Jewish Post, Indianapolis, Marion County, 17 July 1996 — Page 10

July 17. 1996 MLS

Media Watch Kellerman of ‘Homicide’ no mere stereotype

By RABBI ELLIOT B. GERTEL

There is no question that NBGs series. Homicide: Life On The Street, which reflects the skilled eye and hands of film and now TV producer, Barry

Levinson, is the most stunning dramatic series on television. It shines in cast, direction, production and sheer cameraography (if I may coin a term for the TV counterpart

to cinematography).

Just the way the lens moves in this series is a revelation. But the piece de k resistance, as well as the backbone of the series, is the fine writing. I don't recall one bad script in any of the episodes I

have taped and seen.

This past season just ended, Homicide, set in Baltimore (also the backdrop of Levinson's films. Diner and Avalon), introduced its first full-blown Jewish character, Mike Kellerman (Reed Diamond) after being on the air for several seasons. The clos-

est the series had come previously was an occasional reference to Jews ("She was married to a Jewish man. It was a big thing back then.") or the possible Jewishness of one of the more obnoxious detectives, Munch (Richard Belzer), which has not been discussed, at least to my knowledge. Enter Mike Kellerman, who has become one of the series' most colorful and likeable characters, written on an engagingly human scale (as are most of the other characters). We first meet Kellerman in a powerful two-parter about an arsonist who, it is gradually discovered, seems to be targeting high school students. Kellerman is an arson detective for the fire department. He encounters Pembleton and Bayliss (Andre Braughter and Kyle Secor) at a bumt-out warehouse. Tom Fontana, Henry Bromell, Julie Martin and subsequent writ-

ers introduce Kellerman as a fellow with almost uncontrollable energy, a tad daredevil,

assertive and a bit cocky, but also self-doubting, and with an endearing charm. Needless to say, actor Reed Diamond plays no small part in conveying the Kellerman character. His exasperating yet energizing effect on Pembleton and Bayliss is immediately foreshadowed by his spooking them by climbing on the rafters over the arson site after they ask him whether the place can come crashing in on them. "You never know that," he tells them, before his acro-

batics.

As is common these days for Jewish characters on dramatic series, the writers put Kellerman into initial rivalry and personality conflict with

curate, depicting as it does both Kellerman's venturesoineness and his excessive drive to prove himself. Yet it teaches Kellerman that in this department, one proves oneself not by being a daredevil, but by using one's mind and verbal skills, especially in the interrogation room, where prodding forth the truth depends on one's wits and patience. It becomes clear in this latter context that Kellerman would make a worthy addition to the homicide detectives. One ought to be grateful to the writers that they do not create a Jewish character defined by his drivenness to court danger (a la the main character in David Mamet's

This past season just ended, Homicide, set in Baltimore (also the backdrop of Levinson's films, Diner and Avalon), introduced its first full-blown Jewish character, Mike Kellerman (Reed Diamond) after being on the air for several seasons. The closest the series had come previously was an occasional reference to Jews ("She was married to a Jewish man. It was a big thing back then.") or the possible Jewishness of one of the more obnoxious detectives, Munch (Richard Belzer), which has not been discussed, at least to my knowledge.

the black detective, Pembleton, whose intelligence and talents have long been well-established on the series. Kellerman says that he, as fire department detective, will take the case and call Pembleton as soon as he has everything all wrapped up. Yet the writers know well enough to let up on the rivalry motif as the season progresses. Also, the writers are wise by the second episode of the season (and the conclusion of the two-parter on the arsons) to give Pembleton an opportunity to describe Kellerman, to his face, as an "action kind of guy" who'd "rather run in and out of fires wearing nifty outfits." The description is ac-

Homicide.) As if to reassure us, they introduce into Kellerman's two debut episodes a motif of his struggle to break the smoking habit, showing him to be an individual with manageable vices and an admiration for disciplines that he can't always achieve (but that Pembleton, in some ways, has). Kellerman's debut episodes also give us a glimpse into his family. Uncertain about whether to take the police detective job offered to him, Kellerman goes to see his father, who packs bottles in double shifts at a local distillery. His dad quips that the "secret of my success was that I never did anything 1 didn't know I was good at... I just

wanted to get through the day and go home in one piece." This is, of course, a not so thinly veiled warning to his son not to settle only for the comfortable job. So Kellerman resolves to join the police department, and goes to accept the offer with trepidation — and with cigarette in mouth! Such delicious psychological motifs, meshing symbolism with very real objects, are but one of the intellectual delights of Homicide that also ring true emotionally. We do not hear Kellerman speak of being Jewish for several episodes. In his second episode, he does speak of his religion, which is clearly not Judaism: "Fun is my God," he tells Pembleton. "I live for fun. And when I die, I hope that I'm having fun." He cites as an example an upstate car dealer who had a fatal heart attack while "nailing" his young mistress. Yet it is clear from the beginning that Kellerman is too thoughtful, too considerate, to really be driven by fun. In a haunting, poetic episode about vicious drug wars in the black community, scripted by Bromell, Fontana, and Jorge Zamacona, we see the full range of Kellerman's flippancy on one extreme, and moral standards on the other. At one moment, Kellerman comments about a corpse, "He looks different without a face." The next moment, he challenges the assertion of his

new partner, Lewis (Clark Johnson), an African American, that anyone can make a bad decision and fall into drugs. "My system is pristine," retorts Kellerman. "I have nothing in common with any drug addict." In that same episode, a black drug dealer will shake Kellerman's confidence and yet spare his life, and Kellerman will experience a surprising grief while assisting a black high school teacher and her church group in a vigil against drug violence. The writers of Homicide: Life on the Street, are obviously continuing a growing motif in TV and film of defining a Jewish character's social awareness through interaction, both collegial and potentially romantic, with African American characters. There was a bit of that, but with far more multi-ethnic proportions, on an unforgettable, almost surreal episode about the shooting of an older "biker" at a motel known as "New Moon." Fontana, Bromell and Eric Overmyer penned this masterpiece of characterization, suspense and atmosphere, that draws forth touching attributes from both Kellerman and his partner, Lewis. But it requires a very particular context, at least according to the writers of Homicide: Life on the Street, to elicit a statement of Jewishness from Kellerman. A word about that in our next column.

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