In the early hours of Monday morning, Susan C. Ingram jumped out of bed like a child on Christmas. But she didn’t look for her present under the tree. Instead, she went to the television and realized that her present wasn’t there yet.

“I was on Peacock in the middle of the night, thinking, ‘Where is it? Where is it? Why isn’t it online yet?'” said Ingram, a former camera assistant on NBC’s beloved Baltimore-set series “Homicide: Life on the Street” and co-host of the podcast “Homicide: Life On The Set.” She was looking for the long-awaited streaming premiere of the Emmy- and Peabody-winning classic after years of it being largely unavailable aside from DVDs and an occasional two-episode “Law and Order” crossover (minus the “Homicide” episode).

“It’s nice not to have to get up and change the DVD,” Ingram told me this week of the series, which ran from 1993 to 1999. I can relate to her excitement: “Homicide,” which follows Baltimore homicide detectives as they ponder life, death and this crazy city, is my favorite show of all time. Like the podcaster, I dove into the series excitedly, as if I were seeing an old friend, and I can’t wait for new fans to discover it.

But before you get started, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

It may not be the kind of crime series you are used to.

Having worked behind the scenes herself, Ingram was curious to see how the show would look on modern televisions. “It was shot in a time when there was no widescreen television, and I was curious to see how much it would look like it was cut off at the top and bottom to make it widescreen,” she said. Fortunately, this transition is not visually obvious.

The truth, however, is that “Homicide” is still over 30 years old. “American viewers may be used to much more sophisticated shows where everyone is beautiful and wears makeup,” Ingram said. “This show is not like that. Hopefully they stick with it.”

Frankly, the show’s realism was one of the things that endeared it to me as a Baltimore native who watched the first season wistfully from Miami, where I was living at the time. The adorably bare face of Detective Kay Howard (Melissa Leo) remains refreshing, as do the bodies of Beau Felton (Daniel Baldwin) and Steve Crosetti (Jon Polito). You actually believe they were too busy solving crimes to be in the gym 24/7.

The police spend almost as much time talking as they do chasing people. Maybe even more.

“I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but the show is absolutely stunningly written,” Ingram said. And she’s right. The first episode opens with a piquant conversation between partners Crosetti and Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) that veers from race to who really killed Abraham Lincoln, and we get to know the other members of the squad through similarly complicated dialogue. It’s a reminder that people can’t be around death for so long without talking to the only other people who understand.

“It touched on the race and gender issues and the class issues and all the other issues,” Ingram said. “They talked about the war on drugs. Melissa Leo rants about having to work with men and what they’re capable of. But you never feel like you’re being lectured. The characters are passionate and angry about things that are important to them.”

The series star doesn’t immediately show his magnificent bald head.

Even if you’ve never seen “Homicide,” you’ve probably heard of its lead: the prickly, brilliant Detective Frank Pembleton, played by the late Andre Braugher, who later starred in a very different and sillier police series called “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” You don’t actually meet him until about 15 minutes into the screen, but by that point, his name is already on everyone’s lips, sometimes disparagingly. He’s fussy. He’s a loner who doesn’t work with a partner. He thinks he’s better than other people. When Pembleton shows up, full of intelligence and impatience, you can’t wait to find out if this guy is really as good as he’s touted to be. And trust me—he is that and more.

You won’t believe what the luxury hotel in Fells Point used to look like!

The best part of watching the premiere after all these years is the reminder of how Baltimore changes, yet remains the same. There is no better example of this than the “Homicide” set at the Recreation Pier in Fells Point. In 1993, the building’s interior served as a dimly lit office with blue walls, nondescript desks and ringing phones, but now it is the moody setting of the chic Sagamore Pendry Hotel. What a sophisticated, creative place it is!

There is a lot of talk about race in the show.

The opening conversation between Lewis and Crosetti investigating a murder is interrupted by Lewis, who is black, calling his partner a pointedly anti-Italian slur that he evidently thinks is a joke. A few moments later, we meet young homicide detective Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) and see him shake hands with Crosetti, who he assumes is his new boss, Lt. Al Giardello – only Giardello (Yaphet Kotto) is actually the black man next to him.

And then there is Pembleton’s open claim that Felton, a gruff white man from Hampden with some racist views that should be regressive but unfortunately are not, resents him because he “proves every day that you are no better than me.”

These scenes are a constant reminder that Baltimore’s diversity means that people of different backgrounds interact more with each other than in other cities. Yet, even as we try to make the world a better place, this interaction is often marked by mistrust and prejudice. That hasn’t changed.

Get to know Munch.

When actor and comedian Richard Belzer died in 2023, I wrote about how the sarcastic, conspiracy-theory-believing Detective John Munch, of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit fame, showed up in Homicide. I literally clapped like a drunken seal every time he appeared on my rewatch of the first episode, alluding to his multiple marriages and general distrust of the system he was paid to uphold. Munch is a strange, passionate delight. You’ll love him.

The end of the premiere contains a mystery that persists throughout the entire series.

Without giving away all seven seasons of Homicide, I want you to pay special attention to the murder victim in the final scene of the first episode. You don’t know her name yet, but you’ll be hearing it a lot. The investigation into her death will have a profound impact on the previously eager newbie Bayliss, as well as the entire squad. I won’t tell you why.

You have to see it for yourself.