‘Homicide: Life on the Street’ finally coming to streaming

One of the best TV shows of all time, Homicide: Life on the Street, has never been available on streaming services due to complicated pre-digital music rights. But that hurdle seems to have been finally cleared.

UPDATE: It’s official, Homicide will be available to stream on Peacock starting August 19 and will be the first time the series has been available in HD.

David Simon, the creator of The Wire and author of the book that Homicide was based on (he was also a producer/writer on the show), wrote on X/Twitter in June, “Word is that NBC has managed to finally secure the music rights necessary to sell Homicide: Life On The Streets to a streaming platform. Andre, Richard, Yaphet, Ned, and so many others who labored on that wonderful show on both sides of the camera will soon regain a full share of their legacy.”

Homicide: Life on the Street was a police drama that followed a fictional Baltimore Police Department’s Homicide Unit as they did their best to solve the city’s many murder cases, most of which went unsolved as represented by a dry-erase board in their headquarters. It was funny, heavy, smart, touching and always compelling.

The show ran for seven seasons from 1993 – 1999 and featured incredible talent in front of and behind the camera, including the late Andre Braugher who won an Emmy for his performance as no-nonsense Detective Frank Pembleton. The cast also included the late Yaphet Kotto, Richard Belzer, Ned Beatty and Jon Polito, as well as Melissa Leo, Daniel Baldwin, Clark Johnson, Kyle Secor, Giancarlo Esposito, Isabella Hofmann, and more. Directors on the series included Barry Levinson, Alan Taylor, Kathryn Bigelow, Ted Demme, Martin Campbell, Steve Buscemi, Mary Harron, Kathy Bates, Barbara Kopple, and more.

With Moonlighting and Northern Exposure both finally coming to streaming in the last year (both were also hung up in music rights) and Homicide on the way, that is pretty much it of the White Whale series that had yet to enter the digital age. There’s been no official word on where the series might stream, or when, but this is good news.