Homicide: Life On The Street (season 3) - Cast

Cast

For the third season of Homicide, almost all the original castmembers including Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher, Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Melissa Leo, & Kyle Secor all returned. Jon Polito was the only original castmember not to return as NBC reportedly requested that he'd be dropped from the show due to their unhappyness with his physical appearance; Polito's character: Steve Crosetti would be written out as having gone on vacation to Atlantic City only to commit suicide upon his return to Baltimore. According, to an interview in 2005, Polito claimed that when Tom Fontana called him to tell him he was being dropped he promised he would return in the future. However, after Polito began criticizing the show and refusing to believe Fontana, the plans were dropped. In the same interview, Polito would regret his comments:.

"We had some conflicts on the show. I was also not in the best of shape: I was feeling very passionately about the show, and I was very annoyed about NBC's—what NBC was doing with it. I was very passionate about it. I stepped on the wrong toes. And I made a major mistake. I did not know at the time that Tom Fontana—when Tom Fontana tells you, "You have to be dropped now, but I'll bring you back"—I didn't believe that because I'd been screwed by so many producers over the years. He is a serious man when he says that. I didn't know that. I didn't trust him. So after he said, "NBC wants to get the girl on the show, and they have to replace somebody, and we're gonna choose you, but I'll bring you back in the fall," I instead, very stupidly, went to the newspapers. And I said, rather openly, I said some very vicious comments, both about the way it was being handled by NBC and the way Fontana and Levinson were handling listening to NBC. I was totally wrong because, in fact, the changes they made meant that NBC put it on a better night, and it became a success. But aside from that, I was wrong to jump at Fontana and all that, and not believe in Fontana and Levinson, because they're great people and would've been faithful to me, but I just didn't trust it because I'd been screwed too many times before. I actually said in one newspaper, "The producers of the show are like the people on the Titanic," and the writer said, "You mean they're the captain of the ship?" and I said "No, no. They're on the iceberg saying, 'This way. Come this way.'" That's in print and that was wrong."

Isabella Hofmann debuted as Lt. (later Captain) Megan Russert. Hofmann was hired reportedly at the request of NBC and specifically Warren Littlefield who wanted more female characters on the show. The Megan Russert character was the fictional cousin of NBC Meet the Press Moderator: Tim Russert and was the first main character not to be based on an officer from the book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. Daniel Baldwin and Ned Beatty both left the show at the conclusion of the season reportedly due to failed contract negotiations. Both Baldwin and Beatty were unhappy with the changes made during the third season with Baldwin specifically claiming the Beau Felton/Megan Russert extra martial affair was "Typicial TV Chicanery" Baldwin was also burnt out on NBC:

"I'd rather do small parts in Movies" .

Beatty meanwhile, was frustrated having to turn down other roles including the musical Showboat due to Homicide which itself had an uncertain future. Like Baldwin, Beatty also hated the changes during the third season, changes he feared would eventually happen when the show began. Beatty was quoted in the Los Angeles Times:

"It wasn't about the money. I loved it in the beginning. Some of it was the best thing I've ever done. But it got to the point where they wanted to see people get shot and car chases and all that. Which is not something Homicide detectives do."

Neither would return for the duration of the series however both would return for Homicide: The Movie in 2000.

Celebrities who made guest appearances included Al Freeman Jr., who played Deputy Commissioner: James C. Harris in "Cradle to the Grave". Steve Buscemi played Gordon Pratt: the suspect who shot detectives Felton, Howard, & Bolander in "End Game". Tim Russert appeared as himself in "The Old and the Dead". Chris Noth appeared as his Law & Order character: Detective Mike Logan in "Law & Disorder" which marked the first time Homicide and Law & Order would crossover.