One of the few indulgences I gave myself on my birthday was the third season of Homicide. I still think it’s the best cop show ever made. It avoids both the silliness of Law and Order/CSI and the over-the-top “grittiness” of The Shield. Case go unsolved. The cops are good but flawed. And I’m still shocked that Andre Braugher’s career never really took off. He’s the main reason to watch the show. That’s not to slight the awesome work of Yaphet Kotto, Mellissa Leo or Richard Belzer.

Strange to say — the show made me miss Baltimore. A little bit.