There’s no question that Homicide: Life on The Street should be considered part of the Dick Wolf universe.
The gritty 1990s police drama was revolutionary in several ways, some of which make it feel refreshingly modern when watching it on Peacock several decades after it ended.
It also has one direct connection with Law & Order: SVU, and its fingerprints are all over some of Dick Wolf’s other shows.
John Munch Was The Bridge Between Shows
The Character Originated on Homicide Before Transferring To SVU
The most obvious reason Homicide should be considered part of the Dick Wolf universe is that Richard Belzer’s John Munch appeared on both Homicide and Law & Order: SVU.
Munch was quite the traveler after Homicide ended, making cameos in The X-Files and The Wire in addition to being part of the SVU unit for its first 15 seasons.
He is one of the characters most associated with Homicide and was missed on SVU long before Richard Belzer’s death.
Homicide offered Munch at his most cynical — and his most sensitive.
This was a guy whose introduction to the audience was snapping at a suspect that he was “not Montel Williams” and wouldn’t fall for obvious lies and who once tricked someone into confessing to murder by rigging a copy machine to appear to be able to tell when someone was telling the truth.
But he was also the guy who couldn’t let go of an unsolved case long after it went cold and struggled with his feelings about his faith while solving some murders in the Jewish community.
These traits carried over to SVU, where Munch once divulged that he blamed himself for his father’s suicide and often worked on cold cases toward the end of his run.
Munch Had Worked With The NYPD Before During Crossovers
Homicide’s Crossovers With The Original Law & Order Prove It Is Part Of The Dick Wolf Universe
In 1996, Law & Order and Homicide had a two-part crossover episode, with one part airing on each show.
This was unprecedented at the time, as crossovers between police procedurals were not the norm, especially when they weren’t produced by the same people.
The crossover episode was not only well-received but is absolute proof that Homicide should be considered part of the Dick Wolf universe.
Van Buren was impressed with Pembleton’s interrogation technique, though Jack McCoy wasn’t happy with the way Pembleton ran ripshod over the suspect’s civil rights. (Ironically, Pembleton has the same argument with Bayliss in the series premiere when Bayliss calls him out on this type of behavior.)
Meanwhile, Munch hit it off with Lenny Briscoe, Jerry Orbach’s iconic Law & Order character, as the two were both overly cynical detectives who had three failed marriages under their belts.
No wonder Munch decided to come to New York after Homicide’s final episode. He was never the kind of guy who fit in anywhere, but the homicide unit where Briscoe worked was probably the closest thing to it he’d experienced.
Homicide’s Themes Opened The Door For Outstanding Drama
Dick Wolf’s Shows Are Also Known For Questioning The Legal System
Homicide was not afraid to tackle tough questions.
The series, which was shot on-location in Baltimore, stuck closely to its source material in the early episodes: a non-fiction book about Baltimore homicide detectives by David Simon.
Munch’s hit-and-run case in the first episode is a nearly perfect replica of a story in the book, for example.
This was the precursor to the “ripped from the headlines” aspect of the Law & Order shows, and is so similar that it’s easy to see why Homicide should be considered part of the Dick Wolf universe.
Unsurprisingly, several Homicide alums have turned up on Dick Wolf shows, notably Andre Braugher as a defense attorney on Law & Order: SVU and Jon Seda as Antonio Dawson on Chicago P.D.
More importantly, Homicide offered the grittiness, serious themes, and emotional consequences for the detectives in the unit that the Law & Order franchise later became famous for.
Bayliss’ series-long arc, in which he never got over being unable to put the killer of an 11-year-old girl behind bars, was so powerful that I remember it nearly three decades later even though I’ll need to rewatch it to recall her name.
Similarly, an exchange between Pembleton and Lewis is forever etched in my mind because it drives the point home of the horrors these detectives have to face on a regular basis:
Meldrick Lewis: He killed someone over a pen. Tell me how that makes sense.
Frank Pembleton: You show me any one of these murders that makes any damn sense.
Without Homicide paving the way for stories about detectives experiencing and pushing aside trauma in order to get justice for strangers, there wouldn’t have been the powerful arcs we’ve had on Law & Order: SVU and several of the other shows.
Homicide also tackled many social issues in a way that was shockingly explicit, especially considering that it aired in the 1990s.
Some viewers think Dick Wolf shows are too “woke” today, but I was surprised that the pilot of Homicide not only had Pembleton accuse another detective of racism, but used the racial slur.
I don’t know if it was bleeped out for broadcast, but either way, the series made no effort to sugarcoat what it was dealing with.
Similarly, Bayliss holds the distinction of being one of the few bisexual men on television. There still isn’t enough of that type of LGBTQ+ representation on television today, but I can’t imagine the Law & Order or One Chicago shows tackling these issues at all if Homicide hadn’t done it first.
Of course, Homicide shouldn’t be considered part of the Dick Wolf universe just because it was a trailblazer. Many series tackle these issues today.
Still, Wolf uses a similar style and many of the same themes, so it’s fair to say that his shows owe a debt to Homicide.
Over to you, Homicide fans.
Why do you think Homicide should be considered part of the Dick Wolf universe?
After you’ve rewatched a few episodes on Peacock, hit the comments with your thoughts.
Homicide: Life on The Streets originally aired on NBC in the 1990s. It currently streams on Peacock.