Glen here...

...with a quick message from AICN contributor COP ROCKER.

CR had a few things to say about the imminent demise of NBC's Homicide, and has seen the series finale as well. COP ROCKER's thoughts about the overall status of the series seems to mirror the thoughts of many Coaxial readers of late, so I thought I would throw his words out here for the world to consider as Homicide's end approaches.

The series finale for Homicide airs tomorrow night - I'll likely open a "Reader reaction" for the show's final episode shortly before air time.

Here's the message from COP ROCKER:

COP ROCKER wrote:

Damn, I was sorry to hear about Homicide getting the axe. Sorry, but not surprised.

I've been a fan of Homicide since it began. I heard the advance buzz, discovered that my favorite comedian Richard Belzer had a role, and that Barry Levinson was involved. I was hooked before it started.

My opinion was solidified by the time of the first season episode where Bayliss and Pembleton interrogate an old man for a solid hour, one of the most intense and fascinating pieces of television I've ever seen.

I've taped every single episode. The show's always been on the bubble, ratings-wise, and that lousy Nash Bridges didn't do anything to help. To make matters worse, this season has been... well, worse.

Things went significantly downhill after Andre Braugher left, and not just because of his departure. The replacement characters weren't as interesting, and too much focus was put on them at the expense of the original characters. Obviously, Tom Fontana was trying to get us to like the new characters. It didn't work.

I've always been a Munch fan myself. I have friends who are Lewis fans, Giardello fans, and especially Bayliss fans.... not a single person I know considered one of the "new" characters a favorite. But that's beside the point. If the producers had been able to balance it better between the old and new characters, the show might have survived Braugher's departure.

Most of this season has been a slow, sad decline in what I had previously considered to be unquestionably the best drama on television. The stories turned trite and predictable, people acted out of character for the convenience of the plot, and a sense of redundancy came over the show.

In the past few months, the show has turned around significantly. Even a weak Homicide episode is better than most other dramas. I have just watched the season finale, "Forgive Us Our Trespasses", which will be shown on May 21. It's a damned good episode. I wish they'd been this on-the-ball before now.

Tellingly, the episode focuses on Bayliss. When Homicide first premiered, he was a rookie, new to the homicide squad and full of naive optimism. That was quickly beaten out of him with the Adena Watson case, which is referred to briefly in the season (and now series) finale.

I won't spoil any plot details, but the episode ties up loose threads from this season and calls up memories of episodes from previous seasons as well. Pembleton (Braugher) does not appear, but his presence is definitely felt as Bayliss broods over another case gone sour.

There are humorous moments, character confrontations, odd case twists, and smart, smart dialogue... the things that made this such a fine series to begin with.

I'll miss it. But it's good they're going out with such a strong episode, and its depiction of the evolution of Bayliss makes a good companion piece for the series premiere. It's hard to imagine anything taking Homicide's place.

Television as good as the early seasons of this show is damned hard to come by...