The Top Ten Oz fanatic profile:

10. Is a fan of Law & Order SVU.

9......

Don't know where this can go on the list but:

Cannot look, say, think, hear, or "spoon" without going there in the back of our collective heads.

Actually, I thought of a couple more humanitarian moments:

Keller watching sympathetically as Cyril suffered on Death Row;
The Passing of the Orange (Keller trying to get Beecher to eat after his son's hand was cut off);
The tears in Said's eyes as he watched Beecher leave Oz. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- I am so glad he died without ever seeing Beecher return.



Operation Andy in its entirety really got to me. I know he was a horrible racist who committed an evil crime, but he also seemed intelligent and sensitive and might even have been rehabilitated someday. During his final confrontation scene with Schillinger there's a shot of Beecher, Keller, and O'Reily sneaking up in the background like vultures, just watching their plan go to work. I think I found it so evil because I like all three characters so much and they were so dark and devious here it was frightening.

The other one that creeped me out just for its pure evilness was when Robson and the other Aryan murder the Little Red Muslim in Season 5. They slap duct tape over his mouth and start slicing him up, snickering all the while, and all you can see is an extreme close-up of his terrified eyes. That's one of the few Oz murders I can't bring myself to watch, and I can't believe I still found Robson a sympathetic character after that. Then again, that's what's so great about the show.

I thought, Beecher seeing Keller & Vern in the gym as they told him they were old friends. You could feel Beecher's heart break and then the way they broke his arms and legs.

Vern mailing Beecher his son's hand and intimating that his wife was murdered by him and she did not kill herself.

The guards forcing Alvarez to drink his piss as they would not feed him.

Ryan asking Cyril to kill Gloria's husband was evil to me. How could Cyril say no?

The doctor taking Alvarez off of his meds, because it was too expensive. ( I am a doctor and that was so inhumane)




8. Waiting until 2-24-2004 for the release of Season 3

February? It's coming out in February? Oh happy, happy, joy, joy!! Hmm...how will I ever convince my parents that the 3rd season of OZ is a great idea for a super early birthday present? Anyone?

Slighty Scary Oz in the Media Sighting

In North America the third season of American Idol is starting this month, so Fox showed a warm-up show, American Idol: Life on the Road. There was section on some of the more devoted (coughscarycough) fans and they showed a young woman who got Clay Aiken's name tattooed on her lower back, right above her butt. And I'm pretty sure right below the word "Clay" there was another tattoo, that said "Oz." (Maybe it was for Oz the werewolf from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; I'm not sure).

Or maybe my hangover is making me see things.

No question, Schillinger raping Cyril. Actually, we never see that (thank the gods!), but we see them with the Aryans in the mailroom just before the fact - which is quite enough.

7. Checks the Cable TV schedule for the Oz air times.

BTW: Season 1 begins airing on HBO Zone Tue-Thurs 11pm EST on 2/19/04.

That's what I love about Oz. All the dark and evil bits (and they really are dark and evil) serve to make the human bits more human.

Bricking up Cloutier (alive and conscious) into the cafeteria wall.

Just wanted to stick my head up and say that I have finally managed to get someone interested in Oz. A female friend of mine who, while she finds some of the violence a little off-putting, thinks the show is filled with "some damn hot men."

She still has trouble telling all of the inmates apart and can't remember names to save her life, but she thinks Adebisi and Moses Dyell are quite tasty, as of course, is Ryan. When I told her about all the Melonilust here on TWOP, she didn't quite get it, saying that he was "good-looking" but not in the same category as Adebisi. Oh well, no accounting for taste, I guess.

Yeah, roosterboy, I've gotta say I'm with your friend on this one. Meloni (in any role, but especially Keller) has a magnetism about him, but he does nothing for me, personally. It's not really his fault. Once I laid eyes on Ryan O'Reily and his wily ways, it was all over.

What do you mean? Adebisi is absolutely, stunningly gorgeous. Those long, curled eyelashes, those eyes, those full, perfect lips... He's actually even prettier than Ryan (Not a lot prettier, mind you. And don't tell Ryan I said that!) Meloni, though, well, he's handsome, I guess, if you're into that sort of thing ;-) but you can't really call him pretty. Just to clarify, I'm talking pure esthetics here, and to prove it - you know who else is pretty? Hill. While my beloved Miguel - not so much. Hot as hell - yeah! Pretty - uh uh.

Czeri, I saw you on the Band of Brothers thread! And I would have to agree with you on Hill being pretty. He is so pretty! And for Miguel and Keller, it's not so much of them being pretty but they're just...I dont know...they're magnets!

Aesthetics are subjective. I don't find Adebisi, Ryan or Miguel anything to write home about but I would knock down my grandmother to get to Meloni.

Not if I get to him first.

Anyway, Czeri, I think roosterboy's friend meant that although Meloni is goodlooking, he's not as goodlooking as Adebisi.

ETA, the friend is dead wrong, of course.

You want pretty? Dino Ortolani, baby! Let's go back in time to the very first episode and marvel at the masculine perfection that is Jon Seda as Dino Ortolani - prior to being burned alive, of course.

I believe hotness is more subjective than prettiness. And mixed in highly subjective proportions they make up attractiveness. So, for example, while Hill is pretty, I don't find him hot at all, and am not attracted to him in the slightest. I did lust madly after Merkutio, though ;-)


6. Has Oz-related desktop, screensaver, and often icons as well.

An addendum to #6: Would buy more Oz-related products if only HBO would make them

This does nothing then to explain the smokin' sexiness that is Warden Leo Glynn....damn that Ernie Hudson is fi-ii-ne! [/extreme sarcasm]

Y'know, speaking very shallowly... Oz is a great show and all - thought-provoking, ground-breaking, etc., but there's no getting around the fact that the eye candy is downright amazing.

I am now drowning in my own contact lens.

5. While watching anything else keeps exclaiming stuff like: "Hey, it's the biker dude in charge between Ross and Hoyt!" "Oh, and this guy looks a lot like the inmate that had a conjugal at the same time as Beecher!" (Why, yes, the third ep of L&O:SVU has just been repeated over here. How did you know?)

Question about the episode that just aired, "Grey Matter".

Why the hell wasn't Detective Bruno Goergen sent to Unit J, the cop unit?

They hadn't invented that plot contrivance yet.

I watched the reruns and was pondering: How is it that Ryan, a brilliant and criminally savvy person, is too stupid to turn off the cell phone? Any one with half a brain that was trying to conceal a phone in lock down would have taken precautions to ensure it wouldn't ring. His negligence seems so uncharacteristic of the Ryan I know and love. Also, I am really pitying Beecher for the "rebound/to make Keller jealous and pissed off" sex with his new pod mate. Beecher doesn't even need any enemies because he is his own worst enemy. He not only degrades himself, but he readily accepts others degrading him as well. His sex with Keller is so one-sided because Toby is the only one "receiving". Keller, I feel, is ashamed of his homosexual feelings and feels the need to dominate and be on top or the "giver" in order to convince himself he's not really gay. I also believe that is the reasoning behind the murders of the gay men Keller was intimate with. Why must they both be in such misery and pain? *sheds a tear for Toby and Chris*

About the cell phone: Ryan obviously couldn't keep it in his pod, that's the first place the hacks would look. All other errors can be excused in the name of plot development. Besides, Ryan was probably too concerned about Keenan at the time.

Beecher's sexcapades: It's more evident in later episodes, but there's more involved here than making Keller jealous. After Keller rejects him in "Word to the Wise", sex becomes a substitute for Keller's presence, the same way alcohol was at the end of Season 2. Toby can't have Chris, so Toby indulges in something he associates with Chris
- something they both shared. We already know about Beecher's addictive personality, so sex easily becomes addictive as well.

As for Keller, I believe he was telling the truth when he told Beecher he was the first male that he'd had any true feelings for. But Keller was like "the boy who cried wolf" - he'd been deceitful so often in the past, his credibility was shot to hell, even when he's truthful. Consider Keller's words about Bonnie - Ex-Wife #2&4 - in Seasons 3 and 4. Clearly, Beecher is "Mr. Bonnie."

I don't know how it works in the States, but over here whenever you turn off the cellphone, and then turn it on again, you have to enter PIN. Since the phone was obtained by stealth, neither Stanislofski, nor Ryan, could know the PIN, and that's why they'd have to keep the phone on all the time. That, of course, still doesn't explain why Ryan didn't put the phone in silent mode prior to taping it to the chair... Unless... Is it possible the phone was so old it didn't have a silent mode?

Goergen wasn't sent to Unit J because he was trying to conceal the fact that he was a cop from the inmates. I believe something to that effect was mentioned when he entered Oz.

Arachne, that's a good analysis of the B/K relationship overall...but I believe it was in "A Town Without Pity" that we learn that they both took turns "receiving." Not that I think too much about that type of thing. Oh, no. Not at all.

(I am a sad, sad, sad pathetic person)

And the PIN thing...they're optional here, depending on the phone.

Role call: Addicts please rise!

Let's use Beecher for an example. Does he indulge, binge, obsess or is just plain addictive when it comes to his shtick? Is there a fine line to cross into the world of addiction or are we just splitting hairs?

Well, they never say exactly who was the top or bottom. Keller alludes to the fact that they took turns " we fucked each other" and I think the rest of the prison just took it for granted that Keller was probably always the dominator. For example, Guenzel asked around and people told him that Toby had been Keller's bitch. I think it stemmed from them not being a part of the gay clique.

I think he's just phenomenally needy. He needs to feel good, regardless of the means. Prison just exacerbated this neediness because of the overall misery of his surroundings.

Oh, and Top Ten Oz Fanatic Symptom #4:

4. You get a new DVD recorder for Christmas and spend hours copying episodes from TiVo, indexing chapters, and making pretty labels for the discs and jewel cases. Because your boys deserve nothing less.

Zal I believe he is a textbook addict. It seems that he can quit drinking if he has a love interest to drown in. He seems like he was a workaholic on the outside. He needs to have stimuli that keeps his mind off of himself and his own self loathing.(YMMV)

Definition?

Zal YMMV~your milage may vary.

After all the wacky hijinks (and eye rolling inducing) of the cell phone plot, the thing that truly bugged me was the fact that the cellular seemed to be running on some sort of fountain of youth. How in the hell did that thing not wither and die after a day of use is beyond me. Theories and explanations are welcome, since I'm obviously not technologically advanced enough to know about self-recharging cell phones.

Stanislofski took the charger from Galino together with the phone. I guess Ryan somehow got his hands on the charger after Stanislofski went into protective custody. And while I seriously doubt the prisoners had electric sockets in their pods, there had to be some for example in the kitchen, so I guess that's where Ryan was charging it.

Yeah, that's a good question -- how did Ryan get his hands on the charger? And, for that matter, where was Nikolai keeping it? Cyril didn't find it during the "treasure hunt."

Hee! And you know he would! (This has got to be one of my favorite scenes ever <g>). Although, come to think of it, Cyril could have found it, along with whole lot of other interesting stuff, he just didn't bring it or mention it, because Ryan wanted him to find a phone.

[OT] I think I just had one of the most bizarre and freaky OZ dreams ever.[/OT]

Always has an Oz tape on his VCR or an Oz CD in his DVD. Some TV commercials are just too boring to watch; so fetch your remote and watch 5 mins of OZ here and there.

In my dream Keller was in the shower room, his turned away from the shower head. He was washing himself, looking outwards, at the other pods and in-mates (or so I thought). He was just staring darkly, giving one of those Keller “Don’t fuck with me” looks, when all of a sudden he stops and puts the soap down.

(Here’s where it gets creepy and the camera flips to what/who is standing in front of Chris):

Lo and behold, it isn’t Tobias Beecher in front of him, but guess who? Vern Schillinger (fully clothed). And what’s worse is he’s looking back at Chris too, staring back with this large velvet red towel. He moves forward, as if to cover him up, and surprisingly enough---Keller doesn’t move away. Instead, he holds his arms out, as shown on his tattoo. Anyway, Vern steps closers, and holds the towel in his two hands then proceeds to take Chris’s hands in his and they just stand there together. The towel is the only thing that’s clinging to Keller’s skin, and keeping the two from being well, closer than my liking. The dream continues, and Vern does this weird Sicilian thing to Chris. (He leans in to give him a kiss on his left cheek, only he doesn’t; then he right cheek, only he doesn’t). And through out this entire process neither of them made a sound. Chris just kept staring, only he seemed sort of confused. Like a puppy almost.

I don’t know what this means. Perhaps I’ve been watching a little too much OZ? This whole thing seemed as if it was taking place in OZ. Or maybe it was just my subconcious conjuring up Keller/Vern in another prison together. I don't know. All I know is that it wasn’t a pairing of my choice. Oh no, not at all.

It's the red velvet towel that's the real mystery. Where the hell did that come from?

LOL, it sound like it was somewhere in Cut's conscious. Cut, did you recently or awhile back purchase or was looking at a red velvet towel?

No. I don't think I even own a red velvet anything. But I'm telling you the way those two seemed to be connected...It really felt like a tender, almost sweet moment that was being shared between the two. I don't know how else to put it. The scene itself felt right, but it was just so wrong.

I know, I'm still giggling at the thought! LOL

Ah, Word to the Wise. The first episode of Oz I ever saw. I had started watching Oz because I had heard that certain actors coughChrisMelonicough did full frontal nudity. However, I started watching the episode halfway through after the Keller scenes so I missed the infamous bucket scene. But thank you Dean Winters. A nice intro to the series.

I think I saw an Oz shoutout on HBO. They were running a "commerical" for the Water Cooler Association and people were thanking HBO for the contributions to the industry. One woman said thank you for the male nudity....which of course is Oz.

Having come late to the altar of a naked CM leaning against the wall lustfulness, can I ask a 'shame on me' question?

Is OZ still on the air? Does it get repeated? Do I HAVE to sit through Seda IF I want to see Meloni?

*sigh*

Or, did I miss out completely and the show isn't on anymore?

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who refers to the inmates as "my boys".

Ah...another new prag falls victim to the Melonilust!

The final episode of Oz aired in February of 2003, but reruns are currently being shown every Friday night on HBO-2, beginning at 10 p.m. Right now they're wrapping up Season 4a, so if you start watching now you'll still get Seasons 4b, 5, and 6 (none of which are the strongest seasons, but better than no Oz at all).

The good news: Jon Seda only appears in the first episode of Season 1, then he gets burnt to a crisp (eminently satisfying to Homicide viewers).

The bad news: Meloni shows up in episode 4 of Season 2, leaves in episode 4 of Season 4b, and returns in episode 2 of Season 5. But he definitely makes his presence known in the meantime...if you know what I mean (and I think you do!)

I highly, highly recommend you get the Seasons 1 & 2 DVDs and watch them immediately (it won't take long...I think I watched Season 1 in less than a weekend, and Season 2 in less than a day). Season 3 (my personal favorite) is set to come out in February, and I'm sure there are any number of kind souls who can help you get your hands on the remaining episodes.

LOL! This story cracks me up every time. Who'd have thought such a primitive seduction technique could work so well? ;-)


Well, "Oz" has officially ended a year ago, but it's repeated constantly on one HBO channel or another (and often on 2 at the same time), so you shouldn't have any problems with getting your hands on it. As for Jon Seda, he was in only one episode, a season and a half before Meloni even made an appearance. And I can't talk about his other roles, but Dino Ortolani is actually quite compelling as a character.

ETA: Eliot's quicker :-)