 Despite critical acclaim , Homicide : Life on the Street suffered from poor ratings throughout its first season , prompting NBC to consider taking it off the air . After a nine @-@ episode first season , the network approved four more episodes for the show 's second season as a trial run to determine whether to continue or cancel the show . The script for " Bop Gun " was completed before the first season ended , but NBC executives asked for several refinements – including less involved plots and fewer camera movements – before approving a second season . In an attempt to appease the network and improve ratings , executive producers Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana sought to make subtle changes to give the show a stronger mainstream appeal , while aiming not to compromise its integrity or originality . With " Bop Gun " , the producers slightly toned down the bleak visual style and hand @-@ held photography motif . It is also the first episode to focus on a single story , rather than multiple subplots , which Fontana felt allowed the writers to tell the main story better . Fontana said of the changes to the series , " We were experimenting with our first nine episodes . Whenever you try something new , you tend to err on the side of breaking ground . But we 'd rather have more people watching , so the colors and lighting are slightly brighter , and the camera movements are not as jarring . " " Bop Gun " marked the first episode with Jean de Segonzac as director of photography . The first scene , which depicts the moments immediately before the shooting , juxtaposes shots of the Ellison family admiring the tourist attractions of Baltimore with shots of their shooters playing basketball before following the family . The photography depicts the different sides of Baltimore by presenting the Ellison family shots like a cheerful tourist advertisement , with the other shots presenting a grittier image of the city . 
