Who Doesn't Love Jack Klugman?

Wednesday night was a quiet night in. We rented The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005), which I adored, and then got rid of about four months’ worth of recycling and went to the bank machine. Pretty intense night, huh?

Then, while checking my email for the hundredth time to see if my grades were there, I tried something that I guess many bored bloggers do. I punched the title of my blog into Google’s normal search to see how far up I am on the hits. I was pretty depressed at how many uses of the line “What the hell is a Blog?” there were. (I’m thinking of changing the title if I can… Any suggestions?)

However, one guy out there with the same line in his really caught my attention.

To set this up, my mom LOVES crime shows. To give you an indication how much, she actually squealed when I told her I was starting a degree in criminology a few years ago (long story). Anyway, she has always had a thing for Jack Klugman since the Odd Couple was on TV (1970-75), so when I was a kid we watched plenty of reruns of Quincy, which was his old forensics/coroner show in the 70s/80s. It was great – the guy always caught the bad guys, without a gun or a souped-up Chevy, or anything. WITH JUST HIS BRAIN!

It opened up all kinds of doors for me, and I count it as a foundational document of my development. When I studied criminology, I went into forensic anthropology (identifying human remains), and I had Quincy in mind when I chose that field. Plus, Jack Klugman was one of my first crushes, right after Elton John (whose rhinestones fascinated me when I was three) and Placido Domingo, but before Patrick Stewart.

Since then, I have had the fortune to catch a lot of his work, including Goodbye Columbus (1969), and the classic 12 Angry Men (1957), which I bought a couple of weeks ago. I love his slum-kid-turned-sensitive-guy in that (Juror Number 5, if you need the name).

So, you can imagine my joy at finding his blog tonight (I got to leave a comment – I am so stoked!). I think you can all guess what the title of his first post was… Can you?

That’s right children. The hero of my formative-syndication-TV-years, Jack Klugman, has a blog in which the first post is named “What the Hell is a Blog?” Cosmic, eh? Man, I can’t wait to tell my mom… To her, that’ll mean I’m a celebrity twice removed.

I love quiet nights in. You meet the neatest people that way.


Post Script:
Check out "Klugman's Korner" as well... either there is a Jack Klugman impersonator out there, or this guy is really becoming a blogging maniac!