101 Best Written TV Series

Aired: NBC, 1993-1999

Homicide was based on the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, written by David Simon from his time as a crime reporter at The Baltimore Sun. The book was given to Barry Levinson for a possible feature adaptation; Levinson, in turn, gave it to Tom Fontana to make into a TV series. Simon would go on to create The Wire, a more strictly serialized crime series set in inner-city Baltimore, but he cut his TV writing teeth working under Fontana on Homicide. "I think we're more schlub-like than most shows and I think there's something crudely appealing about that," Simon noted in Written By, back when Homicide was in its second, critically acclaimed season.

Credited Writers

Rafael Alvarez
Randall Anderson
Kevin Arkadie
Paul Attanasio
Noel Behn
Jack Behr
Jeanne Blake
Lee Blessing
Henry Bromell
Les Carter
Michael S. Chernuchin
Sara B. Cooper
T.J. English
Anya Epstein
Philip Epstein
Tom Fontana
Jean Gennis
Edward Gold
Ron Goldstein
Sharon Guskin
Lois Johnson
Joy Kechen
Yaphet Kotto
Christopher Kyle
Eugene Lee
D. Maria Legaspi
Barry Levinson
Joy Lusco
D. Keith Mano
Bonnie Mark
Julie Martin
Linda McGibney
David Mills
Phyllis Murphy
Eric Overmyer
Frank Pugliese
Willie Reale
Lloyd Rose
David Rupel
Deborah Sarjeant
Ayelet Sela
David Simon
Susan Sisko
Jane Smiley
Trish Soodik
Rogers Turrentine
Gay Walch
Lyle Weldon
Michael Whaley
Darryl LeMont Wharton
Emily Whitesell
Sean Whitesell
Matthew Witten
Jason Yoshimura
James Yoshimura
Jorge Zamacona