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I’m reminded today of the closest thing my childhood best friend @MickeyRibs and I ever had to a fight. About Q, of course. And, because I gotta be me, it involved Hooperman, a short lived ABC dramedy from Steven Bochco starring John Ritter as a sensitive San Francisco cop. 1/
There was an ep where Hooperman hears a tough criminal he put away has just been released and wants to meet with him. He’s worried the ex-con wants to hurt him, but instead it’s to thank him: while in prison, the criminal realized she was trans and has come out. 2/
IIRC, it was surprisingly progressive for a show made in 1988: Hooperman is surprised, but the trans character isn’t played as a joke herself, and she’s genuinely grateful to have become her true self. The next day, as we always did, Mike & I discussed our previous night’s TV. 3/
And when we get to Hooperman, Mike says of the ex-con, “Am I crazy, or was that Q?” I assume he’s talking about Q from James Bond and laugh derisively at how foolish my buddy is being. Mike is adamant. It doesn’t get ugly, but neither of us will give an inch. 4/
This goes on for MONTHS. We’ll be taking about something unrelated, and suddenly one of us (usually me) can’t help poking the bear. “That was NOT Q!” “Oh, it was totally Q! I can’t believe you don’t see it!” And on and on and on. (Thank god we had each other as friends.) 5/
Eventually, I bark, “That was not Desmond Llewelyn!” There’s a very long pause on the other end of the phone. Then Mike laughs and says he was talking about John De Lancie: Q from Star Trek. I laughed, too. And we never fought again. Especially not about Q. /fin
