Oz (TV Series)

Oz (TV series)

Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes. It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons. The series finale aired February 23, 2003. The show was filmed in New York City, New York and later Bayonne, New Jersey.

"Oz" is the nickname for the Oswald State Correctional Facility, formerly Oswald State Penitentiary, a fictional maximum-security prison (level 4) in an unnamed state in the US. The nickname is a reference to the classic film The Wizard of Oz, which is notable for popularizing the phrase: "There's no place like home"; in contrast, the series has used the tagline: "It's no place like home".

In 2008, the show was placed at #73 on Entertainment Weekly's "New TV Classics" list.