Quincy, M.E.: Season 02 (1977)

Member Rating:

Introduced as one of four rotating components of the crime anthology NBC Mystery Movie, Quincy, M.E. proved so popular with viewers that the network gave the series its own weekly, one-hour Friday night time slot, beginning with its second season -- which, in answer to public demand, was launched less than a month after its first season! With Jack Klugman still holding down the fort in the role of Dr. Quincy, crusading medical examiner with the Los Angeles Coroner's Office, the weekly version of the series commenced with the two-part episode "Snake Eyes," in which Quincy; his lab assistant, Sam (Robert Ito); and his restaurateur pal, Danny (Val Bisoglio), attend a pathologists convention in Lake Tahoe -- where the trio unearths some shocking evidence when several guests and staffers succumb to a mysterious illness. In later episodes, Quincy meticulously reconstructs a capital crime from a single thigh bone; he reluctantly goes head to head with his mentor, Dr. Stone (Barry Sullivan), during a murder trial; he rescues a youngster from his abusive parents; he goes on an extended guilt trip when a rape counselor is herself assaulted as punishment for Quincy's outraged verbal attack on a suspected rapist; and he theorizes that a body donated to medical science is that of a murder victim -- and that the crime was committed in a supposedly impenetrable protective custody prison cell. The most unusual episode of the season is "Has Anybody Here Seen Quincy," one of the very few entries of any series in which the star never appears! As in season one, season two of Quincy features Lynnette Mettey as the protagonist's girlfriend, Lee Potter. Though Lee would not return for a third season, John S. Ragin would be carried over in the role of Quincy's superior and chief antagonist, Dr. Robert Astin, who at this juncture of the series is still an obnoxious, thick-eared windbag. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi