The entire Seinfeld sketch was original material, it was filmed on the actual Oz sets and featured the Oz actors.
Which is so cool!
Watching it again totally cracked me up.
I don't think Schillinger ever asked Beecher if he was a Jew - remember, he was acting uber-friendly with him to lure him into asking to be moved to his pod.
He actually did, but only once he got Beecher in his pod as his roommate. Beecher made a joke about not even liking Barbra Streisand. Beecher is such a little WASP.
I read a comment somewhere about Schillinger and Keller both being obsessed with Beecher in part because he was upper class, and I thought that was pretty astute. Schillinger was fixated on degrading him, and Keller on possessing him--it definitely felt like class issues were underlying there, at least in part.
Yes, we finally got to see a more...sensitive side to Schillinger with his granddaughter. But I'm sure he was like that with his sons, too, when they were infants... It's so much easier for someone like Vern to love a baby, the sweet little thing who can't talk back, disagree, challenge his beliefs or stand up to him! If she grows up and disobeys him, however... I doubt that things would end very differently than they did with Andy!
Yeah, exactly! Though please tell me we're going to find out one way or another if the kid is really Hank's.
Count me as another non-fan of Clayton Hughes. There are characters I love to hate, like Schillinger or Adebisi, there are characters I hate to love, like Ryan O'Reilly or Keller, there are characters I just love, like Beecher, Said, or Hill (nobody's mentioned him, how do others feel about him? I really liked the guy, and I even liked his narrations, unlike some people...)... and then there are characters that just annoy you whenever they're on screen and you just want them to disappear, because they're just stupid whiny little punks, like Alvarez, Kenny or Hughes!
Yep, that sums it up for me perfectly! What a great way of putting it, for each of them. And yes, I do like Hill, and his narrations. Hill is definitely a sympathetic guy, and like Beecher and Said, someone who I think is generally not a bad person. He didn't kill in cold blood--he was on the run. Didn't mean it was the right thing to do, but it wasn't with the intentional coldness and cruelty most of the other inmates exhibit.
I felt sorry for Basil - I always kind of liked the guy - maybe because I like Lance Reddick, and I think it was the first time I saw him in anything.
Agreed on Basil. I like Reddick, too--I caught him in a few eps of Fringe, and I know I've seen him in other things. I think he was in Lost as well.
I wouldn't put Robson in the same box with Alvarez or Hughes - Robson goes from annoying to someone you really love to hate - not on the Schillinger level, but in a... more amusing way.
And if you want bad things to happen to Robson, you are sure going to enjoy season 6!
You'll be glad he wasn't killed, what happens to him is a lot more... creative.
Well, I do love that Beecher bit the tip of his penis off and that that still gets referred to. On that note--why is that held against Beecher during his parole hearing? I mean, basically Robson was sexually assaulting Beecher--didn't Beecher have the right to defend himself?
]Howell is a fucking sociopath. I think she's using her position in Oz to act out on quite a few issues she has with men and relationships and self-esteem - getting off on the power she has over these guys. And if you think she's bad now, wait till you see her later - she just keeps getting worse and crossing the lines.
Ryan obviously thought at first that he could have the upper hand - he was manipulating her and getting her help him and do dirty work for him like killing his rival - but he didn't like it when she decided to show him who's in charge. From that point on, it turned into abuse. It's quite original storyline, I mean everyone expects a lot male rape between the inmates - but to have a female guard sexually harassing and abusing male prisoners is not something most people would expect from a prison drama.
True, and I kind of like that turn-around. Howell straddles the "love to hate" and "hate" category for me... she can be kind of evilly funny, but at the same time, sometimes she's just sick, like her desire to fuck Cyril.
I had such a crush on Ryan.
I don't even find him as physically attractive compared to some other
Oz characters (although I know that there are many people who do), but I think it's because he's so smart and in control, and his intensity and husky voice and the way he moves, and that look in his eyes that just reads like DANGER, because you know he's up to something and is going to get his way even without laying his finger on anyone. I guess I tend to be a bit drawn to... a hint of a danger, maybe that's why I've been attracted to quite a few fictional bad guys, when they are charismatic, complex and all that.
Yeah, definitely, and I see the appeal of Ryan big time. There's something dangerously charming about him, something sincere despite all of his manipulations and lies. I think it's the same thing that's attractive about Keller--amid all the deception and homicidal tendencies, there is something sincere there. He's fighting for something.
And the way Ryan is so protective of Cyril is really appealing... as is, in a more twisted way, his obsession with Gloria.
I think that's at the heart of it. There are two people that matter to him. Again, Keller is the same way when it comes to Beecher... both protective and obsessed, and it humanizes him. The same is true of Ryan.
I went through all sorts of emotional reactions throughout the seasons, much like Gloria herself, probably - from "He is sort of interesting but this is so screwed-up" to "Now this guy is really screwed-up and this is fucking twisted, she is so right, he has no idea what love is" to "Well, I knew he was twisted, but not that much... I mean, really, getting her raped?
I didn't expect that... Is it true?" to "Aww... well... this was just so... moving... Hey... do I have a crush on this guy or what? Uh... This is wrong, but it's also so... romantic...
Ugh... I shouldn't be falling for it, I'm an emancipated 21st century woman... and all this is unhealthy and disturbing... but... it would be hot if they got together...
oh well..."
Yeah, the course of their relationship is definitely a fascinating one, and you can see how Gloria was drawn in more and more over time. And even as we see Ryan for exactly what he is--completely willing to kill anyone who stands in his way--you can also see how Gloria would fall for him when he just doesn't give up. And I think his genuine love for his brother is part of what makes him sympathetic in her eyes--and the audience's.
I feel the same way about Beecher and Keller, who are kind of an interesting parallel to Ryan and Gloria. Beecher is definitely my Oz crush
, and I was so fascinated by seeing someone as hard and clearly sociopathic as Keller just
fall for Beecher--really and truly and sincerely. You can kind of tell it totally surprised Keller, and that as much as he wants to dismiss Beecher's goodness as weak, it's part of what draws Keller to Beecher, and in the fear of really losing Beecher, causes Keller to do something completely, unselfishly good for Beecher. And Beecher for his part is totally swayed by Keller's obsessive love for him--sure, he first falls for what seems to be Keller's good side, but after that, he still loves Keller even knowing what he is--and what he's capable of.
It's interesting to see over the course of the series how many people are sexually attracted to Beecher--Adebisi, Schillinger, Robson, Keller, Brown, Shenin, Barlog, Katherine McClaine--for very different reasons. But it's fascinating that fairly often, he provokes some sort of sexual attraction response in the people he interacts with. That's not really true of any other character in the show--sure, several of the others have a few admirers (Cyril, Ryan, Keller), but it seems like that kind of follows Beecher around in one way or another.
, but I did re-watch this SNL clip. I figured now that I've seen the show, it would be even funnier, and it was! 
At first I thought they'd somehow digitally inserted Jerry into scenes from the show - I could swear I remember them! The scene with him listening to Beecher's "relationship problems" was classic.
That pisses me off. He seems in a decent mood, which I wouldn't expect him to be if he got stood up at the altar, but still--no reference one way or another?? That's frustrating.
Someone really needs to cast him as a Cardassian. 
