Entertainment Weekly. June 18, 2007. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
5. MICHAEL SCHNEIDER (20 April 2009). "'Oz,' 'Deadwood' join DirecTV". Variety. Reed Business Information. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
6. "Oz Season 1". Metacritic.
7. Caryn, James. "High Tech Prison and the Face of Horrors". New York Times.
8. "Oz Season 1". Metacritic.
9. Biddle, Frederick. "Metacritic". Boston Globe.
10. Rosenberg, Howard. "Metacritic". Los Angeles Times.
11. Steve Rosen
    Dave Darlington. "Oz – Original Soundtrack (2001)". Billboard. Retrieved 2009-10-21.

Additional sources

• Season 1, Episode 2, DVD Commentary on "Oz: The Complete First Season."
• Season 2, Episode 5, "Oz: The Complete Second Season."

Further reading

• HarperEntertainment (2003). Oz: behind these walls: the journal of Augustus Hill. New York: HarperEntertainment. ISBN 0-06-052133-3. OCLC 51241977.
• Stemple, Lara (2007). "HBO's OZ and the Fight against Prisoner Rape: Chronicles from the Front Line". In Merri Lisa Johnson. Third Wave Feminism and Television: Jane Puts it in a Box. London: I.B. Tauris. pp. 166–188. ISBN 1-84511-245-8. OCLC 72151012.

External links

• Oz at the Internet Movie Database
• Oz at TV.com