Mike Kellerman
Homicide series developed for television by Paul Attanasio
Based on the non-fiction book by David Simon

One of the best P.I. dramas ever aired on television, and certainly the best I'd seen in several years, on any size screen, were two episodes plopped in the midst of season seven of the award-winning Homicide: A Life on the Street, NBC's hard-hitting cop show about the men and women who work Homicide for the Baltimore Police. This memorable two-parter dealt with the return and resurrection of fallen angel and disgraced former murder cop MIKE KELLERMAN as a private eye on behalf of one of the teenage suspects in the nasty case of the murder of a baby. In the course of his investigation, Kellerman keeps running into (and up against) his old co-workers, particularly his nemesis Detective Falsone This is primal stuff. Fear, guilt, betrayal, hate, shame and, surprisingly, honour. Kellerman's unexpected return has torn right through hardboiled, and is heading right into the guts of noirland.

Despite the hoary old chestnut of an ex-cop turned private eye, Homicide managed something fresh, by having made Kellerman a real character first, and a private eye second. Longtime viewers may remember Kellerman as the once-promising rookie homicide cop who was forced to resign from the force after his involvement in a suspicious shooting. As the long story arc played out, Kellerman, still smarting from previous charges of corruption, slowly watched his personal and professional life fall apart. At the end of the sixth season, it seemed Kellerman was gone for good. Yet his return in season seven as a window-peeping private eye is just so right and so well-done, so potent and gripping, you have to wonder if this was a dry run for something.

But it wasn't.

EVIDENCE

• "There's more cheating in Baltimore than there is Kodak film." (Kellerman waxes philosophic)

UNDER OATH

• "...personally, I was glad to see Kellerman go at the end of last season. The Luther Mahoney plot was just stretched way past breaking point. However, exacty those things that annoyed me about him as a cop work for him as a shady PI, particularly the attitude. It was brilliant opening with him taking adultery pictures through a window, immediately defining him in terms of the genre where "honorable" PIs refuse to take domestic cases. And the totally non-sincere disclaimer ("I advise you not to look at these pictures") reminded me of JJ Gittes in Chinatown."(Mark Sullivan on Rara-Avis)

TELEVISION

• HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREET
  (1991-99, NBC)
  Based on Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (1991) by David Simon
  Developed for television by Paul Attanasio
  Starring Richard Belzer, Giancarlo Esposito, Peter Gerety, Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Toni Lewis, Kyle Secor, Zeljko Ivanek, Michael Michele, Callie Thorne
  

• "Kellerman, P.I.: Part One" (December 4, 1998)
  Story by Julie Martin, Tom Fontana
  Teleplay by Joy Lusco
  Directed by Ken Fink
  Guest starring Reed Diamond as MIKE KELLERMAN
  with Chris Gunn, Jena Malone, Austin Pendleton, Lynn Schrichte
  .
• "Kellerman, P.I.: Part Two" (December 11, 1998)
  Story by Eric Overmyer, Tom Fontana
  Teleplay by Sean Whitesell
  Directed by Jay Tobias
  Guest starring Reed Diamond as MIKE KELLERMAN
  with Chris Gunn, Jena Malone, Austin Pendleton, Lynn Schrichte

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.