was based on the 1991 book, . Written by a journalist who followed the Boston Police Department’s homicide division, the novel served as a blueprint for the television series. Over the course of the year, author David Simon (yes, that David Simon, of ), shadowed the Boys in Blue, he recorded more than 230 murders, many of which informed episodes of . The result is one of the most acclaimed police procedural dramas ever made.

When  premiered in 1993, it was far from Richard Belzer’s first project; a former comedian, Belzer had a decent run on

 as well as his own television show,  back in 1884. Despite his tenure in the ‘biz, Belzer said it was an interview he did with Howard Stern that landed him on , largely due to his own paranoid ramblings, opining that “it’s great because I would never be a detective, but if I were, that’s how I’d be. The character is very close to how I’d be. They write to all my paranoia and my establishment dissidence and conspiracy theories.” But on to the Munchisms. 

Detective Munch: “Well, that’s chicken-and-egg semantics. The important point is that we win some cases because our brains are repositories for intelligence, and their brains are day-old banana pudding.

Just like his character, Belzer was an avid conspiracy theorist; he wrote dozens of books, from materials on classic conspiracies like , and , to deeper, less-mainstream conspiracies, like  It’s almost as if the role was designed for Belzer himself!

John Munch was the character with the most screen time during the series’ 7 season run. In fact, there are only three episodes that Belzer doesn’t make an appearance in: “The Damage Done,” “Lines of Fire,” and “The Subway.

Detective Munch: “Homicide: our day begins when yours ends.”

One year after  concluded on the small screen, the cast got back together to send the series out with a bang. A made-for-TV movie, , served as the series’ penultimate episode, and the entire cast returned to properly solve their final case.