Night of the Dead Living
| "Night of the Dead Living" | |
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| Homicide: Life on the Street episode | |
Gee complains about the broken air conditioners
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 9 |
| Directed by | Michael Lehmann |
| Story by | Frank Pugliese Tom Fontana |
| Teleplay by | Frank Pugliese |
| Cinematography by | Wayne Ewing |
| Production code | 103 |
| Original air date | March 31, 1993 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Night of the Dead Living" is the ninth episode and first season finale of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 31, 1993. In the episode, the homicide squad works the night shift on a summer evening, but no calls come in, leaving the detectives to brood over their personal matters. The teleplay was written by Frank Pugliese based on a story he wrote along with executive producer Tom Fontana. It was directed by Michael Lehmann.
"Night of the Dead Living" was originally intended to be the third episode of the season, but NBC programmers moved it to the end of the season because they felt its slow pace and lack of traditional action was inappropriate early in the series, when the show was trying to woo viewers. The broadcast schedule change led to some consistency and time-line errors, which Homicide producers addressed by adding the words "One hot night, last September..." to the beginning of the episode. Actress N'Bushe Wright makes a guest appearance as a cleaning woman who loses her baby in the police station.
Since ratings for Homicide had gradually declined throughout the season, NBC announced a decision about whether the series would be renewed would depend on the Nielsen ratings of the final four episodes, including "Night of the Dead Living". Nevertheless, it was seen by 6.7 million household viewers, marking one of the lowest viewerships of the season. It received generally positive reviews upon its original broadcast, although some mainstream television audiences were turned off by its minimalist approach. It marked the last original episode of Homicide for nine months until the second season premiere, "Bop Gun". The episode's teleplay won a Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement in Television Writing for Episodic Drama.
The episode begins with an unknown person lighting a candle in the homicide squadroom. One by one, the detectives arrive for the night shift on an unusually hot September evening. A furious Gee (Yaphet Kotto) calls maintenance to complain about the non-working air conditioner and learns it has been shut off for the night. Felton (Daniel Baldwin) and Lewis (Clark Johnson) try to find out who secretly lights the candle every night; they blow it out a number of times, but it always ends up lit again without anyone noticing. Munch (Richard Belzer) loudly complains about his ex-girlfriend breaking up with him. While the other detectives sweat and complain about the heat, a calm and comfortable Pembleton (Andre Braugher) wears a tie and drinks hot tea without sweating. Bayliss (Kyle Secor), who acts uncooperative with his partner Pembleton, says he has found the fingerprints of a man named James Hill who he believes is the murderer in the Adena Watson case. Officer Thormann (Lee Tergesen) brings in Hill, who turns out to be a 12-year-old boy (Kenny Blank), much to the amusement of the other detectives.
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