Tom Fontana gives actors flawed hospital staff, detectives and prisoners worth following. We rate his ear for dialogue and his attention to character, with reservations about the increasingly excessive suffering in Oz.
Fi1m perspective
In Homicide: Life on the Street (1993), the detectives’ doubts and frustrations are allowed to linger. The writing gives actors something to do with uncertainty, rather than treating it as a pause before the answer arrives. Fontana is at his most persuasive when people have to keep working despite their own failings and those of the institution around them. We rate that attention to character highly, even when spending time with these people is exhausting.
St. Elsewhere (1982), which Bruce Paltrow hired him to join as a writer, helped him develop stories that follow several characters and mix comedy with drama. Its flawed hospital staff remain worth following because the actors make their shortcomings matter. We would not pretend the pace never drags, or that the writing always knows when to stop explaining a lesson. But the interest in people who can be difficult company is already there.
On Homicide, Fontana was showrunner, working with Barry Levinson and writers including James Yoshimura and David Simon. Andre Braugher is our chief reason to watch, but he has language worth listening to. The cases leave room for moral compromise and frustration without making the unfinished business feel like an inducement to watch another episode. The restless editing can distract from the performances; the writing is often strong enough to need less help.
Oz (1997), which he created and wrote, is the harsher recommendation. We were disturbed by the way a prisoner’s safety depends on other people’s permission, with the prison itself unable to contain the cruelty. The ensemble gives us reasons to care about the people subjected to it, and that is essential to our recommendation. As the programme goes on, though, its taste for excess becomes harder to defend. There are limits to what strong performances can do when suffering threatens to become the main attraction.
He went on to create Borgia (2011), a drama of Renaissance power struggles, and co-create the crime series Monsieur Spade (2024). For a first encounter with his writing, we would choose Homicide. Leave Oz for an evening when the company is prepared for cruelty that is not always necessary.
Biography
Tom Fontana is an American screenwriter and television producer. Born in Buffalo, New York, he began as a playwright before being hired as a writer on the NBC series St. Elsewhere (1982–1988). He later served as showrunner on Homicide: Life on the Street (1993–1999), for which he also wrote and produced episodes.
Fontana created and wrote the HBO prison drama Oz (1997–2003). His other credits include executive producer and writer roles on series such as Borgia (2011), Copper (2012), City on a Hill (2019) and Monsieur Spade (2024). He has received three Primetime Emmy Awards for writing.
