Why It Ranks
The show that made HBO dangerous.
Score Breakdown
The Review
Oz was HBO's first hour-long drama series and the show that proved premium cable could tell stories network television would never touch. Tom Fontana's prison drama was brutally violent, sexually explicit, and uncompromising in its depiction of life inside the Oswald State Correctional Facility. Without Oz, there is no Sopranos, no Wire, no prestige television revolution.
Fun Fact
J.K. Simmons, Dean Winters, Christopher Meloni, and dozens of other actors who later became household names got their breakthrough roles on Oz.
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