When HBO was looking to expand its scheduling to include hour - farseeing dramas in the late1990s , the web wasintriguedby author / manufacturer Tom Fontana ’s pitch about a maximum security prison house and a specific area , dubbed Emerald City , where captive could have more tolerance in the hope it would allow for their renewal . Fontana came up with the idea pursue his work onHomicide : Life on the Street , where manslayer were get off away : He wanted to explore what happen next .
BeforeThe SopranosorThe Wire , television ’s fortunate age arguably begin on HBO on July 12 , 1997 , when the premium internet premiere Fontana ’s prison house dramaOz . As HBO’sfirst attemptat an hour - farsighted striking series , it laid the groundwork for the 12 of peril - pickings , novel , and novelistic shows to abide by . arrest out some fact on the cast , the gore , and the alternate series finale estimation that was never shoot .
Oz’s creator is the person you see getting tattooed in the intro.
Tom Fontana , a former playwright , got his big good luck in television with the 1980s NBC hospital dramaSt . Elsewhere . In an telling display of loyalty toOz — especially since he did n’t know if the show would even last beyond a time of year — Fontana volunteered his subdivision to get an “ Oz ” tattoo for the porta credits montage . The tattoo creative person keptretracinghis acerate leaf work so the gang could get the best take . Eventually , the artist stopped , saying that he “ ca n’t let this guy bleed anymore . ”
Oz’s Greek chorus monologues were a necessity.
Viewers who tuned in toOzwere in for a shock — the show feature the kind of graphic violence and casual nudity you ’d find in an factual prison house . But they were also sometimes puzzled by Fontana ’s narrative habit of putting one of the captive , Augustus Hill ( Harold Perrineau ) , in front of the camera for fourth - paries - break soliloquies . Fontanasaidhe chose this approaching because “ in prison , guys are n’t that forthcoming about what they think and what they feel because that leaves them open and vulnerable to attack … so my thought was just to let someone articulate what all this craziness meant . ”
Ozwas filmed in a cracker factory.
To house the sprawling,60,000 - square footprison readiness , HBOcommandeeredan abandoned National Biscuit Company ( a.k.a . Nabisco ) factory in Manhattan . ( The edifice had been thefirstto mass - green goods Oreo cookies for the company . ) The infinite was hold after Fontanacouldn’t findany empty prisons in which to fool away .
Playing a Neo-Nazi inOzmade J.K. Simmons feel depressed.
Ozis in all probability best remembered for its sprawling ensemble cast , with worker like Chris Meloni , J.K. Simmons , and Perrineau all going on to successful careers ; others , like Ernie Hudson and Rita Moreno , were already well - established . At the time , Simmons appear to be having particular fuss inhabiting the detestable pelt of Vern Schillinger , the promontory of the prison ’s Indo-Aryan population . Simmons referred to Schillinger in the third person andtoldTheNew York Timesin 1999 that he became “ depressed ” as a result of the theatrical role . In aninterviewwith NPR , Simmons also divvy up that fan would on occasion blockade him in the street to let him know they endorsed Schillinger ’s stand .
Real ex-cons worked onOz.
For reality ’s sake , Fontanainstructedhis honk director to take ex - cons as extras whenever he could . Not all of them were relegate to the margins : Chuck Zito , who had a recur role as Italian mafia heavy Chucky Pancamo , was a then - penis of the Hells Angels and had servedsix old age in prisonfor various criminal offense . More notably , he encounter press insurance coverage for allegedly knocking out Jean - Claude Van Damme at a strip order in 1998 .
Tom Fontana didn’t want to kill Simon Adebesi.
From the first sequence , Fontana made certain viewers did n’t grow too fond of any single character : One of the ostensible leads of the show , Dino Ortolani ( Jon Seda ) , was murdered at the conclusion of the pilot episode , and the serial picked prisoners off with geometrical regularity from that point on . But Fontana was n’t initiation - happy when it came to kill off Simon Adebisi , the calculating , toothpick - munching convict with a tiny lid sitting precipitously on the side of his psyche , who was played by Adewale Akinnuoye - Agbaje . “ I did n’t want to kill that role , but it was a necessity due to the actor ’s wanting to move on , ” Fontana toldCNNin 2003 , “ rather than me pronounce , ‘ This is the end of the story . ’ ”
Ozpredicted special musical episodes.
Remember the melodious sequence ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer ? OrScrubs?Ozdid it first . With a cast conduct in great part from the New York theater scene , the series was able toassemblean impressive all - song - and - dance instalment in 2002 . The high spot : Nazi Schillinger ( Simmons ) and nemesis Tobias Beecher ( Lee Tergesen ) in a duet .
There was a different ending planned forOz.
After six season , Ozended in 2003 with the live cast members being — spoiler qui vive — evacuated from Oswald State trace a chemical attack . But Fontana originally want to do something else . Herecalled readingabout a prison house town that once flooded , forcing inmates to work side - by - side with citizen to build sandbag barrier to protect the entire residential district . It was deemed too expensive to shoot .
Fontana wouldn’t let his mom watchOz.
Despite her verbalise desire to see her son ’s workplace , Fontana told the press he was adamantine that his then-75 - year - erstwhile mother not watchOz . “ She said , ‘ I know a good deal about what go on in the mankind , ’ ” Fontanasaidin 1997 . “ I say , ‘ You do n’t have sex about this . ’ This is n’t a place I need my 75 - yr - honest-to-god female parent to go . ”
Fontana filmed a shortOzepilogue.
On May 1 , 2024 , Fontana dropped a new 16 - min little film , Zo , on YouTube . The section revisits Tobias Beecher and Ryan O’Reilly concisely after both are unblock from Em City : The two discuss some bare business . ( The film originallypremieredat the ATX Festival in 2021.)Accordingto mold appendage Kirk Acevedo , it ’s possible that if the short is well - received , moreOzcould follow .
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A version of this chronicle ran in 2020 ; it has been updated for 2024 .
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