The second season of Homicide: Life on the Street, an American police procedural drama television series, originally aired in the United States between January6 and January 27, 1994. Due to low Nielsen ratings during the first season, NBC executives decided to order only a four-episode season, after which they would evaluate the ratings and decide whether to renew the show. Homicide was moved to a new timeslot of Thursdays at 10 p.m. EST, temporarily replacing the legal drama L.A. Law. NBC requested several changes from the series, including fewer episode subplots and less camera movements and jump cuts.

The entire Homicide cast returned for the second season. The uncertainty over Homicide's future was stressful for the cast and crew and the logistics of scheduling the filming around the actors' schedules was difficult. Daniel Baldwin publicly criticized NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield over the matter, and it was initially reported Ned Beatty would not return at all. The second season was the last to include original cast member Jon Polito, who was reportedly dismissed because NBC officials were unhappy with his physical appearance. Polito was publicly critical of the show after his dismissal.

The second season marked the debut of Jean de Segonzac as director of photography and Chris Tergesen as music coordinator. The season premiere, "Bop Gun", was the last of the four episodes filmed, but it was the first to be broadcast due to a guest appearance by Robin Williams, which NBC hoped would lead to improved ratings. "Bop Gun" differed from other Homicide episodes because it focused entirely on one story: the murder of a tourist and its impact on her husband, played by Williams. The episodes "See No Evil" and "Black and Blue" featured a suspected police shooting, which was based on a real-life incident in David Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.

In addition to Williams, several actors made guest appearances throughout the second season, including Julianna Margulies, Wilford Brimley, Isaiah Washington, Adrienne Shelly and a 13-year-old Jake Gyllenhaal. Homicide received generally positive reviews during the season, and the show received one Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for Williams. The "Bop Gun" script won a Writers Guild of America Award. Homicide was often compared to the ABC police drama series NYPD Blue, which Baldwin called "the knockoff of Homicide". While ratings improved during the second season, NBC still demanded further changes to the show before committing to a third season. The first and second seasons of Homicide were released together in a four-DVD box-set on May 27, 2003.

Cast Main Andre Braugher as Detective Frank Pembleton Kyle Secor as Detective Tim Bayliss Melissa Leo as Detective Kay Howard Yaphet Kotto as Lieutenant Al Giardello Daniel Baldwin as Detective Beau Felton Clark Johnson as Detective Meldrick Lewis Jon Polito as Detective Steve Crosetti Richard Belzer as Detective John Munch Ned Beatty as Detective Stan Bolander

Recurring Clayton LeBouef as Captain George Barnfather Gerald F. Gough as Colonel Burt Granger Julianna Margulies as Linda Michael S. Kennedy as Lieutenant Jimmy Tyron Jeff Mandon as Officer Fred Hellriegel Zeljko Ivanek as ASA Ed Danvers

Guest Wilford Brimley as Harry "The Admiral" Prentiss Robin Williams as Robert Ellison Isaiah Washington as Lane Staley Adrienne Shelly as Tanya Auinn Jake Gyllenhaal as Matt Ellison

Episodes When first shown on network television, "Bop Gun" aired out of the order in which it was originally produced as the season's premiere. The DVD of this season presents the episodes in their correct chronological order, restoring all storylines and character developments.

Development

Renewal

Nielsen ratings for Homicide: Life on the Street had gradually declined throughout the first season, leaving the show at high risk of cancellation by the time the season concluded. NBC executives asked for several refinements—including fewer episode subplots and less camera movements and jump cuts—before approving a second season. Executive producer Tom Fontana said he was willing "to do anything to keep NBC from forgetting us", although executive producer Barry Levinson said the show would maintain its realistic visual style, claiming, "We want a camera that's almost a participant in the show." Homicide was ultimately renewed, but the producers slightly toned down the show's bleak visual style and hand-held photography motif, and focused more strongly on single stories rather than multiple subplots. Fontana said, "We were experimenting with our first nine episodes. Whenever you try something new, you tend to err on the side of breaking ground. But we'd rather have more people watching, so the colors and lighting are slightly brighter, and the camera movements are not as jarring." However, both Levinson and Fontana insisted the changes were not entirely due to network pressure, but rather were evolutionary developments for the series.Kalat, p. 127

NBC ordered a four-episode second season, which would be broadcast in January 1994 as a mid-year replacement. A decision about whether to renew the show for a third season would then be made based on how those four episodes performed in the ratings.Kalat, p. 125 David P. Kalat, author of Homicide: Life on the Street – The Unofficial Companion, credited NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield with that move, although Levinson claimed NBC West Coast president Don Ohlmeyer was behind the decision. Ohlmeyer said he believed a better timeslot, less dense stories and less hand-held photography would attract more viewers and help the show succeed better: "For it to succeed long-term, there's a humanity that needs to be brought to the characters. There's more here than there was last year." Littlefield said of Homicide, "It's a show we think has tremendous potential that was not fully realized in the first nine episodes. And that's why we want to make more."

Homicide was moved from its previous timeslot of Wednesdays at9 p.m. EST to a new time on Thursdays at 10 p.m. Levinson and the other series producers considered this an extremely positive move for the show, as Homicide suffered greatly in the ratings on Wednesdays due to competition from the highly rated ABC comedy block featuring Home Improvement and Coach. Even during the first season, Levinson often said the series was truly designed for a 10 p.m. timeslot. Homicide took the timeslot previously held by the legal drama L.A. Law, which was placed on a six-week hiatus from December 23 until early February. With some critics claiming L.A. Law had declined in quality, the hiatus led to speculation that it would be canceled and Homicide would replace it. This led to some tension during an NBC reception when L.A. Law star Corbin Bernsen approached Homicide actor Richard Belzer and shouted expletives at him, yelling, "You stole our timeslot!"

The producers of Homicide said the decision to evaluate the series after a four-episode season placed tremendous pressure on the staff of the show. Fontana said one-hour dramas need time to fully develop and allow audiences to become familiar with the characters. Fontana expressed frustration with NBC in some news interviews, claiming the networks seemed to lack the courage to either cancel or renew it: "They will run it in a 10 p.m. time period for a month and then they'll kiss us goodbye... I'm used to this kind of treatment from NBC. I'm a little surprised they'd treat Barry Levinson the same way they'd treat me." In other interviews, however, Fontana said he saw the decision as a sign of support: "This is not just a casual action on NBC's part. It's a real statement to me that we have a possibility to return." Levinson said he believed "four shots are better than nothing", adding:

What I learned is that it is very hard for a network to make a real commitment. A hit-and-run sensibility is prevalent... In all fairness to NBC, this is a tougher kind of show than any other show they carry. It is different, and no one is going to endorse different in this world, no one celebrates different.

Crew

Homicide was produced by Levinson's company Baltimore Pictures, which had partnered with Reeves Entertainment during the first season. However, Reeves Entertainment went out of business after the first season concluded, so NBC bought into the show and formally became a co-producer, which gave the network more latitude to demand creative changes.Kalat, p. 126 The second season marked the debut of Jean de Segonzac as director of photography. He replaced Wayne Ewing, who Levinson felt was too inexperienced and did not trust with the responsibility of managing the show's cinematography. Among Segonzac's film credits was Laws of Gravity (1992), which was directed by Nick Gomez, who directed the Homicide first-season episode "Son of a Gun".

Season premiere "Bop Gun" was directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, a feature director then best known for such films as Waterland (1992) and A Dangerous Woman (1993). Chris Menaul directed the back-to-back episodes "See No Evil" and "Black and Blue", while the season finale, "A Many Splendored Thing", was directed by John McNaughton, who previously directed Homicide star Belzer in the film Mad Dog and Glory (1993).Kalat, p. 137 The second season included much of the same crew as the first: in addition to executive producers Levinson and Fontana, Jim Finnerty returned as supervising producer, Debbie Sarjeant worked as associate supervisor and screenwriter James Yoshimura became story editor starting with the second season, with Bonnie Mark as a staff writer and Chris Friel as a script supervisor. Other crew included Cindy Mollo as editor, Vincent Peranio as production designer, Susan Kessel as set decorator, Roland Berman as costume designer, Ivan Fonseca as post-production coordinator, Bruce Litkey as sound mixer and Louis DiGiaimo and Pat Moran as casting directors. Ted Zachary and Allan Chaflin worked as the executives in charge of production.

Cast Almost the entire original cast from season one returned for the second season, including Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher, Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Melissa Leo, Jon Polito and Kyle Secor. The only permanent cast member not to return was Wendy Hughes, who previously played medical examiner Carol Blythe; her absence was never explained on-screen other than a mention in the episode "A Many Splendored Thing" that Bolander and Blythe had broken up. While the rest of the cast was contractually obliged to return, many of them had offers for other films, television shows or plays, and the logistics of arranging their schedules so all of them could return for the show was difficult. In an interview, Fontana claimed the cast was contractually entitled to be paid for 13 episodes but they all agreed to take less money and come back for the shortened-season. The uncertainty over whether Homicide would be renewed or not created a great deal of stress for some cast members. Polito said of the feeling, "Where is limbo? It's in Baltimore."Kalat, p. 128 Baldwin in particular expressed frustration with NBC for failing to renew the show for a full season and said he feared the uncertainty could hurt his film career:

For two years now, I've been walking around thinking, 'Why did I do this? Why did I subject myself to this nonsense?' I will never, ever do another series. Ever. Ever. Ever. Ever. There is no justice in television... Where's the confidence? Why aren't I here talking about being picked up for 22 episodes? I want to say to Warren Littlefield: Can you read? Can you read? I've never seen this kind of critical response to a show before.