Oz is an American prison drama television series created, co-executive produced, and principally written by Tom Fontana. Set at a fictional men's prison, it was the first one-hour dramatic television series produced by the premium cable network HBO. Oz ran for six seasons, from its premiere on July 12, 1997, to its series finale on February 23, 2003.
Overview "Oz" is the nickname for the Oswald State Correctional Facility, formerly Oswald State Penitentiary, a fictional level 4 maximum-security state prison in an unspecified East Coast state, although references throughout the series point to New York as its location. The nickname "Oz" also refers to L. Frank Baum's fictional Land of Oz. Most of the series' story arcs are set in "Emerald City", a wing of the prison that is named after a fantastic place in the Oz books.
Plot In an experimental unit of the prison, unit manager Tim McManus emphasizes rehabilitation and learning responsibility during incarceration, rather than carrying out purely punitive measures. Emerald City is an extremely controlled environment, with a carefully managed balance of members from each racial and social group, intended to ease tensions among these various factions. However, almost all of these factions are constantly at war with one another which often results in many prisoners being beaten, raped, or murdered.
Under McManus and Warden Leo Glynn, all inmates in "Em City" struggle to fulfill their own needs. Some fight for power – either over the drug trade or over other inmate factions and individuals. Others, corrections officers and inmates alike, simply want to survive, some long enough to make parole and others just to see the next day. The show's narrator, inmate Augustus Hill, explains the show, and provides context, thematic analysis, and a sense of humor.
Oz chronicles McManus' attempts to keep control over the inmates of Em City. There are many groups of inmates throughout the show, and not everyone within each group survives the show's events. There are the African-American Homeboys (Adebisi, Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keane) and Muslims (Said, Arif, Khan), the Wiseguys (Pancamo, Nappa, Schibetta, Ortolani), the Aryan Brotherhood (Schillinger, Robson, Mack), the Latinos of El Norte (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), the Irish (Mostly made up of the O'Reily brothers), the Gays (Hanlon, Cramer, Ginzburg, Torquemada), the Bikers (Hoyt, Ross), the Christians (Cloutier, Coushaine, Cudney) and many other individuals not completely affiliated with one particular group (Rebadow, Busmalis, Keller, Stanislofsky). In contrast to the dangerous criminals, central character Tobias Beecher gives a look at a usually law-abiding albeit alcoholic man who made one fatal drunk-driving mistake.
Cast and characters
Main actors are credited as "starring" in the opening title sequence, while supporting actors are listed under "also starring". Guest actors are listed in the show's end credits.
Main
Actor Character Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ernie Hudson Warden Leo Glynn colspan="6" Terry Kinney Tim McManus colspan="6" Harold Perrineau Augustus Hill colspan="6" Eamonn Walker Kareem Saïd colspan="6" Kirk Acevedo Miguel Alvarez colspan="5" Rita Moreno Sister Peter Marie Reimondo colspan="5" J. K. Simmons Vernon Schillinger colspan="6" Lee Tergesen Tobias Beecher colspan="6" Dean Winters Ryan O'Reily colspan="5" Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Simon Adebisi colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan="2"
Supporting
Actor Character Seasons 1 2 3 4 5 6 B.D. Wong Father Ray Mukada colspan="6" Edie Falco Officer Diane Whittlesey colspan="3" colspan="2" Sean Whitesell Donald Groves colspan="5" Tony Musante Nino Schibetta colspan="5" Leon Robinson Jefferson Keane colspan="4" Jon Seda Dino Ortolani colspan="4" Lauren Vélez Dr. Gloria Nathan colspan="6" George Morfogen Bob Rebadow colspan="5" J. D. Williams Kenny Wangler colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="2" Željko Ivanek Governor James Devlin colspan="2" colspan="4" muMs da Schemer Arnold "Poet" Jackson colspan="2" colspan="4" Granville Adams Zahir Arif colspan="2" colspan="4" Rick Fox Jackson Vahue colspan="2" Eddie Malavarca Peter Schibetta colspan="3" colspan="2" Tom Mardirosian Agamemnon Busmalis colspan="4" Christopher Meloni Chris Keller colspan="4" Scott William Winters Cyril O'Reily colspan="4" Austin Pendleton William Giles colspan="3" Kathryn Erbe Shirley Bellinger colspan="2" Luis Guzmán Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez colspan="2" colspan="2" Mark Margolis Antonio Nappa colspan="2" Chuck Zito Chucky Pancamo colspan="2" colspan="3" R.E. Rodgers James Robson colspan="4" Evan Seinfeld Jaz Hoyt colspan="4" Otto Sanchez Carmen "Chico" Guerra colspan="4" Sean Dugan Timmy Kirk colspan="2" Robert Clohessy Officer Sean Murphy colspan="2" colspan="4" Kristin Rohde Officer Claire Howell colspan="2" colspan="4" Philip Casnoff Nikolai Stanislofsky colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="3" Seth Gilliam Officer Clayton Hughes colspan="2" colspan="2" colspan="3" Kevin Conway Seamus O'Reily colspan="2" colspan="3" Charles Busch Nathaniel "Nat" Ginzburg colspan="2" colspan="2" David Zayas Enrique Morales colspan="3" colspan="3" Reg E. Cathey Martin Querns colspan="3" Erik King Moses Deyell colspan="3" colspan="2" Lance Reddick Johnny Basil / Desmond Mobay colspan="3" colspan="2" Lord Jamar Supreme Allah / Kevin Ketchum colspan="3" colspan="2" Michael Wright Omar White colspan="3" colspan="3" Anthony Chisholm Burr Redding colspan="3" colspan="3" Luke Perry Jeremiah Cloutier colspan="3" colspan="2" Betty Buckley Suzanne Fitzgerald colspan="3" colspan="3" Blake Robbins Officer Dave Brass colspan="3" colspan="2" Patti LuPone Stella Coffa colspan="5" Joel Grey Lemuel Idzik colspan="5" Bobby Cannavale Alonzo Torquemada colspan="5"
Episodes
Oz took advantage of the freedoms of premium cable to show elements of coarse language, drug use, violence, frontal nudity, homosexuality, and rape of males, as well as ethnic and religious conflicts that would have been unacceptable to traditional advertiser-supported American broadcast television.
Broadcast Syndication On April 21, 2009, Variety announced that starting May 31, DirecTV will broadcast all 56 episodes in their original form without commercials and in up-scaled "high definition" on The 101 Network available to all subscribers. The episodes will also be available through DirecTV's On Demand service.
International broadcast history In Australia, Oz was screened uncensored on Channel "OH" on Optus TV, then free-to-air channel, SBS. This was also the case in Brazil, where it was aired by the SBT Network Corporation, late at night; in Ireland, where the series aired on free-to-air channel TG4 at 11 p.m.; in Israel, where Oz was displayed on the free-to-air commercial Channel 2; in Italy, where it was aired on the free-to-air Italia 1; and in the United Kingdom, where Channel 4 aired the show in a late-night time slot.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it was aired on the federal TV station called FTV. In Canada, Oz aired on the Showcase Channel at Friday 10 p.m. EST. In Croatia, Estonia, and Slovenia, the show was aired late at night on public, non-commercial, state-owned channels HRT, ETV, and RTV SLO, respectively. In Denmark, it appeared late at night on the non-commercial public service channel DR1. In Finland, it broadcast on the free-to-air channel Nelonen (TV4). In France, the show first aired on commercial cable channel Série Club and then on free-to-air channel M6, also late at night. In Malaysia, full episodes of Oz aired late at night on ntv7, while the censored version aired during the day. In the Netherlands, Oz aired on the commercial channel RTL 5. In New Zealand Oz aired on The Box at 9.30pm on Wednesdays in the early 2000s (decade). In Norway and Sweden, it aired on the commercial channels ZTV and TV3 late at night. In Panama, Oz aired on RPC-TV Channel 4 in a late-night hour. In Portugal, Oz aired late at night on SIC Radical, one of the SIC channels in the cable network. In Serbia, Oz aired on RTV BK Telecom. In Spain, the show aired on premium channel Canal+. In Turkey, Oz was aired on Cine5; DiziMax also aired the re-runs. In Japan, it aired on SuperChannel (now, Super! Drama TV) from 29 December 2001 to 22 July 2005.
Rights The series was co-produced by HBO and Rysher Entertainment (who owns the copyright), and the underlying U.S. rights lie with HBO Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment, which has released the entire series on DVD in North America. The international rights were owned originally by Rysher, then Paramount Pictures/Domestic Television after that company acquired Rysher. Paramount Global Content Distribution currently owns the international TV rights, and Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD owns the international DVD rights.
Reception
Critical reception
Critical reception of Oz was mostly positive. The first season of Oz has been ranked a 70 based on the rating aggregator website Metacritic, indicating generally favorable reviews by critics. Caryn James from The New York Times stated: "Set almost entirely in the prison, a high-tech horror with glass-walled cells, Oz can also be unpleasant to watch, it is so gruesome and claustrophobic. Yet... as the series moves beyond its introductory shock value, it becomes more serious, disturbing and gripping... The point of Oz, with its depiction of guilty men in torturous circumstances, is never subtle, but it is complicated and strong." Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "Engaging, often Brutal."
Other reviews were more critical of the series. Frederic Biddle of the Boston Globe said: "A pretentious exercise in cheap thrills, by great talents allowed to run amok." Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times reported: "Its uniqueness and arresting style don't earn it an unqualified endorsement here, for its first two Fontana-written episodes are absolute downersthere's no light at the end of a tunnel, nor even a tunnelthat offer no central characters to like or pull for... Be forewarned, too, that Oz is flat-out the most violent and graphically sexual series on TV."
Awards and nominations
Oz has had a successful run at many award associations, including, four wins out of sixteen nominations at the ALMA Awards, three wins out of six nominations at the Artios Awards, three wins out of seven nominations at the CableACE Awards, one win out of twenty-two nominations at the Online Film & Television Association Awards, and two wins out of five nomination at the Satellite Awards. It has also received awards at Il Festival Nazionale del Doppiaggio Voci nell'Ombra and the Edgar Awards.
Additional nominations consist of the NAACP Image Awards (seven), a GLAAD Media Award, a Producers Guild of America Award, a Writers Guild of America Award, and although the series has not been the recipient of any major awards, it was however nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (Charles S. Dutton), and Outstanding Casting for a Series (Alexa L. Fogel).
Home media VHS & DVD The first two seasons of Oz were released on VHS in box sets. HBO Home Video has released all six seasons of Oz on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2. The Region 1 releases contain numerous special features including commentaries, deleted scenes and featurettes. The Region 2 releases do not contain any special features.
SeasonRelease dateAdditional Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 The Complete First Season March 19, 2002 February 5, 2007 February 15, 2007 The Complete Second Season January 7, 2003 August 6, 2007 August 16, 2007 The Complete Third Season February 24, 2004 October 29, 2007 November 8, 2007 The Complete Fourth Season February 1, 2005 March 3, 2008 March 20, 2008 The Complete Fifth Season June 21, 2005 June 30, 2008 June 19, 2008 The Complete Sixth Season September 5, 2006 September 22, 2008 September 18, 2008 The Complete Series September 5, 2006 September 7, 2009
Soundtrack