OZ: The Complete First Season (DVD)

For anyone who has no idea what Oz is, its a prison drama. Like Prison Break you may say, and I would have to say certainly not. You see, Oz is not about contrived plots, goodies and baddies, suspense, Hollywood scripts, showing the good in people etc. No, Oz is rougher than your mum. Oz is simply the accurate portrayal of life in a maximum security prison in the US, possibly somewhere just inland of the East coast (tho that may be way off) The crux if Oz is that although plots develop through each season, particularly the first, its the day to day interactions of the inmates with each other and the prison wardens which makes it special. And believe me, some ...  Read the complete review

Oz is an American television drama series set in the fictional Oswald State Correctional Facility, created by writer and producer Tom Fontana. Originally broadcast in July 1997 it spanned for six complete seasons until 2003 and was the first one hour television drama produced by premium American cable network HBO. Season 1 of Oz consists of just eight episodes, each running approximately 55 minutes so it's pretty concise when compared with other American hit series such as Lost, 24, Prison Break or Heroes. The title Oz comes from the nickname given to the fictional maximum-security prison, which is in an unmentioned location. The majority of the storylines ...  Read the complete review

People have sung the praises of HBO darlings such as The Sopranos, Deadwood and The Wire for years, but rarely is the show Oz mentioned, despite being in the same league as these shows undoubtedly. Running from 1997-2003, this is HBO's flagship "gritty" drama, and established them as a network to watch. Oz is the abbreviation for Oswald State Correctional Facility, a high security prison in New York, and the majority of the show's drama takes place in Emerald City ("Em City"), an experimental cell block managed by Tim McManus (Terry Kinney), an idealistic prison officer who believes that he can rehabilitate criminals, and that even if he ...  Read the complete review

Oz! What can i say! Well to start off its nothing like Prison Break! This is a hard hitting, pulling no punches kind of prison drama not seen on TV before. I first watched this late night by accident. There was no advertising this drama anywhere - it was just on. After the first episode i was hooked and subsequently watched all the seasons. There are so many people in the entire series who are on current TV now you will instantly recognize them. The likes of J.K Simmons (Spiderman), Michael Wright (The Five Heartbeats), Luiz Guzman (Carlito's Way), Chris Meloni (Law and Order) and Adewale Akinnouye-Agbaje (Lost). In all there are Six season - all ending with a superb ...  Read the complete review