- Quincy, M.E.
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Quincy, M.E. 
Title cardFormat Drama Created by Glen A. Larson
Lou ShawStarring Jack Klugman
Robert Ito
Garry Walberg
John S. Ragin
Val Bisoglio
Joseph RomanCountry of origin United States No. of seasons 8 No. of episodes 148 (List of episodes) Production Running time 60 to 90 minutes
60 minutes (syndication)Production company(s) A Glen A. Larson Production in association with Universal Television Broadcast Original channel NBC Original run October 3, 1976 – September 4, 1983 Quincy, M.E., also called Quincy, is a United States television series from Universal Studios that aired from October 3, 1976, to September 5, 1983, on NBC. It stars Jack Klugman in the title role, a Los Angeles County medical examiner.
The show resembled the earlier Canadian television series Wojeck, broadcast by CBC Television, and took some inspiration from Los Angeles coroner Thomas Noguchi. John Vernon, who played the Wojeck title role, later guest starred in the third-season episode "Requiem For The Living".
The first half of the first season of Quincy was broadcast as 90-minute telefilms as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie rotation in the fall of 1976 alongside Columbo, McCloud, and McMillan (formerly McMillan & Wife). The series proved popular enough that midway through the 1976–1977 season, Quincy was spun off into its own weekly one-hour series. The Mystery Movie format was discontinued in the spring of 1977; Quincy was the only one of the rotating series to continue.
In 1978, writers Tony Lawrence and Lou Shaw received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the second-season episode "...The Thighbone's Connected to the Knee Bone..." (originally aired February 11, 1977). Many of the episodes used the same actors for different roles in various episodes. For example, an actor who plays a crooked Navy captain also plays a ballistics expert in several of the later episodes. Using a small "pool" of actors was a common production trait of many Glen A. Larson TV programs. Before becoming a regular cast member as Quincy's girlfriend-cum-wife Dr. Emily Hanover in the 1982-1983 season, Anita Gillette had portrayed Quincy's deceased first wife Helen Quincy in a flashback in a 1979 episode "Promises to Keep".
Contents
Synopsis
The series starred Jack Klugman as Dr. Quincy, a strong-willed, very principled Medical Examiner (forensic pathologist) for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, working to ascertain facts about and reasons for possible suspicious deaths. His colleagues, friends and wife all address him by his surname or the shortened "Quince". (The character's first name was never fully given, although in the third-season episode "Accomplice to Murder" his name is shown on a business card as "R. Quincy" and in early episodes the name "Dr R. Quincy" appears on his door.)
In his investigations, Quincy frequently comes into conflict with his boss, Dr. Robert Asten (John S. Ragin), and the police, in particular, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Frank Monahan (Garry Walberg). Each have their own (often flawed) ideas about what's going on and about Quincy's deductions. Quincy is assisted by his faithful lab assistant, Sam Fujiyama (Robert Ito).
It is revealed in the episode "The Last of Leadbottom" Quincy is a retired Captain in the US Navy and remains in the Naval Reserve. In the episode "Crib Job", Quincy notes he originally wanted to be a railroad engineer, after revealing a number of facts about the dangers of the occupation. A well-liked man, Quincy lives on a sailboat in Marina Del Rey, California and frequents "Danny's", a restaurant at the marina, owned by his friend Danny Tovo (Val Bisoglio).
Quincy is very popular with women. He was married once before but lost his wife Helen to cancer. In the Mystery Movie instalments and earliest "regular" episodes, Quincy has a regular girlfriend called Lee (Lynette Mettey) who sometimes accompanies him on his cases (such as in "...The Thighbone's Connected to the Knee Bone..."). This is his only steady relationship until near the end of the seventh season, when Quincy remarries (Dr. Emily Hanover, played by Anita Gillette who had previously portrayed Helen in a flashback[1]) and sells the sailboat in the episode "Quincy's Wedding". Quincy occasionally drives an antique car, but friends sometimes ask why he drives his "work vehicle" (the county coroner's hearse, an AMC Matador Station Wagon (reg plate: 999853)) on his day off. Quincy claims that his car is off being repaired.
Many of the episodes follow a set formula:
- Somebody dies, seemingly by natural causes.
- Quincy notices something that causes him to suspect foul play.
- He then changes roles from medical examiner to detective, by refusing to release the body and sign off on the cause of death, to Dr. Asten's disapproval.
- Asten gets upset, believing Quincy is seeing evidence that doesn't exist, and urges the doctor to speedily conclude his investigations and accept the obvious. Lt. Monahan's feathers are ruffled too as Quincy "shoulders-in" on police territory.
- Quincy argues quite loudly with some bureaucratic individual impeding the case.
- Quincy asks Sam to "cover for me" while the coroner continues his detective work. This often involves asking Sam to carry out some laborious and time-consuming tests that take him all night. Sam, who often has to cancel his social activities as a result, grumbles but relents.
- Quincy solves the murder, with even the most stubborn bureaucratic officials now also convinced.
- All main characters meet at Danny's restaurant at the episode's end to celebrate.
Early seasons' episodes focused on criminal investigation; a typical episode would find Quincy determining the real murderer in a crime or the real cause of an unusual poisoning case. Later seasons' episodes began to introduce themes of social responsibility; Quincy would find himself involved with a police investigation that reveals situations such as a disreputable plastic surgeon and the reasons his poor surgeries are not stopped, flaws in drunk driving laws, problems caused by punk music, airline safety issues, dumping of hazardous waste, the proliferation of handguns, Tourette's syndrome, orphan drugs and anorexia among others.
Quincy, M.E. was one of the earlier dramatic series to use a format like this to further a social agenda. Klugman himself even came to testify before the US Congress about some of these issues, (such as orphan drugs in 1982) describing what he had learned about a difficult or complex social concern as a result of its use in one of the show's episodes.[2]
A quote from one episode gives a snapshot of a typical conflict. When Quincy is hospitalized, Sam takes the reins and finds something fishy about Quincy's condition when everyone else sees no need for suspicion. Hearing this, Lt. Monahan says, "You're pullin' a Quincy on me, and you ain't Quincy!" Although Quincy studies bodies in-depth at his laboratory, he also does plenty of police investigation work technically outside the role of a coroner for the purposes of the show. He could be considered a workaholic. In every episode where he goes on vacation, it is always interrupted by an intrigue that requires his skills. He then provides copious hours of free work to solve the case. He insists on being intensely thorough in all his work.
In 2008, Klugman sued NBC, asserting that the network had concealed profits from the show which were owed to him.[3]
While many detective series had depicted rudimentary physical evidence analysis such as fingerprints and bullet comparisons, Quincy M.E. was the first to regularly present the in-depth forensic investigations which would be the hallmark of later detective shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its spin-offs, NCIS, Diagnosis Murder, Crossing Jordan, inter alia. Klugman himself made guest appearances on the latter two series as, respectively, Dr. Jeff Everden & Det. Harry Trumble, and Dr. Leo Gelber.
Cast
Actor Eddie Garrett portrayed a photographer for the Los Angeles coroner's office in approximately 100 episodes of the series.[4]
A total of 148 episodes were made, however Jack Klugman appeared in 147. In the episode "Has Anybody Here Seen Quincy?", Quincy is heard talking on the phone several times to Dr. Astin, however he is not seen on screen.[5] The reason Klugman did not take part in the episode is because he disliked the script written by Michael Sloan and Glen A. Larson for the episode; a body brought into the morgue turns out to still be alive.[6] Although these cases do happen in real life, Klugman thought it laughable that a medical examiner of Quincy's expertise would fail to notice it.
DVD releases
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released Seasons 1 and 2 of Quincy, M.E. on DVD in Region 1, 2[7] and 4. Season 3 was released in Region 1 on June 2, 2009, four years after the release of Seasons 1 and 2.[8]
In June 2011, Madman Entertainment announced that it had acquired the distribution rights to the series in Region 4. As a result Season 3 was released on July 20, 2011, and Season 4 was released on November 16, 2011.
DVD Name Ep# Release dates Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 Seasons 1 & 2 17 June 7, 2005[9] September 5, 2005[10] July 20, 2006[11] Season 3 20 June 2, 2009[12] TBA July 20, 2011[13] Season 4 23 TBA TBA November 16, 2011[14] International broadcasts
Episodes air in the United States on affiliates of the Retro Television Network.
Australia
Quincy, M.E. currently airs on the Seven Network's digital-only channel 7mate daily at 11am and 3am.
United Kingdom
The series was first broadcast nationally in the United Kingdom in 1977 on the ITV network (albeit at differing times due to the then federal structure of the network). Repeats of the full series were initially shown on BBC1 on afternoons in the early 1990's and it has frequently been running daily since the late 1990s on ITV and more recently ITV3 until early 2010, in various time slots (usually 8am, 2pm, and early morning). The show is currently showing on Universal Channel, with three episodes on Sunday morning, and one episode at 8am (repeating at 4pm) through the week.[15]
Japan
Quincy M.E. has aired on the TV Asahi network since 1979. Tsuneyuki Serizawa, who supervised the Japanese edition, was a friend of Thomas Noguchi.[citation needed] Doctor Detective Quincy was the Japanese title.
Notes
- ^ "Promises to Keep. 1 March 1979
- ^ Scheinberg, I. Herbert, and J.M. Walshe Orphan Diseases and Orphan Drugs pages 137-138
- ^ Jack Klugman Sues For Profits From 'Quincy M.E.'.
- ^ Barnes, Mike (2010-05-28). "'Quincy' actor Eddie Garrett dies". The Hollywood Reporter. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if3584cb6d538b8e1844e411ac2fdbdb5. Retrieved 2010-06-11.[dead link]
- ^ "Has Anybody Here Seen Quincy?". http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0681788/.
- ^ "Quincy". Television Tropes & Idioms. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Quincy. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quincy-M-Seasons-DVD/dp/B000BRPX3G
- ^ Lambert, David (2009-02-27). "Quincy M.E. - Long-Awaited 3rd Season DVD Set Gets Announced by Universal". tvshowsondvd.com. http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Quincy-Season-3/11399.
- ^ http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=671702
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quincy-M-Seasons-DVD/dp/B000BRPX3G/ref=pd_sim_d_h__1
- ^ http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/quincy-me-seasons-1-2-6-disc-set/dp/786876
- ^ http://www.dvdempire.com/Exec/v4_item.asp?item_id=1456068
- ^ http://www.madman.com.au/series/home/16312/quincy-m-e-the-complete-third-season
- ^ http://www.madman.com.au/catalogue/view/15091/quincy-m-e-the-complete-fourth-season
- ^ http://www.tvguide.co.uk/titlesearch.asp?title=Quincy%20ME
External links
Categories:- 1970s American television series
- 1980s American television series
- 1976 television series debuts
- 1983 television series endings
- Crime television series
- Edgar Award winning works
- Fictional amateur detectives
- Fictional medical personnel
- Fictional navy personnel
- Medical television series
- NBC Mystery Movie
- NBC network shows
- Television series by Universal Studios
- Television series by NBC Universal Television
- Television shows set in Los Angeles, California
- Television series by Stephen J. Cannell Productions
- Fictional portrayals of the Los Angeles Police Department
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