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Oz: Season 01
Running Time: 60 min.
Produced By: / Rysher Entertainment
Release By: HBO

Seen mostly through the eyes of wheelchair-bound prisoner Augustus Hill (Harold Perrineau Jr.), who serves as narrator and "tour guide," the first season of Oz begins with the establishment of a "prison within a prison" on Cell Block 5 of Oswald Maximum Security Penitentiary -- aka "Oz." Under the watchful eyes of Warden Leo Glynn (Ernie Hudson), Tim McManus (Terry Kinney) serves as unit manager of Cell Block 5, which he rechristens the Emerald City. It is the hope of the idealistic McManus that by allowing the prisoners more freedom and privileges, and getting them used to a daily routine, they will become rehabilitated more quickly. Perhaps it goes without saying that McManus is in for a lot of disillusionment and disappointment during the eight episodes of season one. Newly interned at "Em City" are former lawyer Tobias Beecher (Lee Tergesen), nervously serving time for murder; famed Muslim leader Kareem Said (Eamonn Walker), who calmly informs Warden Glynn that he intends to become "top man" at Oz; pro basketball player Jackson Vayhue (Rick Fox); and cannibalistic serial killer Donald Groves (Sean Whitesell). Their assimilation into the prison population is uneventful until Governor James Devlin (Zeljko Ivanek), who has sailed into office on a platform diametrically proposed to Glynn's "coddling" of prisoners, orders the removal of such newly installed privileges as smoking and conjugal visits. Going one step farther, Devlin reinstates the death penalty, resulting in the immediate execution of one of the Em City "residents." Clearly, this does nothing to alleviate the tension between cons and guards -- nor, for that matter, between the various powerful factions within the population. In the course of events, an undercover narc is found hanged in his cell, another prisoner is set afire, the Oz staffers wrestle with the problem of what to do with elderly inmates, a turf war breaks out over a game of checkers, and Kareem Said suffers a heart attack. The season ends with a bloody and destructive riot -- with no indication as to who will survive to appear in season two. Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Oz: Season 01 Cast and Crew:

Ernie Hudson - (Warden Leo Glynn)

Terry Kinney - (Tim McManus)

Eamonn Walker - (Kareem Said)

Harold Perrineau, Jr. - (Augustus Hill)

Kirk Acevedo - (Miguel Alvarez)

J.K. Simmons - (Vern Schillinger)

Lee Tergesen - (Tobias Beecher)

George Morfogen - (Bob Rebadow)

muMs - (Poet)

Granville Adams - (Zahir Arif)

Dean Winters - (Ryan O'Reily)

Rita Moreno - (Sister Peter Marie Reimondo)

B.D. Wong - (Father Ray Mukada)

Lauren Vélez - (Dr. Gloria Nathan)

Zeljko Ivanek - (Governor James Devlin)

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje - (Simon Adebisi)

J.D. Williams - (Kenny Wangler)

Edie Falco - (Off. Diane Wittlesey)

Rick Fox - (Jackson Vayhue)

O.L. Duke - (Paul Markstrom)

Stephen Gevedon - (Scott Ross)

Leon - (Jefferson Keane)

Tony Musante - (Nino Schibetta)

Steve Ryan - (Off. Mike Healy)

Sean Whitesell - (Donald Groves)

Production Credits:
Tom Fontana (Executive Producer)
Tom Fontana (Screenwriter)


Oz: Season 01 Episodes:
Oz: The Routine
Oz: Visits Conjugal and Otherwise
Oz: Capital P
Oz: Straight Life
Oz: To Your Health
Oz: Plan B
Oz: A Game of Checkers
Oz: God's Chillin'

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