AllMovie

In a rare PBS-to-"commercial" TV crossover, this documentary went behind the scenes of the popular NBC cop series Homicide: Life on the Street. The focus was on a single episode, "Subway," which aired December 5, 1997. Essentially a mood-and-character piece involving the foredoomed victim of a freak subway accident (brilliantly played by Vincent D'Onofrio), this episode ended up winning a Peabody award and racking up two Emmy nominations. In addition to showing the actual filming of the episode, the documentary delved into the processes of writing, casting, producing, and directing -- and also offered glimpses of the intense internal battles between TV production companies and network executives (some of whom, in this case, felt that the Homicide episode was "too raw" for public consumption). Anatomy of a 'Homicide: Life on the Street' made its initial PBS appearance on November 4, 1998.