Peacock to Add Homicide: Life on the Street In August

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man –Follow on X.

Homicide: Life on the Street, which aired on NBC for seven seasons (1993-99), starred the late Andre Braugher (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Thief, Gideon’s Crossing) as Frank Pembleton, a mercurial but brilliant detective on a murder squad in Baltimore. But the show, which it says here was one of television’s greatest ever, was truly the product of an incredible ensemble cast (Yaphet Kotto, Richard Belzer, Kyle Secor, Clark Johnson, Melissa Leo, Ned Beatty, among so many other outstanding performers) and equally talented writing and production team including Barry Levinson, Paul Attanasio, and Tom Fontana.

And, in August, it’s finally coming to streaming!

Peacock, which is operated by NBCUniversal, announced today that it will add all seven seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street on August 19. Even better, the show, which was broadcast in standard-definition, will be remastered to HD and 4K.

Homicide: Life on the Street has never been available via streaming except for a few random episodes on YouTube. Show producers and writers, including Barry Levinson, often expressed frustration about the omission. In fact, Levinson told the New York Times last year that he had no idea why a streaming service couldn’t show it. But whatever the obstacle was, it’s been removed.

The show pre-dated HBO’s classic Baltimore police drama, The Wire, but the similarities are striking, starting with David Simon, the co-creator of the HBO show and the writer of the book that Homicide was based on. Simon pitched Levinson, the director of such Baltimore-based films as Tin Men and Diner, to turn his book into a film, but Levinson wisely went the small screen route.

Like The Wire, Homicide offered a realistic look at being a cop in an urban war zone with both heroism and hubris front and center. And the acting was first-rate with Emmy-worthy performances in each episode.

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The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered the TV technology scene for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch television. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.