Quincy, M.E. - Seasons 1 & 2 Review Score: 9/10 | Date Posted: June 14th 2005 In: DVD Reviews Quincy, M.E. - Seasons 1 & 2 Review by Vince D’Amato Starring: Jack Klugman, Robert Ito, John S. Ragin. Directed by: Various. Released by: Universal (part of their “Classic Television” series). The original C.S.I. is out on DVD! Any television fan over 25 will know that Quincy was the original C.S.I. show, but even having watched Quincy in syndicated glory, I’d not realized how much William Peterson’s C.S.I. character Grissom owes to Quincy. But in terms of the realism of the roles of crime scene investigators, I have to compare the two shows: The one thing that irritates my about C.S.I. is that the forensics examiners all seemed to be in the same department, and they actually go out onto the field to investigate the crimes - and even interrogate suspects! I mean, isn’t that the cops’ jobs?? In Quincy, we have much the same character set-up; a forensic M.E. who is a detective at heart – but in the Quincy series, it is consistently brought up (in the pilot episode, anyway) that Quincy is not a detective, and continual outside investigating and question-raising from Quincy only leads to political and bureaucratic tensions. As a plot device, this to me is not only a lot easier to swallow, it seems infinitely more logical. No high-tech forensic gadgets for Quincy, either – the show is based in old-school storytelling, and while Quincy tries to develop “new” tools for forensic identification, this too seems a lot more believable. Quincy may not have the flash of C.S.I., but what it has are well-written characters and scenarios and a timeless style of mystery storytelling, which is every bit as exciting in its own way. (In fact, if you can’t tell already, I think that Quincy is simply a better show than C.S.I. ) “I’m the Medical Examiner! If I say it’s a homicide, it’s a homicide!” In the feature-length episode that kicks off the series, all of the mainstay characters (both the quirky and the uptight) from the series are introduced – Sam, Quincy’s partner in crime, their boss Dr. Asten, the police lieutenant Frank Monahan, and even the bartender at Quincy’s haunt (Val Bisoglio). But there are even more great characters that didn’t last the run entire run of the seasons, including Quincy’s spunky stewardess girlfriend (played by Lynette Mettey), and the memorable opening credits and theme song don’t come into play till later on (near Season 2) – but you will get to see that famous scene where the rookie cops drop like flies during Quincy’s forensic demonstration in its original context. The entire two seasons are not only great entertainment for mystery lovers, the shows are sparked with great humorous touches and lead characters that are slightly off-the-wall at times; the team of writers and directors almost always deftly mixing the comedy with the mystery, and sometimes even with the grisly (or as grisly as 70’s television would be allowed to get, anyway). There’s even some pretty twisted dark humour in the first episode, specifically when Quincy’s girlfriend catches him and his bartender friend Danny Tovo hoisting a prostitute into a noose in order to re-create a crime scene. Of course, credit also goes to the stars of the show for portraying the often funny and sometimes complex characters of the series, bringing to life not only these timeless characters, but a fondly remembered television series. This is one series that should be at the top of your list to rediscover. Special Features: Nothing, save for the shows themselves. Trivia: Like the Canadian series DaVinci’s Inquest, the character of Quincy, M.E. was based on a real-life Los Angeles County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Noguchi, who was famous for his often controversial forensic conclusions (including raising questions about Kennedy’s assassination) and performed the autopsies on such stars as Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi and Natalie Wood. He was also the technical advisor on the Quincy series. Television “regulations” back in the 70’s was the reason a corpse or autopsy was never actually show on-screen in Quincy, though apparently it was the producers’ original intentions to do so. In the entire run of the series, Quincy’s first name was never revealed.

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