I have just finished watching the HBO series Oz. It was the first one hour episode drama series that the network created and I think it’s fair to say that it acted as a template for a lot of the excellent series that followed on the station, such as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and The Wire. It has far more theatrical style than any of the shows that followed and, unsurprisingly, seemingly a much smaller budget and therefore lower production values but once I got into it I found it really absorbing. I think, like a lot of long running shows, it starts to really heat up in the fourth season and then tails away after that but overall the quality remains high from episode to episode and the central characters Augustus Hill, Ryan O’Reily, Vernon Schillinger, Miguel Alvarez, Tobias Beecher, Simon Adebisi, Minister Saïd, Tim McManus, Sister Peter Marie Reimond, and Leo Glynn develop a lot throughout the series and give the show strong focus. It’s well worth a look if you have the time and opportunity but, having struggled to get a sense of it with intermittent viewings on SBS over the years, I do think it is a show that is best watch in a reasonably short space of time so you can keep a handle on the comings and goings of the various characters and story lines.
