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.

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