Aliverse

Oz. TV show on HBO from 1998-2003. (or was it 1997?)

So how did I get so sucked in that I stopped reading or watching any other TV or doing anything else for a week? Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

So I’m at work, bored because I’m waiting to be able to do some things. I’m talking to my co-worker Cathy and we’re talking about the hotness of Law and Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni. I totally love him and I love the chemistry between him and Mariska Hargitay. So Cathy busts out with ‘you know there’s this movie where he’s all naked?’ Whaaaaaa? Seriously? She tells me there’s full frontal and everything. I’m stunned.

Never ever is one of my favorite, hottest actors naked. Not like that. She couldn’t remember what movie it was, so I had to look it up. I don’t think it was a movie, I tell her. I think it’s Oz. I did a quick Google search and saw a zillion naked pictures of Christopher Meloni. (hello!)

So that led me to download season 1. Then I realized, Christopher Meloni isn’t in season 1. Great. Download season 2. Woah! Now I have to know what happens next. Download season 3. Holy shit. Season 4. Then 5 and 6. I think I started watching last Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest. I finished it a couple of hours ago.

First of all, I cried like a baby. That show was kick-ass and well done.

So I guess you could say this is a little bit of a TV show review instead of a book review. Thing is, I can’t be even remotely objective about it.  I went into it knowing I’d love at least some of it because hello…hot relationship with Christopher Meloni and Lee Tergesen.  Also, I got emotionally invested in this show. I always get a little involved in whatever I watch. I’m just like that (my Myers Briggs personality type is INFP, that’s just what I do.)  When I started to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I had a similar reaction. But that show, as good as it was, never showed James Marsters stark naked. And it certainly never showed him kissing anyone hot. (sorry, I’m not a big Sarah Michelle Gellar fan)

Anyway, Oz had a great, compelling story line that progressed with every season. Unlike my beloved Buffy, there were no ‘off’ seasons that didn’t make sense or that sucked in some way. The entire show was good start to finish. There were tons of good, in-depth characters, and none that made me want to turn the television off.  The show didn’t shy away from the reality of the harshness of prison. And Meloni and Tergesen didn’t shy away from the reality of a fucked up, emotionally twisted, deeply-in-love relationship between two men.

So, like I said, I love it. I got hooked. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I suppose. It’s not a conservative show in the least. It pushed me past a few comfort zones and made me think and wonder and ask questions. I like that in a show.

And…Christopher Meloni.