When it was originally on: 1997-2003

Original network: HBO

Where you can stream it now: HBO Max

Had I seen it before: Nope, never seen it

What IMDb says: Follows the daily activities of the Inmates at the Oswald Maximum Security Correctional Facility (aka “Oz” for short), an unusual prison where its criminal inhabitants face challenges head on behind bars and do all they can to stay alive.

Why I picked it: Technically, Oz was HBO’s first original series, not counting limited series. The beginning of a new era of TV. Yet I never hear people talk about it the way people talk about The Sopranos or The Wire. It’s not like it flopped, it got six seasons. It’s just not part of “the canon” the same way, and I’m not entirely sure why.

What I liked: Oz has a lot of great stuff going for it. There are a lot of characters that had wildly different lives on the outside, and the dramatic possibilities of watching them try to coexist in this prison feel limitless. One guy is a Muslim political activist who might organize the prisoners to rebel against the guards! There’s beef between a new prisoner and the Italian mobsters!

I also love that there’s an “experimental” part of the prison dedicated to trying to reform the prison. Emerald City, call it. It gives the show a Capital-T Theme. Is reform even possible? Is it worth even trying? It elevates the show beyond just prisoners-beating-up-other prisoners. We’re watching prison administrators argue over different philosophies of how prison is supposed to work. What’s the right amount of discipline? What’s the right amount of freedom? And we’re watching how things that sound nice in theory may or may not work in practice.
It creates this pressure cooker where there’s conflicting pressures on all these inmates; they have to be one thing to be respected by other inmates, another thing for some guards, all the while McManus is setting other standards for reform.

What I didn’t like: Don’t really have that many negatives here!

Do I want to watch Ep. 2?: Yes! There was great drama here both on the episodic level and in terms of getting me excited for potentially series-long conflicts.