Oz (1997)★ 8.5/10

TV-14 · US · 60 min · July 12, 1997 · 6 seasons

Crime
Drama
Thriller

Directed by: Adam Bernstein, David Von Ancken, Nick Gomez, Mark Klasfeld, Darnell Martin

Written by: Tom Fontana, Bradford Winters, Sunil Nayar, Sean Jablonski, Sean Whitesell

Follows the daily activities of the Inmates at the Oswald Maximum Security Correctional Facility (aka "Oz" for short), an unusual prison where its criminal inhabitants face challenges head on behind bars and do all they can to stay alive.

Original title

Storyline

OZ chronicles McManus' (Terry Kinney) efforts to control the inmates of Em(erald) City as well as the drug trade and the violence. There have been many groups of inmates during the run of the show and not everybody makes it out alive. There are the gangstas (Adebisi, Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keene, Supreme Allah), Muslims (Said, Arif, Hamid Khan), Italians (Pancamo, Nappa, Schiebetta), bikers (Hoyt), Aryans (Schillinger, Robson, Mark Mack), Christians (Cloutier, Cudney), Latinos (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), gays (Hanlon, Cramer), and a pile of others (the O'Riley brothers, Keller, Stanislovsky, etc.). And a great "everyman" character called Beecher offers a good look at a normal man who made one tragic mistake. Besides the regular inmates, there are guest stars such as Method Man, Luke Perry, Master P, Treach, etc. and a bunch of prison staff doctors (Dr. Nathan), a nun/psychologist (Sister Peter Marie), a bunch of guards--some honest, some crooked--and, of course, the warden, Leo Glynn. The whole thing is narrated and held together by inmate Augustus Hill, who provides the show with context and some sense of theme, and ties everything together nicely.

Rating

8.5 / 10 · 117,983

Companies

Rysher Entertainment, The Levinson / Fontana Company, Home Box Office (HBO), CNBC-e, Cine5, HBO España, HBO Max, Home Box Office Home Video (HBO), Paramount Home Entertainment, RTL Entertainment, Sky Atlantic HD, Super Channel, TV6

Release dates