There's more than one way to snuff the life out of a television series. For a while, it looked as if "Homicide: Life on the Street" would simply be murdered by NBC as the rule-breaking and stubbornly downbeat police show was shunted from one day and time period to another, leaving even its fans confused.
But now "Homicide" is ensconced in Friday slot (9 p.m. MST), not the best spot on the weekly schedule, but at least a steady gig. Furthermore, the network has just announced, even as ratings remain soft, an order for seven more episodes that will take the series well into 1995.But current episodes indicate that the series itself could be on the verge of suicide, creatively speaking. Jagged edges are being smoothed, and the dark humor is turning into shtick.
No doubt encouraged by network nabobs, the producers are clearly trying to make "Homicide" more viewer-friendly. Grit is fading into cute.
The core detective shift is overseen by Lt. Al Giardello (Yaphet Kotto), a big, gruff guy deploying his men through unending scenes of urban violence. An episode usually mixes self-contained cases with one story arc that can run on for two or more episodes.
At its best, "Homicide" remains formidable. The humor can be delightfully off the wall. When the series returned last month for a third season, the first scene found the regulars discussing television in typically disconnected fashion. John Munch (Richard Belzer) patiently explained to a complaining Stan Bolander (Ned Beatty) that "it's TV, Stan, it's not supposed to be real."
Then a story arc was set in motion that turned out to be riveting. A serial killer was on the loose, murdering young Roman Catholic women whose bodies were left wearing nothing but white gloves. After some tensions generated by a racist white cop, Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher), a black detective, was chosen to head the investigation. Reaching back to what "the Jesuits taught me" in school, Frank, a lapsed Catholic, came face to face with pure evil in the guise of a woman saying she had a multiple-personality disorder. Rattling good stuff for weekly prime time.
At the same time, however, "Homicide" was taking detours into routines that smell suspiciously like television as usual.
A new character, Lt. Megan Russert (Isabella Hofmann), providing a female presence in the upper echelons, turned out to be having an affair with Detective Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin).
"Homicide" has drifted into a seemingly endless routine about Munch and his fellow detective Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson), who want to buy a local bar but need a third partner.
In the next two episodes, beginning Friday, the saloon quandary keeps dribbling along but is overshadowed by an even more blatant dive into gimmickry, this time the kind of thing that keeps afternoon talk shows percolating.
Enter Emma Zoole (Lauren Tom), a simmering young sculptor who makes crime-scene models. After spurning the advances of Lewis, Emma connects torridly with boyish Tim Bayliss, the unit's rookie, and they end up at her place making love in a coffin.
NBC obviously thinks this is the way for "Homicide" to go. The two episodes have been rushed onto the schedule for the November sweeps.
In the process, a fine episode titled "Crosetti," in which the detective once played by Jon Polito is found drowned, has been postponed to December. Of course, references are made in the current two episodes to Crosetti's death, but narrative logic doesn't stand a chance against rating ploys.
Let's hope that coffin doesn't turn out to be more of a fateful symbol than a prop.