"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.
