Oz
If Prison Break was the pulpy, popcorn look at life inside the slammer, this altogether more serious and gritty offering actually took a long, hard and horrifying stare at what such an environment entails. Tom Fontana’s six-season hit was in fact the first of its kind for HBO (eventually paving the way for the likes of The Sopranos) yet seems to have been overlooked in recent years. More’s the pity as this look at the New York Oswald State Correctional Facility (whose nickname forms the title of the show) is the real deal, gripping and violent with standout turns from, among others, a genuinely chilling J.K. Simmons in a pre-Whiplash villainous role as neo-Nazi Vernon Schillinger.
