Quincy

I absolutely loved this series about a coroner's experiences, and have tried in recent years to find a TV replacement, all to no avail. Cold Case Files is bearable (but no Quincy) while CSI is both dark & stark and far too graphic. No opportunity is lost to display blood and guts, generally at the expense of character and plot. Why people view this as entertainment befuddles me. Crossing Jordan is yet another dark tale and generally as concerned with Jordan's sex life as with crime investigation.

By contrast, Quincy is very engaging but also optimistic. Yes, Quincy has his 'relationships' with beautiful young women, but they are portrayed light heartedly, with humour and minimal focus. Jack Klugman is brilliant in the role of the smart & tough, kind hearted & principled, grumpy but charismatic coroner. He is always the underdog's champion, indignant at the crimes & cover ups of the wealthy and influential, and not hesitant to ruffle a few feathers. Quincy is always professional but also personally engaged in the victim's plight. Each episode sees him ferreting out some new case of foul play, aided by his faithful Oriental lab cohort, Sam, engagingly played by Robert Ito. The pair enjoy a touching friendship.

The series gave us a glimpse into the forensic techniques and research of that era. (These may have improved during the intervening decades but alas, the TV series portraying them have not.) Also, many issues equally relevant today were explored, including child abuse, fad diets, alcoholism, child pornography, and so forth. Who cares whether aspects of the show are predictable or whether it is particularly realistic? I for one remain a great fan of the series. As I see it, all the forensic dramas of today pale by comparison.

"Quincy,M.E.",premiered on NBC-TV in October of 1976,and ended its run in April of 1982. The original was one of the last series to be created for the NBC Mystery Movie strand which consisted of the shows,"McCloud", "MacMillian and Wife","Banacek",and also "Columbo" which was on the same network. However,the series became part of a two-hour movie series intitled "Quincy",but the name changed after the Peacock network cancelled the movie series in 1976. This is where the series takes off and it was a combination of several things that may this a great show. First off,Quincy was played by the great Jack Klugman,who before the series aired was Oscar Madison for five seasons on the TV version of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple",which was on a rival network.

Klugman had a style and substance to the role where he can make his character looked serious and sometimes humourous at the same time(watch the episodes to see my point),but had a knack for solving cases for the police,uncover the proof of foul play against impossible odds,and go beyond the lengths to help the authorities catch the killer or suspects that were involved. Then after solving another grueling case,he's back onto another one leading to more clues and surprises at every turn.

This show during its run was in the top ten and was a grand favorites against competitors like from other detective shows like Kojak,Barnaby Jones,and Baretta,not to mention Starsky and Hutch. However,the show was a inspiration for such shows today as Crossing Jordan and CSI:Crime Scene Investigation,not to mention in this category Diagonsis:Murder.

Its is amazing that they don't make shows like this anymore,but Quincy was very good. One of the best from the mid-1970's. However,during its last season,the ratings slipped,and in 1982 the show was cancelled,and its replacement show over at NBC was that of a man and his talking car which....well you know the rest of the story...............

Catch the episodes everyday on the Hallmark channel.

..."Thank God!" some people might think, well, not me. "Quincy" is one of my favourite shows of this kind (second only to the excellent "Columbo"). Jack Klugman is unforgettable as the intense and often angry Dr Quincy and is brilliantly supported by Robert Ito as the idealistic Sam, John S. Ragin as the by-the-book Dr Astin and Garry Walberg as Lt Monahan. Occasionally hammy but always enjoyable.

I watched "Quincy" when it was on the first time round with my mum, dad & sister. I didn't quite get it the first time around as I was a young lady in those days. However I was fortunate to see it on digital TV in England, and have realized the true, raw, emotion that is Quincy, coroner & all-round good guy.

Quincy is insightful. Before all these "CSI" & "Cold Case" programmes, there was Quincy. Was he one step ahead? Let's just say he was on the ball. He knew the truth behind the lies, the evil from the good and the down-right guilty from the innocent. When he had a hunch, you'd better believe he was right. Had a crime to solve? Quincy was your guy.

Quincy get what he wants. If there was someone who was holding something back, Quincy had enough on them to solve the case & get the job done.

Quincy was a man's man. With soul. He lived & loved like a man who's time was almost up, and it showed. He solved the case when no one else thought it could be done. He felt for the deceased & gave them a voice when everyone else thought it had fallen silent.

Quincy has charisma. There was no other man on television who had a hand that was as good with a woman as it was with a dead body.

Quincy cares. Sure, Quincy was a man's man; he would be at the bar buying a round for the guys, but he hurts like the rest of us. He just kept it all inside.

So there you have it - the man & the myth that is Quincy. There will never be another... all those copy-cats? Well the men want to be him, & the women want to be WITH him. Quincy, you're the best.

This show was more influential than most shows of its genre on TV. In many ways, it was the predecessor to the current CSI and CSI: Miami, with its emphasis on science and the forensic approach. In fact, many of the episodes dealt with forensic methods which were just coming into being in the 70's, and for the first time let the audience of the series see these new techniques and research, including the build-up of a skeletal face to what the person could have looked like, looking for evidence of where a person has been by looking at the residue on a person's shoes and other forensic methods we take for granted nowadays.

What's even more interesting is that many of the topics of these episodes, some 25 years old, show a great amount of relevance even now. Such things as airplane safety, epidemics, political influence, riots, runaways and child pornography, post traumatic stress disorder as a result of a war experience, migrant workers, crash diets, child abuse, and much, much more.

This show was and is a great forerunner to many other shows over the past twenty-five years. In many ways, the current resurgence in shows about forensic science can be attributed to this show. Not only the commercial successes of CSI and CSI:Miami, but shows like "Forensic Files," "Cold Case Files" and other such shows. With the amount of technology which we presently have available to us now, it's amazing that a lot of it has only been available since Quincy debuted on television, less than 25 years ago.