Homicide: Life On The Streets writer David Simon reveals when the drama will be available to stream

I have been informed by a reliable source that NBC/Universal, along with Fremantle for overseas rights, are looking to eventually acquire the music rights to it. #Murder for possible streaming. There is still a lot of work to be done to achieve this, but that is what I have been told.

Only Andre can judge that.

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

I had a few days to think about Andre Braugher and his death and with time and a little more effort I was able to conjure up a multitude of memories and was really proud to have had the opportunity to write for one lines while writing – partly well – for a great actor…

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

But to honor him and his great skill, I will tell you about the memory that quickly came to mind after learning of his death. All in all, this is one of my most embarrassing moments on a film set, to my detriment and to Andre’s credit. So here it goes:

— David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

As the man who spent a year with and wrote about homicide detectives in Baltimore, my position among television drama writers has often been referred to as that of “nonfiction writer.” I was the malevolent voice that always explained what the probable cause was or how…

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

…an experienced officer answering a radio call, or the difference between grooves in the barrel of a gun and streaks. Annoyingly, sometimes I would often write a scene for the actors that would result in a group of detectives all speaking the same police jargon.

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

From a journalistic point of view, this is realistic. When police officers of all faiths and backgrounds stand at a crime scene or speak in the office, they tend to use the slick shorthand that is the common language of urban policing. This dramatically results in several actors all sounding like…

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

…like the same person doing violence to the characters they tried so hard to include and individualize. So there comes an episode in which I write a sentence for Braugher’s Frank Pembleton, a precise, Jesuit-educated philosopher-king on the assassination squad…

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

… a power of an intellectual nature that Braugher at this point exploited to the full for over fifty hours of television. Pembleton tells other investigators that he robbed a house twice, but it was empty and the suspect’s mother told them he no longer lived there.

— David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

“We tried his house twice, but his mom said…” I wrote, with the voices of about four dozen real Baltimore detectives in my head.
When the day comes to shoot this scene on set, Andre appears in front of me on the video monitors.
“This line here,” he said, pointing to the pages….

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

… “Should I say it?”
‘Safe. They tried to arrest him twice…”
“I know what it’s about, but should Pembleton say it . . .”
“Any police officer will do that.”
“Every police officer. Meldrick or Kellerman or Pembleton. They would call the woman “Mom”…
I jumped right into it. I could see now…

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

…the truck’s headlights. I could see the broken insects on the windshield. I was one of the beetles. Andre looked at me and I think I actually blushed.
“I will rewrite it.”
“No,” he replied. “I’ll make it work.”
In the first shot, as I sat slumped on a sturdy chair…

— David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

…Frank Pembleton frowned at the monitor, walked around the team room and told his comrades that he tried the house twice, but ma…
Braugher reproduced the sentence as written, but only changed the pronunciation of “mama” by stressing the first syllable and…

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

… a continental embrace of the upper class word and keeping the moment completely in character. At least when the recording was over, he was generous enough to look at the monitors and give me a tight, quick smile…

— David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

This is the first great memory of the flood, God help me. And this is the great actor for whom I once had the opportunity to write lyrics.
My only saving grace is that many years later, when I was making more money writing screenplays, I attended a panel discussion with Andre as a group in New York…

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023

… we were asked to recall our experiences with “murder”. And yes, I told this story about myself and made Andre Braugher laugh long and hard. At least that’s what I have for myself.

– David Simon (@AoDespair) December 17, 2023