Homicide: Life on the Street
Gone for Goode
TV Flash files “Gone for Goode” as a desk essential hour — Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999) on NBC, season 1, episode 1, aired 1993-01-31, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 122 in the Homicide: Life on the Street guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1993-01-31 (60 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Ghost of a Chance” (S01E02).
Essential hour: “Gone for Goode”. Gone for Goode: handheld grit, a red/black board, and David Simon's reporting already behaving like a novel.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Detectives Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) and Steve Crosetti (Jon Polito) investigate an elderly woman named Calpurnia Church, whom they believe has murdered her husbands to collect their insurance money. Detective Stanley Bolander (Ned Beatty) pushes his reluctant partner, John Munch (Richard Belzer), to follow up on a cold case in which a woman was run over by a car. Munch eventually elicits a confession from a drunk driver who hit her. Detective Kay Howard (Melissa Leo) continues a recent lucky streak by easily solving a murder immediately after taking it on, much to the bewilderment of her partner, Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin). Eccentric loner Detective Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher) is forced to partner with rookie Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor), who disagrees with Pembleton's methods when he tricks a suspect (Alexander Chaplin) into confessing to murder. For his first case as primary investigator, Bayliss is assigned to the murder of 11-year-old Adena Watson.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Gone for Goode sit in the Homicide: Life on the Street guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 122 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did Homicide: Life on the Street S01E01 air?
Gone for Goode aired 1993-01-31 and is listed at 60 minutes.
What is it based on?
David Simon's nonfiction book about a year with Baltimore homicide detectives — reporting texture, not cop-show candy.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Baltimore detectives, handheld grit, and cases that refuse to tidy up for sweeps. Paul Attanasio developed David Simon's reporting into literary cop TV: Andre Braugher's Pembleton turning interrogation into theater, a red/black board, and moral ambiguity as house style. The missing link between Hill Street and The Wire — network crime that reads like a novel.
The useful first thing *Homicide: Life on the Street* does is refuse catharsis. Baltimore detectives work murders with handheld grit, a red/black name board, and moral ambiguity that will not tidy up for sweeps. Paul Attanasio developed David Simon's nonfiction *Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets* into NBC drama (1993–1999). Andre Braugher's Frank Pembleton turns interrogation rooms into theaters of intellect and rage. Yaphet Kotto, Kyle Secor, Richard Belzer, Clark Johnson, Melissa Leo: the unit as a city…
Open the Homicide: Life on the Street package · Season 1 hub
Filed against
- Andre Braugher as Frank Pembleton
Andre Braugher’s Frank Pembleton turned Homicide: Life on the Street’s box into theater — 1990s catalog interrogation as literature, then Brooklyn Nine-Nine recasting the steel as Captain Holt’s deadpan excellence. TV Flash files him as…
- Yaphet Kotto as Al Giardello
Yaphet Kotto’s Al Giardello ran Homicide: Life on the Street as shift-commander weather — Baltimore detectives, handheld grit, cases that refuse to tidy up for sweeps. Paul Attanasio developed David Simon’s reporting into literary cop TV:…
- Kyle Secor as Tim Bayliss
Kyle Secor's Tim Bayliss walked Homicide: Life on the Street through Baltimore cases that refused to tidy up for sweeps — Paul Attanasio from David Simon, handheld grit, interrogation as theater, a red/black board as house style. We file…
- Richard Belzer as John Munch
Richard Belzer's John Munch made Homicide: Life on the Street sound like a conspiracy with a badge — Baltimore detectives, handheld grit, cases that refuse to tidy up for sweeps. Literary cop TV needed a cynic who could still work the…
- Clark Johnson as Meldrick Lewis
Clark Johnson played Meldrick Lewis on Homicide: Life on the Street — Baltimore detectives, handheld grit, cases that refuse to tidy up for sweeps. Paul Attanasio from David Simon's reporting: Andre Braugher's Pembleton turning…
- Melissa Leo as Kay Howard
Melissa Leo’s Kay Howard walked Homicide: Life on the Street like Baltimore would not tidy up for sweeps — 1990s literary cop TV, handheld grit, a red/black board, Paul Attanasio from David Simon’s reporting. Interrogation as theater. TV…