Quincy M.E. (TV Series) The Cutting Edge (1983) User Reviews

Seriously lame way to end a series.

[darkheath2001 · 5/10 · 19 June 2016]

I just finished watching the entire series (and after most episodes, I came to this site to read the reviews) and I just wanted to add something that I simply can't believe. This episode aired just 3 months after the fantastic "Goodbye, Farewell, & Amen", the final episode of M*A*S*H. Over 130 million people (when there were only about 250 million in the country at the time) tuned to watch that incredible tribute to the 11 years of the 4077th basically becoming family to most of us. Now Quincy was not nearly on par with MASH (especially during the later seasons), but how could the producers see, one; the incredible revenue generated and, two; the wonderful send off for a beloved set of characters and then do this to the loyal Quincy fans. No... it never would have even come close to MASH numbers, but they still could have generated some interest in a decent send off. I just watched 148 episodes over the last 2.5 years and this just left me feeling hollow knowing that there's nothing to follow.

The episode itself isn't horrible (neither was the Perlmutter episode), but neither of these were actually Quincy episodes. The fans deserved better.

Five generous stars

[dd-66056 · 5/10 · 11 January 2022]

Having grown up with this classic television series, and in appreciation for COZI TV playing it so regularly I'm giving this slow but building episode five generous stars. They DON'T make um like this EPIC t.v. Series anymore. Quincy was, in its day, unique and one of a kind.

Disappointing Series Finale

[rayoflite24 · 3/10 · 20 July 2015]

The Cutting Edge begins with a dock yard accident where an industrial sized pipe falls on a young worker severing his arm. Quincy (Jack Klugman) is on hand to help stabilize him, and the worker is transported to the Project Hope hospital which specializes in experimental surgeries and medical procedures aimed at improving the quality of life of patients. The surgeon successfully reattaches his arm, but then other complications arise which the hospital staff must address.

I'm not going to say very much about this episode since it really has nothing to do with the show itself. Quincy only appears in a few scenes, and the rest of the episode features a bunch of new characters working out of this innovative hospital which was intended as a pilot for a new series which never came to fruition. I found this episode and the whole premise of the new show to be a total rip off from The Bold Ones: The New Doctors series starring David Hartman which featured a very similar premise and characters.

This was a very disappointing conclusion to what was once a great show, and it's a shame that it didn't end with an episode that honored and celebrated the true identity of Quincy as a murder mystery series where the culprits are nabbed through forensic evidence. Why the producers went so far off the mark with so many episodes during Season 8 is a mystery to me, but straying so far from the formula that made this show a hit in the first place certainly did enough damage to result in a cancellation.

Time to call it a day....

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 2 July 2013]

This is the final episode of "Quincy" and a wonderful reviewer, Paul Andrews, thinks it's the very worst episode of all. That's pretty hard to imagine, as another season eight show "Beyond the Open Door" is both horrible AND very irresponsible. Regardless, it's a sad testament to how badly the quality of the show had fallen that MANY episodes of the final season were in contention for the Worst Episode prize. Why were the final shows so bad? Much of was that they seem to have run out of ideas. Instead of stories about crimes and crime detection (which SHOULD be the theme in a show about a coroner), shows seem to go everywhere EXCEPT to crime detection. Now this is not to say season eight alone had episodes without crimes--there were various social issues shows starting around season two. BUT, these sort of episodes were rare--but by season eight they were the norm. And, in the process, Jack Klugman spent less and less time in front of the camera. In fact, by the later episodes, he barely even showed up in each program--just a few token appearances here and there.

Here in "The Cutting Edge", you get very, very little Quincy once again--in fact, he's barely in the episode at all. Much of this is because the show was actually intended as a pilot for a new series--so much of the show features these new characters and is about hospitals--not crimes or the usual "Quincy" fare. In the process, Quincy is left with little to do other than introduce the characters at the beginning. And, because of this, it's probably best that this once-excellent series was finally put to rest. A very, very weak ending to a weak season 8. In my opinion, probably the second worst episode.

Backdoor Pilot, Fans of Quincy Take It In The Backdoor

[peeedeee-94281 · 2/10 · 11 January 2022]

I just watched this episode and I can't believe that this was the actual series finale. They couldn't do a proper episode where the characters say goodbye? Instead, Quincy appears on the scene, not even a coroner case, then just fades away as the episode goes on? Fans deserved better. Adding insult to injury, the series wasn't even picked up.

"I am not a laboratory rat!" The worst episode of Quincy ever.

[poolandrews · 1/10 · 8 January 2008]

Quincy M.E.: The Cutting Edge starts as Los Angeles coroner Quincy (Jack Klugman) & crime scene photographer Ed (Eddie Garrett) are helping out after an accident at a pipe yard, they find six injured men including fork lift truck driver Kenny Kelso (Paul Rudd) who has lost an arm. Quincy stabilises Kenny & lets the paramedics take over, they take Kenny & his severed arm to Las Manos Medical Center where Dr. Gabriel McCracken (Barry Newman) runs a program called Experiment Hope in which the finest doctor's & specialists all work together on new techniques & try to find solutions to seemingly hopeless cases like Kenny & his severed arm...

Episode 24 from season 8 The Cutting Edge was the very last episode of Quincy, after eight seasons & 148 episodes Quincy was no more. You know generally speaking I really like Quincy as a show, with it's murder mysteries & varied range of story lines so when the show was good I loved it but especially towards the end of it's run when it was bad boy it was absolutely awful! The Cutting Edge is probably the single worst episode of Quincy I can remember seeing, I almost feel like a traitor calling it awful but that's honestly the way I felt about it & since it was the very last episode one would have thought Quincy & the regular supporting cast would have had a decent send off but no apart from Quincy appearing in the opening sequence to attend the accident scene, going to visit Dr. McCracken for a couple of minutes about twenty minutes in & a further two or three minutes at the very end he's barely in it while none of the regular support cast are in at all, not Sam, not Asten, not Danny or Lt. Monahan or Brill. Unbelievable, I actually thought I was watching McCracken M.D. rather than Quincy M.E.! I didn't know while watching it but I've since learned that this was actually a pilot for a planned series called The Cutting Edge with Barry Newman as McCracken tackling serious medical issues, or that's probably how it would have played but luckily the series never got made. You can see that McCracken is given lots of background as his family troubles are pointed out as is his relationship with the hospital administrator as well as several other colleagues who are also all fleshed out more than one would expect from a single one off 50 minutes Quincy episode. A real wasted opportunity to give Quincy a great final episode & a good farewell. The basic story isn't even any good, there's no murder, there's no mystery, there's no laboratory work at all & it's just a terrible piece of drama that doesn't deserve to be called Quincy.

While watching The Cutting edge I was becoming increasingly concerned about Kenny Kelso, KK to his mates, I mean he started the day off minding his own business going about his job only to have a stack of large metal piping collapse on top of him severing his arm, then he has to undergo hours in the operating theatre undergoing surgery to reattach it, then he almost dies from a subdural haematoma for which the doctor's have to revive him & then bore a hole in his skull with a drill to drain the excess blood & if that wasn't enough he loses the ability to use his one remaining good arm all in a day! Wow, talk about bad luck. I bet KK wishes he had just stayed in bed that morning.

The Cutting Edge is the single worst Quincy episode ever, in fact I'd struggle to even call it a Quincy episode since he's only in for about five minutes & doesn't do anything. It's even more of a shame since it was the very last Quincy episode so no-one got a proper send off & you know what, I just hated it, the story, the character's & everything about it & I'm glad they never made the proposed series. Anyway, one final thought from me, goodbye Quincy & thanks for all the great episodes & it's unfortunate The Cutting Edge wasn't one of them.

Green Acres

[johnnyfever-56114 · 1/10 · 23 January 2024]

As bad as or worse than the last episode of Green Acres. Nothing to do with Quincy. I felt like I was watching a bad jr high play .. mot sure what the point if this was. A pilot for a failed tv show. I see why it failed. Maybe the Bionic Arm tv series..i have to write a really long review to get this posted so ... just dont watch it. Its terrible. Oscar madison would have been a better doctor than this guy. Wonder if he ever got that kid if his straight. Did he go out with that chick that was hitting on him? Did he enjoy the Arliss show? Did he have any gum. Oh wait quincy does show up at the end..

Another pointless episode.

[kindofblue-78221 · 1/10 · 8 June 2023]

Quincy was generally wonderful drivel throughout. That's what made it so alluring.

Rarely has there been a series with so much garbage.

Occasionally they came up with genuinely brilliant stories.

The beauty of Quincy was Quincy. He truly believed he was omniscient. One minute he was a nuclear physicist the next he was a biologist.

Along comes season 8 and all the magical garbage virtually disappeared overnight.

Why?

Because Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent etc disappeared.

The super hero became no more than a bit player. A last minute substitute.

This episode is the perfect illustration of what went wrong with Quincy.

There's not even a story.

So I've just finished watched the entire series.

It's great it ended on such a low as it serves to show exactly why it needed to end.

Some series are so bad they are good.

Season 8 is largely so bad it's bad.

Not with a bang, but with a whimper...

[AlsExGal · 2/10 · 27 January 2024]

... is the way Quincy ends. There is very little Quincy to be seen actually, which was true of more than a few of the season eight episodes.

A construction worker loses an arm in an accident and is taken to a hospital that has the resources to take the tough cases - in this case the reattachment of the man's arm. This place is called "Project Hope". So this segues into some kind of failed pilot that was supposed to be about the doctors involved in this project and who worked in the hospital.

The head of project hope, Dr. Gabe McCracken, is passionate but overworked, his marriage is on the rocks, and his teen son is troubled. A female doctor is a robotics expert and is being wooed by someone whom she arrogantly calls less intelligent than herself. And everyone seems to hate Dr. Muscanni because he believes in rules. Heaven forbid his protocols inhibit their creativity! In other words, cue the tired hospital drama stereotypes and tropes. There is one thing that was a bit different and amusing - Dr. McCracken gets hit on by a 30ish red head at his son's baseball game. Maybe these kinds of encounters are why his wife left?

At any rate, the pilot never became a series and it isn't hard to see why not. But the real issue is - Why did the producers consider this to be a suitable end to Quincy, the series? It doesn't wrap up loose ends at all or say what happened to everybody. Even Barney Miller, which tended to be very episodic, got a meaningful series finale the year before! The double episode on Quincy's wedding probably should have been the end of things.

Not a good pilot, not a good finale - I'd just say avoid it.

I had forgotten how AWFUL this series end was

[blainedamico · 1/10 · 13 February 2024]

Just watched the entire series on reruns, in order to remember the magic that was quincy. Watched the Perlmutter episode and had to keep checking if ir was a Quincy episode. Wait there's Quincy, then he is gone just as fast.

So I thought at least the series finale will be a dramatic Quincy and Sam and Aston Monahan solve a murder in a grand way. Instead I got a tearjerker hospital drama pilot with ONLY Quincy and ONLY about 60 seconds near the beginning (Quincy finds a severed arm and packs it on ice) and at the end (Quincy congratulates the patient and the Dr.s who were "HOPE"ing to get this pilot funded.)

Spinoff episodes should NEVER be the series finales. Such an insult to longtime fans. No finale scene at Danny's! This was NOT an episode of Quincy!

I am checking the no spoilers cause it is impossible to spoil this rotten finale to an amazing show.

Bad timing for a pilot

[westpoint64 · 2/10 · 1 January 2024]

And a limping end to a pretty good series that was getting weaker. As has already been mentioned, Jack Klugman is the only regular cast member who appears here and I sometimes wonder if outfits like Universal and its predecessor (remember the last episode of Laramie?) know that these shows aren't going to run anymore so they pick the most quickie, inexpensive endings they possibly can throw together. I would have expected something like this back in the 50s or 60s but TV shows had certainly progressed by 1983...and in just the same year, MASH finished its run with a good, solid finale. And ending a series with a pilot was just...goofy. Sad ending for a show that could be really good at its best.