A series chronicling the daily activities of an unusual prison facility and its criminal inhabitants.

OZ

1997-2003

Oz Television Show (HBO)

Oz is a prison drama television series that takes place at a fictional men's prison, created by Tom Fontana.

A gritty drama series about the corrections officers and inmates of Oz, short for Oswald State Correctional Facility, formerly Oswald State Penitentiary, a level 4 maximum-security state prison in New York.

Premiering on July 12, 1997, this groundbreaking prison drama was a bold and provocative experiment in storytelling and graphic content that, at the time, could have only have aired on a restrictions-free cable network. It proved to be a breakthrough hit for HBO, and ran for six season.

HBO・1997・DRAMA・TELEVISION・PRISON

  • Tom Fontana

  • Adam Bernstein — 9 Episodes (1999–2003)

    Alex Zakrzewski — 4 Episodes (2001–2003)

    Nick Gomez — 3 Episodes (1997–1999)

    Jean de Segonzac — 3 Episodes (1997–1998)

    Darnell Martin — 3 Episodes (1997)

    Keith Samples — 3 Episodes (1998–2000)

    J. Miller Tobin — 3 Episodes (2000–2002)

    Leslie Libman — 2 Episodes (1997–2001)

    Alan Taylor — 2 Episodes (1997–1998)

    Terry Kinney — 2 Episodes (1999–2002)

    Steve Buscemi — 2 Episodes (1999–2001)

    Goran Gajic — 2 Episodes (2000–2001)

    Larry Williams — 1 Episode (1997)

    Bob Balaban — 1 Episode (1998)

    Kathy Bates — 1 Episode (1998)

    Uli Edel — 1 Episode (1998)

    Mary Harron — 1 Episode (1998)

    Matt Dillon — 1 Episode (1999)

    Barbara Kopple — 1 Episode (1999)

    Chazz Palminteri — 1 Episode (1999)

    Brian Cox — 1 Episode (2000)

    Kenneth Fink — 1 Episode (2000)

    Gloria Muzio — 1 Episode (2001)

    Rob Morrow — 1 Episode (2002)

    Roger Rees — 1 Episode (2002)

    Ted Bogosian — 1 Episode (2003)

    John Henry Davis — 1 Episode (2003)

    Judy Dennis — 1 Episode (2003)

    Marc Klasfeld — 1 Episode (2003)

    Daniel Loflin — 1 Episode (2003)

    David Von Ancken — 1 Episode (2003)

  • Tom Fontana — 56 Episodes (1997–2003)

    Bradford Winters — 7 Episodes (1998–2003)

    Sunil Nayar — 6 Episodes (1999–2003)

    Sean Jablonski — 2 Episodes (1998)

    Sean Whitesell — 2 Episodes (2002)

    Debbie Sarjeant — 1 Episode (1998)

    Chuck Schweitzer — 1 Episode (2003)

  • Tom Fontana — Executive Producer: 56 Episodes (1997–2003)

    Barry Levinson — Executive Producer: 56 Episodes (1997–2003)

    Jim Finnerty — Executive Producer: 32 Episodes (1997–2003)

    Bridget Potter — Supervising Producer: 32 Episodes (1997–2003)

    Irene Burns — Associate Producer: 16 Episodes (2002–2003)

    Mark A. Baker — Associate Producer: 16 Episodes (2002–2003)

    Debbie Sarjeant — Co-Producer: 8 Episodes (1997)

    Sean Whitesell — Producer: 8 Episodes (2002)

    Jorge Zamacona — Supervising Producer: 8 Episodes (2003)

    Adam Bernstein — Producer (2001)

  • Warden Leo Glynn: Ernie Hudson

    Vern Schillinger: J.K. Simmons

    Tobias Beecher: Lee Tergesen

    Ryan O'Reily: Dean Winters

    Bob Rebadow: George Morfogen

    Tim McManus: Terry Kinney

    Sister Peter Marie Reimondo: Rita Moreno

  • David Darlington — 32 Episodes (1997–2003)

    Steven Rosen — 32 Episodes (1997-2003)

  • Alex Zakrzewski — 21 Episodes (1997–2003)

    Glenn Kershaw — 8 Episodes (1998)

    Jean de Segonzac — 3 Episodes (1997)

    Craig DiBona

  • Ken Eluto — 12 Episodes (2000–2003)

    Deborah Moran — 6 Episodes (2002–2003)

    Vanessa Procopio — 5 Episodes (1998–2002)

    Sue Blainey — 4 Episodes (1997)

    Cindy Mollo — 4 Episodes (1997)

    James Y. Kwei — 4 Episodes (1998)

    Jay Rabinowitz — 3 Episodes (2002)

    Jay Pires

  • Alexa L. Fogel — 32 Episodes (1997-2003)

  • Gary Weist — 56 Episodes (1997–2003)

  • Katherine L. Spencer — 39 Episodes (1998–2002)

    Stephen Caldwell — 8 Episodes (1998)

  • Janet Shaw — 13 Episodes (1998–2002)

    Christian Kelly — 8 Episodes (1997)

    William F. Reynolds — 8 Episodes (2003)

    Carol Nast — 3 Episodes (1998)

  • Tina Nigro — 24 Episodes (1997–2003)

    Lisa Padovani — 8 Episodes (1998)

    Stephanie Maslansky — 7 Episodes (1999)

  • Rysher Entertainment

    The Levinson / Fontana Company Viacom Productions

    Paramount Network Television

  • Home Box Office (HBO) — TV: 1997-2003 (USA) 🇺🇸

    CNBC-e — TV (Turkey) 🇹🇷

    HBO España — TV: 2016 (Spain) 🇪🇸

    HBO Max — VOD: 2020 (USA) 🇺🇸

    Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) — DVD: 2002 (USA) 🇺🇸

    Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) — DVD: 2003 (USA) 🇺🇸

    Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) — DVD: 2004 (USA) 🇺🇸

    Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) — DVD: 2005 (USA) 🇺🇸

    Home Box Office Home Video (HBO) — DVD: 2006 (USA) 🇺🇸

    Paramount Home Entertainment — DVD: 2007 (Finland) 🇫🇮

    Paramount Home Entertainment — DVD: 2007 (Netherlands) 🇳🇱

    Paramount Home Entertainment — DVD: 2008 (Netherlands) 🇳🇱

    Paramount Home Entertainment — DVD: 2014 (Germany) 🇩🇪

    Paramount Television — TV: 2000 (USA) 🇺🇸

    RTL Entertainment — TV (Netherlands) 🇳🇱

    Sky Atlantic HD — TV: 2014 (Germany) 🇩🇪

    Super Channel — TV: 2001-2005 (Japan) 🇯🇵

    TV6 — TV: 2008-2009 (Hungary) 🇭🇺

EPISODES

Featured
1. The Routine
1. The Routine

In the pilot episode, we meet the diverse residents of an experimental prison within a prison known as the Emerald City.

2. Visits, Conjugal and Otherwise
2. Visits, Conjugal and Otherwise

Schibetta and the prison brass race to uncover Ortolani's killer--for very different reasons.

3. God's Chillin'
3. God's Chillin'

The Warden threatens to lock the prison down unless inmate leaders can keep their boys quiet.

4. Capital P
4. Capital P

Governor Devlin reinstates capital punishment--and the first Oz prisoner scheduled to die is Jefferson Keane.

5. Straight Life
5. Straight Life

The effort to find out who's smuggling drugs into prison backfires in a deadly way.

6. To Your Health
6. To Your Health

The prison's health service is kept busy by a variety of prisoner complaints.

7. Plan B
7. Plan B

A recovered Said ostracizes Huseni Mershah for turning his back on him when he was dying.

8. A Game of Checkers
8. A Game of Checkers

In the Season One finale, a riot breaks out and sexuality, hate, revenge and racism all rear their ugly heads.

Featured
1. The Tip
1. The Tip

In the Season Two premiere, Oz remains locked down in the aftermath of a riot that killed six inmates and two officers.

2. Ancient Tribes
2. Ancient Tribes

Ten months after the riot, Em City is reopened, and a recovered McManus creates a council to keep order.

3. Great Men
3. Great Men

Alvarez knows who raped Glynn's daughter, but refuses to tell the warden.

4. Losing Your Appeal
4. Losing Your Appeal

Augustus Hill's appeal is denied, despite the efforts of Said, who has better luck with Poet's poems.

5. Family Bizness
5. Family Bizness

The enmity between Adebisi and Schibetta finally reaches a boiling point.

6. Strange Bedfellows
6. Strange Bedfellows

Schillinger enlists Said to get him out of jail. A recovered Schibetta is brutalized by Adebisi.

7. Animal Farm
7. Animal Farm

Cyril O'Reily, Ryan's brother, is imprisoned and falls under Schillinger's control.

8. Escape From Oz
8. Escape From Oz

In the Season Two finale, Wittlesey is transferred to general population and replaced by Karl Metzger, a Nazi.

Featured
1. The Truth and Nothing But...
1. The Truth and Nothing But...

In the Season Three premiere, Beecher is still in the hospital, thanks to Schillinger and Keller.

2. Napoleon's Boney Parts
2. Napoleon's Boney Parts

McManus hires his friend Sean as a C.O. and he launches a boxing program.

3. Legs
3. Legs

Said goes on a hunger strike while young Andrew Schillinger joins his daddy in Oz.

4. Unnatural Disasters
4. Unnatural Disasters

O'Reily and Keller plot to ice Andrew. McManus is forced by the prison brass to settle Howell's sexual-harassment suit.

5. U.S. Male
5. U.S. Male

Beecher nurses Andrew through his heroin withdrawal--and turns him against his father.

6. Cruel and Unusual Punishments
6. Cruel and Unusual Punishments

With Cyril scheduled to box Pancamo, O'Reily plans to use his spray-bottle trick, but first he must deal with Cudney.

7. Secret Identities
7. Secret Identities

Bellinger requests that she be executed by hanging. There's just one problem: she's pregnant.

8. Out o' Time
8. Out o' Time

Racial tensions come to a boil in Emerald City in this explosive Season Three finale.

Featured
1. A Cock and Balls Story
1. A Cock and Balls Story

The Season Four premiere opens with the inmates still on lockdown and prison officials struggling to end the hostilities.

2. Obituaries
2. Obituaries

The African-American inmates point the finger at McManus for letting Em City get out of hand.

3. The Bill of Wrongs
3. The Bill of Wrongs

Mobay is cornered: either take drugs to prove he's not undercover or get rubbed out.

4. Works of Mercy
4. Works of Mercy

Em City gets a new resident who is definitely bad news and McManus returns in a new capacity.

5. Gray Matter
5. Gray Matter

Beecher falls deeper into depression as he wonders about the fate of his children.

6. A Word to the Wise
6. A Word to the Wise

In an effort to reduce violence, white inmates are transferred out of Em City. Mobay gets in good with Adebisi's crew...but pays a price.

7. A Town Without Pity
7. A Town Without Pity

O'Reily begins an affair with an unexpected partner while Zabitz asks Schillinger for protection.

8. You Bet Your Life
8. You Bet Your Life

After Hughes's attack on Devlin, Glynn withdraws from the race. Alvarez is still on the loose. Supreme Allah gets an unwanted surprise.

9. Medium Rare
9. Medium Rare

The inmates are stirred up by the arrival of a television news crew doing a story on Em City.

10. Conversions
10. Conversions

The zealotry of new prisoner Jeremiah Cloutier (a former TV evangelist) is met with skepticism.

11. Revenge Is Sweet
11. Revenge Is Sweet

Morales tries to pit the Chinese against Redding; Alvarez offers Glynn his services as an informant.

12. Cuts Like a Knife
12. Cuts Like a Knife

O'Reily regrets having gotten Cyril involved with the trial drug when it starts taking effect.

Featured
1. Visitation
1. Visitation

In the Season Five premiere, Oz re-opens in the wake of the damaging gas explosion.

2. Laws of Gravity
2. Laws of Gravity

McManus thinks White may reform if he spends quality time with Said; Alvarez offers Guerra a unique solution to their dispute.

3. Dream a Little Dream of Me
3. Dream a Little Dream of Me

Brass wants to know who cut his tendon; Redding and Morales form another uneasy alliance.

4. Next Stop: Valhalla
4. Next Stop: Valhalla

Penders, Hill and Alvarez are given a chance to train seeing-eye dogs; Martinez gives Brass a 'cocktail' he definitely didn't order.

5. Wheel of Fortune
5. Wheel of Fortune

Robson stirs up problems between White and Said. Meanwhile, Pancamo's illness might save some work for his enemies.

6. Variety
6. Variety

As Cyril's trial gets off to an inauspiciously cold start, tensions between Mukada and Kirk come to a boil.

7. Good Intentions
7. Good Intentions

Hill's recovery leads to renewed friction between Redding & Morales, Alvarez gets his wish as the 'Man's Best Friend' program is finished.

8. Impotence
8. Impotence

In the Season Five finale, Robson goes to extremes to remedy his gum dilemma, while McManus struggles with personal turmoil.

Featured
1. Dead Man Talking
1. Dead Man Talking

In the Season Six premiere, Alvarez and Schillinger are finally released from solitary.

2. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Smell No Evil
2. See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Smell No Evil

The unexpected arrival of Mayor Wilson Loewen at Oz spurs an ironic turn involving Schillinger and Beecher.

3. Sonata da Oz
3. Sonata da Oz

Schillinger has a disappointing visit with Mayor Loewen. Glynn has to face the truth about the toxic-poisoning problem within Oz.

4. A Failure to Communicate
4. A Failure to Communicate

Glynn receives mixed news on the toxic-poisoning problem. Meanwhile, Rebadow's relationship with the new librarian Stella hits a snag.

5. 4giveness
5. 4giveness

Everyone in Em City has a different opinion of the newest inmate, Idzik. Meanwhile, Alvarez receives some shocking news.

6. A Day in the Death...
6. A Day in the Death...

New inmate Idzik faces his enemies and requests a transfer. Meanwhile, the Loewen case grows increasingly complicated.

7. Junkyard Dawgs
7. Junkyard Dawgs

Three new inmates arrive at Oz, one of whom is particularly close to the O'Reily clan.

8. Exeunt Omnes
8. Exeunt Omnes

In the final episode of this drama series, a prison production of 'Macbeth' ends with a staggering final act.

WHERE TO WATCH

AWARDS

  • EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD

    SPECIAL EDGAR

    Tom Fontana

    2005

  • ALMA AWARD

    OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES

    Rita Moreno

    2002

  • ALMA AWARD

    OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES

    Luna Lauren Velez

    2001

  • ALMA AWARD

    OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

    Rita Moreno

    1999

  • ALMA AWARD

    OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

    Rita Moreno

    1998

  • GOLDEN SATELLITE AWARD

    GOLDEN SATELLITE AWARD

    Best Television Series, Drama

    1999

  • GOLDEN SATELLITE AWARD

    BEST ACTOR IN A SERIES, DRAMA

    Ernie Hudson

    1999