I used to watch the Monkees every day after school.

I know a lot of people will be remembering Morgan as Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H (or his guest appearance as a crazy general that earned him the role), but this episode of Dragnet (“A.I.D.: The Weekend”) perfectly encapsulates why I enjoyed his Officer Bill Gannon as much as, if not more, than Colonel Potter.  (Sadly I could not turn up the episode with his secret ingredient for barbecue sauce.)  Morgan’s kooky, idiosyncratic Gannon plays off the straightest-of-straight-men Jack Webb so perfectly that any other, Gannon-less incarnation of the show seems pointless somehow.

“‘And a time to every purpose under heaven,'” Robinton murmured, his throat almost too tight for him to speak. He felt incredibly tired, overwhelmingly sleepy. “Yes, very true. How splendidly true. And what a wonderful time it has been!”

She was more than a bit homophobic and her books were uneven at best, but I loved them when I was a kid and I can’t but be sad at her passing – the first woman to ever win a Hugo or a Nebula, the first woman to have a sci-fi book on the New York Times Bestseller List. She was, simply, a giant.

This is only one of the many times he has met his death (an experience which he does not hesitate strongly to recommend).

Damn, I feel old right now.

Did you know Humpty Hump is now 48? What the hell, time? What the hell.

My obituary for Jack is up at Torontoist.

I realize “Rehab” is the more predictable choice here, but A) it would still be sort of tasteless and B) I always liked this song better.