User Reviews

Quincy M.E.: On Dying High starts as Quincy (Jack Klugman) & Dr. Emily Hanover (Anita Gillette) are enjoying a night out together at a club, on stage is singer & comedian J.J. Chandler (Roger Miller) who has a unpleasant act based on bad taste jokes & songs about drugs. While out back in a break from his performance J.J. decides to 'freebase' some cocaine near a lit cigarette, it's not long before he is on fire & runs on stage screaming. Quincy goes to his rescue & puts him out, talking to narcotics cop Sgt. Wendell & realising how many drug overdose cases he autopsies a year Quincy becomes aware of how widespread drug use is throughout society & decides he should try & do something about it...

Episode 16 from season 8 this Quincy story was directed by Ray Danton & one has to say save for some simply hilarious & horribly dated dialogue regarding drug use On Dying High is pretty poor. Some of the dialogue here has to be heard to be believed, from slang terms & words for the taking of drugs to funny descriptions of the drugs themselves it's horribly dated, it was made for telly so the language had to be kept clean & as such all these hard drug dealers & users talk like they are in Mary Poppins or something & it just sounds silly but that's the main attraction of this episode. It's not as unintentionally funny as the classic Next Stop, Nowhere (1983) about the punk music but it comes close. There's no murder mystery here & in fact no-one ends up on Quincy's autopsy table, there's no lab work, no detective work & it's just a horribly dated moralistic episode about the dangers of drugs from alcohol to cocaine & probably just about everything between. On Dying High is also notable since it's the episode where Quincy proposes to Emily & in true Quincy fashion gets a phone call mere seconds later & has to rush off! When all said & done there's very little in this episode to enjoy or get involved with & some hilarious dialogue just isn't enough.

At the start of On Dying High J.J. does a quick comedy routine involving jokes about drugs that really isn't funny at all, he can't sing either. While in hospital after being burnt the doctor's claim that J.J.'s vocal chords were burnt but he manages to speak normally to Quincy & anyone else who comes to see him! I'm not being funny or anything but I would have thought that if your vocal chords had been burnt you wouldn't be able to talk since they are things which allow speech, or am I wrong? The acting is OK but the regular cast are better than the guest's as usual.

On Dying High is another poor, moralistic based Quincy episode from the generally disappointing season eight & apart from some hilariously dated dialogue there's little here to get excited about.

Yet another silly TV take on the drug scene, at least the third time on this show Quincy. A series with so much knowledge of medicine and forensics but a dumb soap opera regarding the American culture.

The early seasons of Quincy had a real mystery style like Columbo (it was made by the same producers.) This episode was in the later, final seasons when it turned into a melodrama.

Whenever dealing with subjects like celebrities or drug abuse, the writers make characters absurd and ridiculous. They think "all musical artists and their fans are stupid addicts who promote drug use" so that's how they must act. Here again on Quincy you have the danger of drug use combined with imbecilic personalities.

Country singer Roger Miller and his band play for about 2 minutes then he spends the next ten telling his audience how cocaine and other drugs are a big part of his life and encouraging them. Which is probably true, but I doubt he spent half of his show telling everyone drug stories and acting like a dimwit.

Quincy and fiancee Emily are at the club to see Roger perform but are shocked everyone there is using drugs. Roger needs a "fix," so goes backstage with his manager to freebase. In her early appearance, Kelly Preston (using the surname Palzis) is Roger's adoring, idolizing fan who opens the door on him, causing an explosion that puts him in the hospital and ruins his singing career.

That scene happens so quickly, in just a few frames, that us viewers never know exactly what happened or why she keeps blaming herself.

Kelly plays the part of a stoned groupie well, but overplays it to the point of being ridiculous, staggering around like a buffoon, yet being an integral character. That was probably not her fault but likely the show's writer & producer insisting she act more silly & absurd, like a real music fan, right?