Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Homicide: Life on the Street)

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"
Homicide: Life on the Street episode
Munch shows a suspect the results of a fake lie-detector test conducted with a copy machine, which was based on a real-life trick used by the Baltimore Police Department.
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 8
Directed by	Wayne Ewing
Written by	James Yoshimura Tom Fontana
Cinematography by	Wayne Ewing
Production code	109
Original air date	March 24, 1993
Guest appearance(s)
Joe Fersedi as Colin Dietz Gavin Goren as Evan Hess Gerald F. Gough as Bert Granger Clayton LeBouef as George Barnfather Carter Jahncke as Don Falls Dan Moran as Howell John Waters as Bartender
Episode chronology
← Previous "And the Rockets' Dead Glare" Next → "Night of the Dead Living"
List of Homicide: Life on the Street episodes List of Homicide: Life on the Street episodes

"Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" is the eighth episode of the first season of the American police drama television series Homicide: Life on the Street. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on March 24, 1993. In the episode, Howard and Bayliss attempt to quit smoking, Gee discovers secret asbestos removal in the squad room, and Munch and Bolander investigate the beating death of a 14-year-old boy. The episode was written by James Yoshimura and Tom Fontana, and was directed by Wayne Ewing, who doubled as director of photography.

The episode featured a cameo appearance by film director and Baltimore native John Waters as a bartender. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" was originally supposed to be the first season finale, but the episode "Night of the Dead Living" was moved to the end of the season because NBC programmers felt it was too slow-paced to show any earlier in the season. During one scene, Munch and Bolander convince a suspect the copy machine is a dangerous lie-detector machine. This was inspired by a real-life trick used by the Baltimore Police Department and documented in David Simon's 1991 non-fiction book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, on which the series was based. It was later used in an episode of Simon's police drama series, The Wire.

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 "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". Nevertheless, it was seen by 7.08 million household viewers, which was considered relatively low, although it was an improvement over the previous episode "And the Rockets' Dead Glare".