In the Heat of the Night

I'm re-reading (well, listening to, actually) Sidney Poitier's book The Measure of a Man which prompted me to look and see if In the Heat of the Night was streaming on any of the four streaming sites. Lo and behold it was on Amazon. I re-watched it and it's such a solid film. Then I saw that the 80s TV series with Carroll O'Connor was also available. Well, y'all know I love me some classic television, so I gave it a shot. Holy cow - it is so good! Some familiar faces (like Mariska Hargitay and Iman! Both of whom have not aged a minute.) and really just superb writing and acting. I just finished season two episode entitled A Trip Upstate, which was really phenomenal. Carroll O'Connor sports a plaid button down shirt like one my father would have worn. My dad loved to tell the story of the time he was walking in Center City Philadelphia when a black guy stopped him and said, "anyone ever tell you that you look like Archie Bunker?!" Papa Tom threw up his hands and said, "hey, man, I don't think like him!" At which the both of them broke into laughter. Needless to say, our entire family, extended included, just adore all things Carroll O'Connor and I can't believe it's taken me so long to discover this gem of a series.

(photo kidnapped from americanprofile)

Here's a text I sent to Xavier: