Quincy, M.E.

Quincy, M.E.
Title card
Genre	Medical drama mystery forensic pathology procedural
Created by	Glen A. Larson Lou Shaw
Starring	Jack Klugman Garry Walberg John S. Ragin Val Bisoglio Robert Ito Joseph Roman Eddie Garrett Marc Scott Taylor (seasons 4–7)
Theme music composer	Glen A. Larson & Stu Phillips
Opening theme	Original "Untitled" Score
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	8
No. of episodes	148 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 min (seasons 2–8; also syndication) 90 min (season 1)
Production companies	Glen A. Larson Productions Universal Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	October 3, 1976 (1976-10-03) – May 11, 1983 (1983-05-11)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Quincy, M.E. (also called Quincy) is an American mystery medical drama television series from Universal Studios that was broadcast on NBC from October 3, 1976, to May 11, 1983. Jack Klugman starred in the title role as a Los Angeles County medical examiner who routinely engages in police investigations.

Inspired by the book Where Death Delights by Marshall Houts, a former FBI agent,^[1][2] the show also resembled the earlier Canadian television series Wojeck, broadcast by CBC Television. John Vernon, who played the Wojeck title role, later guest-starred in the third-season episode "Requiem for the Living". Quincy's character is loosely modeled on Los Angeles' "Coroner to the Stars" Thomas Noguchi.^[3][4]

Quincy was originally broadcast as 90-minute telefilms as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie rotation in the autumn of 1976, alongside Columbo, McCloud and McMillan (formerly McMillan & Wife). The series proved popular enough that after four episodes of Quincy, M.E. were broadcast during the 1976–1977 season in the extended format, Quincy was spun off into its own weekly one-hour series without a typical 60-minute pilot. Instead, a two-hour episode kicked off a thirteen-episode shortened run of the series, which concluded the 1976–1977 season, while NBC canceled the Mystery Movie format in the spring of 1977.

The Quincy series often used the same actors for different roles in various episodes, a frequent occurrence on many Glen A. Larson TV programs. Writers Lou Shaw and Tony Lawrence received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1978 for the second-season episode "...The Thigh Bone's Connected to the Knee Bone...".