HBO's Oz, the 1997 prison drama, remains a six-season TV masterpiece

According to Movieweb, HBO's first scripted one-hour thriller, Oz, which premiered on July 12, 1997, still stands as a gritty, six-season television masterpiece with no bad seasons.

Created by Tom Fontana, Oz used distinctive camera work, sound and the narration of Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau) to deliver a morally ambiguous prison drama set in the Oswald State Correctional Facility. The show centered on Emerald City, an experimental unit focused on rehabilitation, with Tim McManus (Terry Kinney) as unit manager. Lasting six seasons, it earned strong ratings on Rotten Tomatoes (93% critics, 94% fans) and featured a large cast including Edie Falco, Michael K. Williams, Lance Reddick, J.K. Simmons, Christopher Meloni and Ernie Hudson, among others. Writers credited include Bradford Winters, Sunil Nayar and Sean Whitesell.

The series proved to HBO executives that original scripted programming could work for the network and preceded later prestige dramas such as The Wire, The Sopranos and Six Feet Under. Even 29 years after its debut, Oz is described as a bingeable classic; beyond that longevity and the show's synopsis, no new developments are noted in the source material.

Key Topics

Culture, Oz, Tom Fontana, Harold Perrineau, Hbo, Emerald City