Growing up as a child born in 1962, the late '60s and early 1970s were a television wonderland for someone like me with an active imagination and a love for the fantastic. Probably the first time I ever saw the late Patrick McGoohan (who passed away today at the age of 80) was on The Wonderful World of Disney in a late 1960's rebroadcast of The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. I also remember my parents letting me watch The Prisoner on CBS when it first came to the U.S. at that time. The Prisoner was a perfect TV show for a youngster like me -- lots of bright colors, crazy situations, and a strong lead. I had nightmares about "The Rovers" for years, and it was years before I got to see The Prisoner again -- probably in the late 1970s on PBS, then later on A&E before that network went completely to hell. I remember videotaping episodes of The Prisoner to watch when I first moved out on my own after college. I also remember desperately trying to catch The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh in reruns in the late 1980s. It was the source of a major fight between me and my sister on Thanksgiving, when I set our only VCR to record and she reset it to record something on MTV! McGoohan over the years provided much entertainment to me and my family -- including my wife, with whom I watched The Prisoner on DVD with one snowy Saturday not long after we got engaged. I also looked forward to the Columbo reruns with McGoohan featured -- he did four, and was the only actor to appear with Peter Falk on the show in four distinct episodes (my other favorite Columbo guest-stars, the late Jack Cassidy and the immortal William Shatner (and you know how much I love my Shatner!) did two each, but all three were supposedly Peter Falk' s favorite foils). Thomasina, Braveheart, Ice Station Zebra, Escape from Alcatraz, The Phantom -- many happy memories of the man who was not a number but a free man. I will certainly miss Patrick McGoohan.
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