The Beat was a short-lived UPN drama series which premiered on March 21, 2000 and ended after only six episodes a month later on April 25. Seven additional episodes were produced although they have never aired. The series showed the day-to-day experiences of a group of police officers in the NYPD attempting to deal with day-to-day life in New York City. The series starred David Zayas (Oz), Derek Cecil, Mark Ruffalo, Poppy Montgomery, Tom Noonan and Lea DeLaria. The series was produced by many people who worked on Homicide: Life on the Street including Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana, Anya Epstein, Eric Overmyer, Irene Burns and Jim Finnerty. Many of the producers also collaborated on Oz including Barry Levinson, Tom Fontana, Irene Burns and Jim Finnerty. It shared several cast and crew members with The Wire.
- Richard Belzer reprised his Homicide role of detective John Munch on The Beat and had a cameo as a bar patron in The Wire episode "Took".
- Domenick Lombardozzi appeared in the second episode of The Beat and plays Thomas "Herc" Hauk on The Wire.
- Jamie Hector plays rasta in The Beat episode "They Say Its Your Birthday" and plays drug kingpin Marlo Stanfield on The Wire.
- Eric Overmyer wrote for The Beat and served as a writer and consulting producer on the fourth season of The Wire.
- Alex Zakrzewski served as the cinematographer and an episodic director on The Beat and was also an episodic director on The Wire.
- Clark Johnson directed multiple episodes of both series.
- Ed Bianchi directed multiple episodes of both series.
- Leslie Libman directed an episode of both series.