The first season of Homicide: Life on the Street, an American police procedural drama television series, originally aired in the United States on NBC between January 31 and March 31, 1993. Created by Paul Attanasio and adapted from the 1991 non-fiction book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets by David Simon (pictured), Homicide: Life on the Street followed the fictional detectives of the Baltimore Police Department homicide unit and the murder cases they investigate. The first season was broadcast Wednesdays at 9 p.m. EST, with the exception of the series premiere, which aired immediately after Super Bowl XXVII. The season introduced regular cast members Daniel Baldwin, Ned Beatty, Richard Belzer, Andre Braugher, Wendy Hughes, Clark Johnson, Yaphet Kotto, Melissa Leo, Jon Polito and Kyle Secor. Most of the primary characters were based on real-life Baltimore detectives from Simon's book, including Gary D'Addario, Terrence McLarney, Harry Edgerton, Donald Worden and Jay Landsman. Many of the season story arcs were also adapted from the book, most notably the 1988 Baltimore slaying of 11 -year-old Latonya Kim Wallace, which was the basis for the murder case of Adena Watson in Homicide. The first season received consistently positive reviews, with several commentators declaring it one of the best shows on television at the time. However, the Nielsen ratings declined throughout the season, which Homicide producers attributed to a poor time-slot and heavy competition from the ABC comedies Home Improvement and Coach. The ratings led NBC executives to demand changes to the show before renewing Homicide for a second season. Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicide:_Life_on_the_Street_(season_1)> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1910: The Firebird, the first major work by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky (pictured), was premiered in Paris. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Firebird> 1940: Second World War – The evacuation of nearly 200,000 Allied soldiers from French ports was completed. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Ariel> 1950: The Korean War began with North Korean forces launching a pre- dawn raid over the 38th parallel into South Korea. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War> 1960: Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_and_Mitchell_defection> 1967: More than 400 million people viewed Our World, the first live, international satellite television production. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_World_(TV_special)> 2006: Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped in a cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip on the crossing Kerem Shalom, and was held hostage by Hamas until 2011. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit> 2009: Singer Michael Jackson died after suffering cardiac arrest at his Los Angeles home, which authorities later declared a homicide caused by the combination of drugs in his body. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Michael_Jackson> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: flense: To strip the blubber or skin from, as from a whale, seal, etc. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/flense> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it. --George Orwell <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Orwell>