Quincy, M.E.

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Quincy, M.E.
Format	Drama
Created by	Glen A. Larson
Starring	Jack Klugman Robert Ito Garry Walberg John S. Ragin Val Bisoglio Joseph Roman
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	148
Production
Running time	60 to 90 minutes 60 minutes (syndication)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	October 3, 1976 – September 4, 1983

Quincy, M.E. 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 was based on a Canadian television series, Wojeck, broadcast by CBC Television in the 1960s, but had more immediate local inspiration in Thomas Noguchi, Los Angeles' "coroner to the stars."^{[citation needed]}

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 and Wife). The series proved popular enough that midway through the 1976–77 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 that 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 programmes.

The full series is currently being run daily on ITV3 in the UK and episodes are being run daily in the United States on affiliates of the Retro Television Network.

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 DVD releases 3 Notes 4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

The series starred Jack Klugman as Dr. Quincy, a strong-willed, very principled Medical Examiner (forensic coroner) in Los Angeles County working to ascertain facts about suspicious deaths. (The character's first name was never given, although in the third-season episode "Accomplice to Murder" his name is shown on a business card as "R. Quincy".) In the process of his investigations, Quincy frequently comes into conflict with his boss and the police, each of whom have their own (often flawed) ideas about what's going on. It is later revealed in the episode "The Last of Leadbottom" that he is a Retired Captain in the US Navy, and remains in the Naval Reserve. In the episode "Crib Job", Quincy reveals that he originally wanted to be a railroad driver, after revealing a number of facts about the dangers of the occupation. A well-liked man, Quincy lives on a houseboat, frequents "Danny's" pub, and is popular with the ladies. He was married once before but lost his wife Helen to cancer. Near the end of the seventh season Quincy remarries (Dr. Emily Hanover) and sells the houseboat ("Quincy's Wedding").

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.
• Quincy's boss gets upset, believing that Quincy is seeing evidence that doesn't exist, and that Quincy should work on routine cases. The police get their feathers ruffled as he "shoulders-in" on their territory as well.
• He argues quite loudly with some bureaucratic individual impeding the case.
• Quincy solves the murder.

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 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. The actor Jack 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.^[1]

A quote from one episode gives a snapshot of a typical conflict. When Quincy is hospitalized, Sam Fujiyama (Robert Ito), Quincy's faithful co-worker, takes the reins and finds something fishy about Quincy's condition when everyone else sees no need for suspicion. Hearing this, homicide detective Lt. Frank Monahan (Garry Walberg) 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 Klugman.^[2]

[edit] DVD releases

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released Seasons 1 and 2 of Quincy, M.E. on DVD in Region 1 and Region 2. Season 3 was released in Region 1 on June 2, 2009, four years after the release of Seasons 1 and 2.^[3]

DVD Name	Ep#	Region 1	Region 2
Seasons 1 & 2	17	June 7, 2005	December 5, 2005
Season 3	20	June 2, 2009	TBA
Season 4	23	TBA	TBA
Season 5	22	TBA	TBA
Season 6	18	TBA	TBA
Season 7	24	TBA	TBA
Season 8	24	TBA	TBA

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Quincy, M.E. at the Internet Movie Database
• Quincy, M.E. at TV.com
• The Quincy Examiner - Online Home to Fans of QME
• Jack Klugman - Quincy - German Infosite
• Mystery.net - Quincy, M.E.
• Quincy ME at Stage 1