This Mystery Medical Drama Series Quite Literally Changed the World

When CSI: Crime Scene Investigation debuted in 2000, it was a phenomenon, one of the most successful television series of all time. It brought crime scene investigators and forensic scientists out of the shadows, creating a mythological understanding of what they do, depicting the work as exciting when, in reality, it’s mostly reports, documents, analyzing, and math. It also gave birth to the “CSI effect,” where the expectations of forensic science are greatly exaggerated, creating an unreal expectation of how quick the turnaround is on forensic processing (not hours or days, but weeks and months) and importance in a case (one judge recounts hearing a juror complain, “They didn’t even dust the lawn for fingerprints!”).

Nonetheless, its popularity spawned CSI: Miami, CSI:NY, NCIS, Criminal Minds, and countless other heirs to the throne, with most assuming that CSI kicked off the genre. But before William Petersen‘s Gus Grissom, there was Jack Klugman‘s Dr. R. Quincy, a steadfast and exceptionally skilled medical examiner for Los Angeles County. He’s also an excitable, stubborn, short-tempered, and smart man with a high ethical standard. Quincy is the titular character of Quincy M.E. (Quincy), a highly successful, 8-season medical drama that debuted on October 3, 1976, a good 24 years before CSI., and ground zero for a genre that still captures the public’s imagination. But it didn’t just kick off a genre, it kicked off a lifesaving legacy that expanded beyond the TV screen and into real-life.

Jack Klugman Goes From Being ‘Odd’ To Being a Doctor in ‘Quincy’

Most will remember Klugman from The Odd Couple, the 1970s sitcom where he played the slovenly Oscar Madison opposite Tony Randall‘s neat and tidy Felix Unger, but he’s been in other legendary productions, appearing four times in classic TV series The Twilight Zone and as Juror No. 5 in Sidney Lumet‘s 1957 film 12 Angry Men. Quincy, itself loosely based on the 1966-68 Canadian series Wojeck, is Klugman’s first following his long run as Oscar, trading in his onscreen occupation as a sportswriter for a medical degree and a position as a forensic pathologist, Dr. R. Quincy (the first name was never revealed — even Klugman reportedly didn’t know what it was).

Quincy acts as a bridge between the age of detective shows like Columbo and ones like Murder, She Wrote, featuring people unrelated to the police actively investigating crimes. Dr. Quincy himself is a hybrid of the two, a coroner who investigates suspicious deaths on his own, aided by Sam Fujiyama (Robert Ito), with little or no cooperation from the police. Initially, the series was your standard “case-of-the-week” scenario, with Quincy stepping in when he suspects something other than what the LAPD has determined, theorizing a different scenario based on his forensic work and keen eye. The differences of opinion typically led to a confrontation with his boss, Dr. Robert Asten (John S. Ragin), and Lieutenant Frank Monahan (Garry Walberg) of the LAPD Homicide unit.

By the end of each episode, Quincy’s theories are proven right, with Quincy accurately determining who actually committed the murder, never the person the LAPD took into custody, or identifying the true cause of a mysterious, unusual death, outsmarting both the LAPD and his boss (it’s very similar in structure to the hit CBS series Elsbeth, only Carrie Preston‘s Elsbeth Tascioni is far less confrontational). Formulaic, yes, but the means to get to the end, the forensic work and lab-based deductions, was a different approach than what had been seen on television to that point, which made Quincy‘s case-of-the-week more unique.

‘Quincy’ Tackles Social Responsibilities and Orphan Diseases

As the series progressed, so too did the storylines, growing from the “whodunit” or “howcatchem” cases, and Quincy’s criminal investigations of them, into tackling deeper themes related to social responsibilities. In those cases, Quincy’s investigations would tie the crimes to larger, more troubling social situations. One episode centered around the red tape that prevented a disreputable plastic surgeon from practicing. Another exposed flaws in drunk driving laws, another lax airline safety. It became a veritable cornucopia of the hot-topic issues of the day: hazardous waste dumping, easy accessibility to handguns, unsafe hospital procedures, anorexia, teenage alcoholism, and more. One cult-favorite episode, “Next Stop, Nowhere,” tackled the dangers of punk rock, with Quincy chalking up the death of a teenage boy, during a concert by the band Mayhem (you can’t make this stuff up), to punk music, saying, “Whoever killed that boy was listening to words that literally cried out for blood.”

It’s one thing for a TV series or film to shine a light on a societal issue, like New Amsterdam‘s episode about the overturning of Roe v. Wade, or Grey’s Anatomy and its interesting attempt at taking on the Covid-19 pandemic. But it’s rare that a movie or a TV series incites changes in the real world. Only Quincy did, and more than once. Specifically, the issue of accessible drugs for “orphan” diseases, diseases that only impact a small portion of the population and, as a result, get neglected by pharmaceutical companies more intent on diseases that hit a broader segment. In simpler terms, working on drugs that will make a profit, not ones that don’t. These include conditions like Tourette’s Syndrome, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, spina bifida, and ALS.

‘Quincy, M.E.’ Affects Real World Changes Thanks to an Episode on “Orphan” Diseases

Quincy enters into the fray after Klugman’s brother, Maurice Klugman, a producer and writer on the show, wrote an episode about the barriers in treating orphan diseases. Maurice himself suffered from a rare form of cancer, and was inspired by an article in the LA Times. The episode, “Seldom Silent, Never Heard,” sees Quincy investigating the death of a boy afflicted with Tourette’s Syndrome. He discovers just how little medical help is available for people with rare disorders, focusing his anger on the drug companies that won’t help because there’s no money in it for them. It was a pointed political message, and a timely one at that. Rep. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Health and Environment, capitalized on the publicity raised by the episode, looking to build momentum for a bill, and invited Jack Klugman to testify before Congress.

These days, a celebrity speaking to Congress is not uncommon, but back in March 1981, it was almost unheard of. Klugman addressed the subcommittee, testifying on behalf of those victimized by the lack of helpful drugs. It was a heartfelt plea from the actor, who confessed that he was appearing not as an expert, but “more as a celebrity.” It worked, with a bill, The Orphans Drug Act, beginning its journey through the political system. The bill, per The Washington Post, offered drugmakers a lighter regulatory burden for developing new orphan drugs, a seven-year monopoly, and a 90-percent tax credit for clinical trial costs. In addition, it established an Office of Rare Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

The Orphan Drugs Act went through the House undisputed, but the Senate was a different story, holding the bill up and preventing it from going any further. No problem, though, for Dr. Quincy. The Klugman brothers wrote a second episode of Quincy, this one about an orphan drug bill that was being held up by a heartless, evil, yet fictitious senator. Likely shamed by the negative press that accompanied the episode, the act finally passed through. It opened the door for similar policies, like the Creating HOPE Act for pediatric cancer research.

Quincy M.E. is largely forgotten, its place in television history as the genesis of the forensic science drama supplanted in the public eye by CSI and its kin. But there is no Gus Grissom, no Horatio Crane (David Caruso), no Dr. Spencer Reid (Matthew Gray Gubler) without Quincy. More importantly, there is no real-world legacy spurred on by Quincy, a legacy that has made a difference in the lives of thousands of people afflicted with diseases that most have never even heard of. Certainly, it is a far better legacy than inspiring people to make their judgments on a case based on whether the lawn has been dusted for fingerprints or not. Far, far better.

Quincy, M.E. is available to stream in the U.S. on YouTube TV

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