10 Reasons Why Everyone Should Watch Homicide Life On The Street
2. Its Progressive Equality And Breaking Of Racial Barriers
For the first time, a cop show was designed to mirror the real-life equality of the police force. Baltimore is a city with a great African-American population, and as such a large portion of its Police Dept. is represented by people of the same heritage. Homicide attempted to depict this in a true-to-life fashion. Years later, The Wire would go to even further lengths to justify this realistic treatment.
Five of the detectives throughout the show's entire run were female - not a perfect representation of equality, obviously, but still a major step up from previous shows.
Some viewers blamed the show's somewhat lacklustre ratings on its "non-attractive" cast. One studio head, allegedly, asked the showrunners: "Where's the hunky guy?" The premise was simple, albeit difficult for some to accept: the Homicide Detectives should be presented as real people.