7 Reasons Why Oz Was The Most Groundbreaking TV Show Ever

There is no true protagonist in Oz. No hero to the rescue. No one here’s innocent. Very few characters are likeable in the conventional sense of the word. Prison has hardened folks who were often brutal to begin with. A show devoid of any goodies was unheard of in TV drama. Only Seinfeld had attempted such a thing and that was for laughs.

Everyone here kills, steals and fights for survival from the guards to the inmates to folks on the outside. Through Tobias Beecher we see a normal man forced into a life of brutality to keep himself going. Unprepared and unassuming when first incarcerated, Beecher overcomes abuse of nearly every variety becoming a vengeful, hardened figure in the process, even taking the fight to folks who broke his arms and legs at one point. Most character arcs here are similarly a journey into bleak horrors the outside world would soon rather forget.

Antihero leads weren’t too common back then but in the wake of Oz, the likes of Tony Soprano, Omar Little, Spike and Walter White were able to rise to the surface.