Greetings. Regular readers, and others who have known me for a long time, are likely aware of my longstanding high regard for Patrick McGoohan's classic 1967 television series The Prisoner. Viewed in total, I consider The Prisoner to arguably be the finest single series ever aired on British or American television. Complex, enigmatic, insightful, brilliant, and yes, flawed in some ways as well -- these terms could be used to describe both the show and the man.

While The Prisoner was of course not the work of a single individual, McGoohan's imprint in so many ways made the series very much his own, and without him it could never have existed. In later years, he clearly found this achievement to be both a blessing and curse, sometimes apparently trying to distance himself from adoring fans, other times embracing the show's legacy more enthusiastically.

Patrick McGoohan has died at age 80.

You may have noted me ending various messages with the phrase "Be seeing you" over the years. This is in fact the verbal "salute" from "The Village" -- the mysterious prison where Patrick McGoohan's character was incarcerated in the series.

There seems no more appropriate way for me to say goodbye to Patrick.

Be seeing you, sir.

--Lauren--