An Exercise in Randomness

Caution: Today's blog is an exercise in randomness.

Television used to be a rarity in our house, but I confess that is changing, mostly since we got cable. We got the cable as a bundle with the high-speed internet and because we did want Z to have access to Discovery, the History Channel, Animal Planet and PBS.

Oops…tangent. Can you have a tangent in randomness?

The much touted 100^th episode of the Fox television show Bones aired last night. I’ve seen a few episodes, but sometimes it can be a bit ripe for me. Ditto CSI. But as I’ve watched the commercials it occurred to me that all of these folks owe their success to one man. Jack Klugman.

Yes, Jack Klugman. Klugman (and yes, he's still alive) has portrayed several iconic characters over the years including Oscar Madison --who while he didn't inspire Oscar the Grouch was later given a nod by Henson and pals. Sesame Street paid homage to the other famous Oscar by giving their trashcan residing grouch a best friend named Felix the neat Grouch.

After his time on The Odd Couple (which came after years of impressive parts in movies including 12 Angry Men), in 1976, Jack Klugman gave life to the original forensic scientist/crime fighter--Dr. R. Quincy, ME.

Originally conceived as part of the rotating NBC Sunday night mystery theater that included McCloud, McMillan and Wife and Columbo, Klugman's Quincy was so popular that he was quickly given his own weekly show. Using the skills of a medical examiner Quincy used 1970's forensics to solve mysteries. The seven year run of this show opened the door for shows like Diagnosis Murder (1993-2001); Crossing Jordan (2001-2007); CSI and all it's spin-offs (2003-present) and Bones (2005-present).

I remember watching Quincy, and not just because my grandmother liked it. I liked it. I found the way Quincy used medical science to solve crimes fascinating. I found the secondary characters interesting and enjoyable. It was a terrific show. Or maybe it was just that in 1976 I was 11 years old and found it the mark of being a grown up to watch the 9:00pm (CST) grownup show. It was the same with M*A*S*H*. I didn't actually understand many of the jokes, but being able to stay up late to watch was a mark of adulthood.

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I find myself writing again recently. I thought for awhile this was going to turn into a YA story. I'm not sure of that now. The heroine is young, just how young I'm not sure yet. Somewhere between 16-20 so I guess that is YA. And it's paranormal. Part of my world, but an aspect I've only ever touched on. It will be interesting to see how and if it develops.