OZ (TV SERIES)

'''Oz''' was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by HBO. The show, which aired for six seasons (1997-2003), was created by Tom Fontana and produced by Barry Levinson.
''Oz'' is the nickname for the Oswald State Correctional Facility, a maximum-security prison of undisclosed location. Many of the plot arcs are set in Emerald City ("Em City"), an experimental unit of the prison, where the unit manager tries to emphasize rehabilitation and learning responsibility during incarceration. Emerald City is a controlled environment. There are a limited number of members of each racial and social group. The microcosm of Emerald City mirrors the racial and economic tensions in the then present-day United States.
''Oz'' avoids any easy answers as to the origin of violence and criminality. Even the worst offenders are shown to have moments of humanity, while the supposedly "normal" characters come to commit their own atrocities. One of the perspectives shown by ''Oz'' is that the rehabilitation of the prisoners is impossible when the system is largely corrupt. The show also focused largely on the abuse of the prisoners' rights and on the large increase of the incarcerated population on the U.S of the late 1990s. Whenever possible, the show presented a major negative perspective over the death penalty.
The large ensemble cast included many famous actors including Rita Moreno, Ernie Hudson and Betty Buckley, as well as ''Law & Order'' stars Kathryn Erbe, Christopher Meloni, B. D. Wong, J. K. Simmons, Dean Winters and Kirk Acevedo, ''Lost'' stars Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Harold Perrineau Jr., and ''Dexter'' stars Erik King, David Zayas, and Lauren Vélez. Many of the actors from Oz have appeared as guest stars or stars in the various ''Law & Order'' series, ''The Wire'', '', ''The Black Donnellys'', ''New York Undercover'', and ''Lost''.

Contents

Style

Cast and Characters

Sponsors

Prison groups

Episodes and broadcast history

Location

References in other media

Rights

Trivia

See also

References

Books

Sources

External links

Style

''Oz'' is narrated by Augustus Hill, a wheelchair-bound prisoner played by Perrineau, in surreal segments that usually relate to an overall theme of the episode. When necessary, usually when a character is introduced, Hill, in an omniscient fashion, narrates said character's prison number, their crime, and their sentence. Hill, a former drug dealer and ex-junkie, appeared as a recurring character in the show's storylines until the sixth season, in which narrating duties were taken up by various deceased characters as well as Hill. The narrations by Hill are thus a form of breaking the fourth wall, although he did not address the camera during scenes where he was interacting with the other characters in the story. Only once in the show does Hill appear to address another character with one of his narrations, in the season 3 episode ''Unnatural Disasters'' Adebisi turns on a computer to see Hill dressed as a pharaoh speak to him. (However, the unusual sight is quickly discarded by him as a drug-induced hallucination, and he never speaks of it).
The narration made by Augustus Hill over the series is similar in both purpose and execution to the role of the Greek chorus in Ancient theatre, both providing plot exposition, as well as commenting upon the events of the stories, giving the audience a clearer understanding of the narrative's moral / thematic standpoint.

Cast and Characters

Main articles: Characters of Oz

Sponsors

Due to Emerald City's unconventional configuration and routine, each new inmate is given a sponsor to help them get acclimated to Em City. Sponsor pairing seems to be random; however, specific requests have occasionally been made. Below is a list of inmates and sponsors.

Inmate	Sponsor
Tobias Beecher	Dino Ortolani
Donald Groves	Bob Rebadow
Jackson Vahue	Augustus Hill
Chris Keller	Tobias Beecher
Raoul 'El Cid' Hernandez	Miguel Alvarez
Jiggy Walker	Bob Rebadow
Desmond Mobay	Augustus Hill
Ralph Galino	Chucky Pancamo
Guillaume Tarrant	Jaz Hoyt
Supreme Allah	Kareem Said
Ronald Barlog	Tobias Beecher
Adam Guenzel	Tobias Beecher

Prison groups

There are ten main groups of prisoners on Oz, all divided by ethnicity, religion or other characteristics. The prison is 78% minority and racial problems constantly arise throughout the series. The groups were denoted in the second episode of Season 2, when Tim McManus formed an inmate council consisting of one member of each group. He determined that four prisoners from each description would be in Em City at all times; no more, no less. This system was scrapped when Querns briefly took over and started removing whites from the unit in favor of black inmates, but was (apparently) reinstituted when McManus took over. On occasion, new inmates would be inserted directly into Em City; in this case, someone would have to leave for Unit B.
Each of the groups are described below:

★ 'Muslims:' The Black Muslims are an African-American group of prisoners who read the Qur'an and look to improve life and conditions for blacks in general. They wish to expose what they perceive is racism, brutality, and injustice in the prison system whenever an opportunity arises. Led mainly by Kareem Said, the Muslims are against drugs and homosexuality. They for the most part get along with various gangs, until a fight breaks out with the Aryans; however, the Muslims are often left alone and not harassed due to their solidarity and numbers. They avoid contact with the Homeboys. In contrast to other gang leaders in Oz, Saïd himself is not feared as much as he is respected for proving himself to be smart, tough, and charismatic. Everybody knows that the Muslims will leave them alone if nothing is done to provoke them. The wiser gang leaders in Oz avoid conflict with them, and the not-so-wise ones who start conflict with them usually come to regret it. Saïd was however briefly deposed as leader after becoming emotionally involved with a (white) woman, and allowing Tobias Beecher to join the group.

★ 'Homeboys:' The second African-American group, these prisoners look to control the drug trade within Oz. Having the most soldiers of any group, they often have leadership and discipline conflicts; the vast majority of their members not only sell drugs, but heavily use them. Mainly led by Jefferson Keane, Simon Adebisi and Burr Redding, the Homeboys commit several murders and look to guarantee a spot in the drug trade by any means possible. They are feared by most inmates and are mainly in conflict with the Italian and Latino gangs.

★ 'Aryans:' The Aryan Brotherhood, led by Vernon Schillinger, are a white supremacist gang which hates blacks, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Chinese, and anyone who isn't purely white. They are one of the most sadistic gangs in Oz, raping and killing several inmates. They are against drug use and remain allied with the Bikers throughout the series.

★ 'Bikers:' The Bikers are a white gang which loves two things - "Tits and Tattoos." Although not involved in the drug dealing business, several of their members are heavy users. They also have the most tattoos of any group in Oz. Their key members are Scott Ross, followed by Jaz Hoyt. They are allied with the Aryan Brotherhood, and form a sort of back up in the case of black inmates attacking any member. Ross is most notorious for being killed by one of the hacks during a riot when he shoots Tim McManus.

★ 'Italians:' Willing to work with other gangs for dealing drugs, the Italians are often confronted by the Homeboys in order to dominate the drug trade. They are first led by Nino Schibetta, whose son Peter later takes over the group after Schibetta dies a the result of Simon Adebisi and Ryan O'Reily's scheme in which they had been grinding ground glass into his food over the period of a few months. Peter is later raped by Adebisi and suffers a nervous breakdown. The Italians are then led by Antonio Nappa and Chucky Pancamo. Nappa dies when Adibisi deliberately infects him with HIV-tainted blood. They often have influence within the prison staff as well, managing to pay off and hire several members to allow them to conduct their business. They are also the most connected gang outside of Oz and set up several murders (most notably Tobias Beecher's hit on Schillinger's son, Hank) and drug trades for a negotiable price. Most if not all of the Italian inmates' ancestors come from Sicily.

★ 'The Latinos:' The Hispanic gang on Oz, called El Norte, are mostly drug dealers. The Latinos in Oz are mostly of Puerto Rican ancestry. This gang is extremely ruthless, especially under the leadership of Raoul "El Cid" Hernandez. They work with the Italians more often when Enrique Morales runs the group. Throughout the series, inmate Miguel Alvarez often has his loyalty to the gang questioned due to an ongoing feud with Latino inmate Carmen Guerra.

★ 'The Irish:' The Irish are a smaller white gang, composed mainly of street hoodlums who wish to work with the drug dealing powers in Oz. The main focus of this gang is Ryan O'Reily, a cunning sociopath who works with and around the most dangerous inmates in Oz, often unharmed. They are not on good terms with the Aryans, ever since Schillinger raped O'Reily's younger brother, Cyril O'Reily. Other Irish inmates are Timmy Kirk, Liam Meaney, and Seamus O'Reily (Ryan and Cyril's father).

★ 'The Christians:' The Christians are a background gang in Oz that is predominantly white and use their religion to provide sanction for their members. Not a potential danger to any other gang, they get along with everyone and are more known when Reverend Jeremiah Cloutier comes to Oz for embezzlement.

★ 'The Gays:' The gay inmates are a combination of feminine and cross-dressing inmates. However, this group does not include all of the inmates involved in homosexual activity (most notably Beecher and Keller, who are in a homosexual relationship) rather only the ones who seem most effeminate and flamboyant. Notable characters from this otherwise backgrounded group include Tony Masters, Fiona, Nat Ginzburg, Billie Keane, Jason Cramer, and Alonzo Torquemada. Due to their lack of control of anything illegal and the homophobic views of the other inmates, the Gays are often viewed at the lower end of the inmate power structure. Because of their sexual orientation, they are also frequently targeted for rape by various gangs such as the Aryans, Homeboys and Latinos.

★ 'Others:' The others are an outcast group in Oz. Most provide little disciplinary problems to both the staff and other inmates. Robert Rebadow, Chris Keller, Omar White, Augustus Hill, Agamemnon Busmalis, Donald Groves, Jackson Vahue and Tobias Beecher have all been in this group. Rebadow claims to have survived the electric chair in 1965 during a power failure which caused a blackout to much of the northeastern United States. Keller is suspected of having killed three homosexual men after first having sex with them. White is a particular thorn in the side of McManus and will do anything for drugs. Hill, narrator at the beginning of each episode, is the one constant, even after he dies during the series. Busmalis is the "mole" who is always attempting to dig his way out of Oz and has a crush on "Miss Sally," a voluptuous television personality who hosts a tv show with two puppets each day. He develops a romantic relationship with one of Miss Sally's assistants and, after first being stood up by her at the altar, marries the assistant in a later episode. Vahue is a famous NBA basketball player locked up for rape. Beecher was a successful attorney until one day when he ran over a little girl riding her bicycle when he was drunk. In many respects Beecher, like Hill, is one of the constants of the show.

Episodes and broadcast history

Main articles: List of Oz episodes

''Oz'' took advantage of the freedoms of premium cable to show material that would be too extreme for traditional American broadcast television: coarse language, drug use, violence, male frontal nudity, homosexuality, rape, ethnic and religious conflict. Interestingly, in Australia, ''Oz'' was screened on the free-to-air channel SBS. This was also the case 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, in the United Kingdom where Channel 4 aired the show late night, in Ireland on TG4 where it was shown at 11pm, and in Brazil, where it was aired by SBT network corporation also late at night.In The Netherlands, Oz aired on the commercial Channel RTL 5 and in Sweden and Norway Oz aired on the commercial channels TV3 and ZTV late at night, and in Finland, on the free-to-air channel Nelonen (TV4). In Canada, Oz aired on the Showcase Channel at 10pm est. In Denmark, ''Oz'' appeared late night on the non-commercial public service channel DR1. In Spain the show is aired on Canal+, a premium channel. In Estonia, as well as Croatia, the show was aired late night on public non-commercial state-owned channels, ETV and HRT respectively. In Bosnia and Herzegovina it was aired on the federal TV station called FTV. In Portugal ''Oz'' is aired, late at night, on SIC Radical, one of the SIC channels in the cable network. In France the show is aired on a commercial cable channel 'Serie Club', also late at night. In Turkey, Oz was aired on Cine5, DiziMax also aired the re-runs. In Serbia, Oz was aired on RTV BK Telecom.
The program's seasonal length (eight episodes, Seasons 1, 2, 3, 5, 6; sixteen episodes, Season 4) is an example of a trend for cable network programming to feature shorter seasons than American free-to-air channels, which typically feature more than twenty episodes per season.

Location

The state that ''Oz'' is set in is never named. However through most of the viewing, it is assumed to be in the Northeast and is most likely modeled on New York. Robert Rebadow survived the electric chair by the Great Northeast Blackout, and the fact that the heroin traded in the prison is white also leans towards their location being in the Northeast; white heroin is more popular in the East while black tar heroin is more common in the midwest. The show was filmed in New York City for the first four seasons, then Bayonne, New Jersey for the last two seasons. Both times the exterior of Oz is shown, it was filmed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York and the New York state flag is visible. There is also evidence that it is set in New York as in Season 1 when a new correctional officer arrives he says he gets lost after turning off Route 7A. Route 7A is located in upstate New York. Tim McManus also brings his dates to the diner that his father used to own which is said to be next to the Attica Correctional Facility.
However, there is evidence that the show may be set in Illinois, especially in references by the banker and more white collar criminals. Also, when the terrorist from Ireland is sent to Oz, the Illinois Court system is mentioned; later, the character played by Christopher Meloni is shipped to Massachusetts, implied to be a long ways away (thus discounting New York as a locale, as the two states border one another). Finally, the prison gang name of the Latino's, El Norte, references Mexican/Central American, and not Puerto Rican lineage (El Norte being a slang term for the U.S. for Mexican immigrants). While Puerto Rican influence is by far the largest Latino influence in New York, Mexican influence on Latino culture is stronger in Midwestern and Western states, such as Illinois.

References in other media

★ In an episode of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'', Johnathan and Andrew are locked up in the local Sunnydale jailhouse. Johnathan is paranoid about jail, but Andrew scathingly reminds him, "This isn't Oz; this is Mayberry."

★ An episode of NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' hosted by Jerry Seinfeld featured an "episode" of ''Oz'' (using the actual set and actors) where Jerry, as the character who was sent to prison during the final episode of ''Seinfeld'' and the actor, is transferred to Em City; the short film combines and parodies memorable moments in both series.

★ '' MADtv did two ''Oz'' parodies: one with Bill Cosby (Aries Spears) in jail (called ''Coz'') and another where Martha Stewart (played by Mo Collins) is sent to the Oswald Correctional Facility and uses her recipes and home decorating ideas to kill the other prisoners.

★ The episode "Fast Times at Buddy Cianci Jr. High" of FOX's ''Family Guy'' featured Lois Griffin believing her son Chris to have killed a man, whereas it was actually the man's wife who did the deed. Lois briefly contemplates calling the police but forgets it, stating, "I can't call the police. I have to get rid of this body or Chris will go to prison, and we all know what happens in prison showers! I've seen Oz!" It then cuts to a group of naked inmates scrubbing each others backs in the shower singing a song to the tune to "Merry Old Land of Oz" from ''The Wizard of Oz''.

★ The ''Arrested Development'' episode "Visiting Ours" featured a young, traumatized George Michael Bluth watching an episode of ''Oz'', mistaking the show for the film ''The Wizard of Oz''; as a result, George Michael spends the entire series petrified of prisons.

★ The ''South Park'' episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000," in which character Eric Cartman is sent to juvenile hall, is a clear parody of ''Oz'', even featuring the show's theme song.

★ ''The Simpsons'' episode "The Seven-Beer Snitch" features Homer Simpson becoming a snitch and receiving a series of gifts and privileges, one of which being an "adorable little hat" identical to the one worn by Simon Adebisi in ''Oz''.

★ ''The Venture Bros.'' episode "Powerless in the Face of Death" features music similar to the ''Oz'' opening theme during a prison scene.

★ In the HBO series ''Six Feet Under'', the characters David Fisher and Keith Charles are seen watching ''Oz'' and talking about the show on occasion.

★ In a season 3 episode of another HBO series, ''The Wire'', Omar Little and Dante are seen watching an intimate scene from a season 6 episode of ''Oz'' between Tobias Beecher and Chris Keller.

★ In one episode of ''Queer as Folk'', Brian's nephew says he hopes Brian is sent to jail and anally raped by a black man. Justin comments that his parents must have HBO.

★ In an episode of ''The O.C.'', when Seth is picking out a comic to give to Ryan's brother in jail, Ryan suggests a different one and Seth says "The guy's in prison man, have you seen Oz? I'm sure that'll be fine..."

Rights

The series was co-produced by HBO and Rysher Entertainment, and the underlying US rights lie with HBO, which has released the entire series on DVD in North America. The international rights were owned originally by Rysher, then Paramount Pictures/Television after that company acquired Rysher. CBS Paramount International Television currently owns the international TV rights, and Paramount Home Entertainment owns the international DVD rights (the first two seasons have been released outside the US).

Trivia

189 people died in the show (Murder, suicide, flashbacks) only one character died of natural causes which makes OZ the most violent TV-show ever.

See also

★ List of Oz Deaths

★ List of Oz episodes

References

Books

★ ''OZ -- Behind These Walls: The Journal of Augustus Hill'', (ISBN 0-06-052133-3)

Sources

★ Season 1, Episode 2, DVD Commentary on "Oz: The Complete First Season."

External links

★ Oz's transcripts

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