document_title: A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV series)

question_text: who plays hector in a series of unfortunate events

text: Premise[edit]

text: When a mysterious fire kills their parents, the Baudelaire children are informed of this terrible news by their executor Arthur Poe and are placed into the care of their distant relative Count Olaf, an actor who is determined to claim the family fortune for himself. Following Olaf's failed attempt and his plot being exposed, the Baudelaires set out to elude Olaf and his followers while uncovering the mystery behind a secret society from their parents' past as they are placed in the custody of different guardians.

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: Main[edit]

text:
Neil Patrick Harris as Count Olaf,[4] an actor determined to claim the Baudelaire fortune for himself. He has one eyebrow and a tattoo resembling an eye on his left ankle, which is frequently used to identify him when he is disguised.
Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket,[5] the narrator tasked with explaining the events during the lives of the Baudelaires.
Malina Weissman as Violet Baudelaire,[6] the eldest Baudelaire sibling and an inventor talented in mechanics.
Louis Hynes as Klaus Baudelaire,[6] the middle Baudelaire child, interested in literature and books.
K. Todd Freeman as Arthur Poe,[7] the family banker at Mulctuary Money Management and executor of the Baudelaire parents who is in charge of placing the Baudelaires in the care of a suitable guardian.
Presley Smith as Sunny Baudelaire,[8] the infant child of the Baudelaires with unnaturally strong teeth. Tara Strong provides Sunny's babbling sound effects, the meaning of which is often translated in subtitles.[9]
Lucy Punch as Esmé Squalor, a wealthy financial advisor, who becomes an ally and love interest for Count Olaf.[10]
Avi Lake as Isadora Quagmire,[11] Duncan and Quigley's sister who loves writing poetry.
Dylan Kingwell as Duncan Quagmire, Isadora's brother. Duncan is a keen journalist.[11]

text: Recurring[edit]

text:
Will Arnett as Father,[12][13] a man who is trying to return home to his three children.
Cobie Smulders as Mother,[13] a woman who is trying to return home to her three children.
Usman Ally as the Hook-Handed Man,[14] a member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe with hooks instead of hands.
Matty Cardarople as the Henchperson of Indeterminate Gender,[14] a member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe who doesn't have a specific gender.
Cleo King as Eleanora Poe, Arthur Poe's wife and the editor-in-chief of The Daily Punctilio who loves pursuing sensationalist headlines.
John DeSantis as the Bald Man,[15] a tall bald-headed man who is another member of Count Olaf's theatre troupe.
Jacqueline and Joyce Robbins as the White-Faced Women,[14] two elderly twins who are members of Count Olaf's theatre troupe.
Sara Canning as Jacquelyn, Mr. Poe's standoffish assistant and a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society. She possesses a spyglass.
Patrick Breen as Larry Your-Waiter, a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society who is seen working as a waiter at various establishments the Baudelaires visit including the Anxious Clown, Prufrock Preparatory's cafeteria, and Café Salmonella.
Sara Rue as Olivia Caliban, a librarian at Prufrock Preparatory School who later enlists as a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society when she becomes invested in the Baudelaires' plight and even becomes the latest Madame Lulu.[10][16][17]
Nathan Fillion as Jacques Snicket, the dashing adventurer brother of Lemony Snicket who enlists Olivia Caliban to help the Baudelaires.[10]

text: Guest[edit]

text: Introduced in season 1[edit]

text:
Joan Cusack as Justice Strauss,[18] a judge and Count Olaf's neighbor who helps the Baudelaires and is hopeful to adopt them.
Luke Camilleri as Gustav Sebald,[14] a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society and Monty's former assistant who made some films that had certain codes in it.
Aasif Mandvi as Montgomery "Uncle Monty" Montgomery,[19] a distant relative of the Baudelaires and enthusiastic herpetologist who claims to have spent his childhood with their late parents. He is a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society and possesses a spyglass.
Matthew Walker as the Ticket Seller, an unnamed Ticket Seller at Tedia's movie theater who is a friend of Montgomery and a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society. Mark Kandborg portrays him in a flashback seen in "The Carnivorous Carnival" Pt. 1.
Alfre Woodard as Aunt Josephine Anwhistle,[20] a distant relative of the Baudelaires at Lake Lachrymose who has many rational and irrational fears since the loss of her husband Ike and a love of grammar. She is a member of the Baudelaire family's secret society.
Don Johnson as Sir,[21] the cigar-smoking owner of Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Catherine O'Hara as Georgina Orwell,[22] an optometrist and Count Olaf's ex-girlfriend who hypnotizes the Lucky Smells Lumbermill workers so they never leave, also causing them to believe the Baudelaire parents set fire to Paltryville. O'Hara previously portrayed Justice Strauss in the 2004 film adaptation.
Rhys Darby as Charles,[12] Sir's partner who is friendly towards the Baudelaires.
Timothy Webber as Jimmy, a worker at Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Chris Gauthier as Phil, an optimistic worker who befriends the Baudelaires during their stay at the Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Loretta Walsh as Norma Rae, a worker at Lucky Smells Lumbermill.
Trent Redekop as Cesar, a worker at Lucky Smells Lumbermill.

text: Daniel Handler cameos as a fish head salesperson at Lake Lachrymose. Barry Sonnenfeld does a picture cameo as the late Ike Anwhistle in "The Wide Window" and appears as him in a flashback scene in "The Carnivorous Carnival" Pt. 1.[citation needed]

text: Introduced in season 2[edit]

text:
Barry Sonnenfeld as the voice of Mr. Tammerlane, a person that Arthur Poe talks to on the phone.
Roger Bart as Nero Feint, the violin-playing vice-principal of Prufrock Preparatory School and struggling musician with an egotistic personality, a talent for mimicking what someone says in a high voice, and a love for excessive punishments.[10]
Kitana Turnbull as Carmelita Spats, an obnoxious, tutu-wearing student at Prufrock Preparatory School.[23]
Bronwen Smith as Miss Tench, Prufrock Preparatory School's gym teacher who is replaced in the post by a disguised Count Olaf while on her way back to Prufrock Preparatory School with the pep squad and the sports team.[17]
Malcolm Stewart as Mr. Remora, a teacher at Prufrock Preparatory School who specializes in teaching his personal anecdotes and is always seen eating a banana.[17]
BJ Harrison as Mrs. Bass, a teacher at Prufrock Preparatory School who specializes in measuring objects. She later becomes a bank robber.[17]
Tony Hale as Jerome Squalor, the timid husband of Esmé Squalor.[10]
Sage Brocklebank as Doorman, an unnamed doorman who works at 667 Dark Avenue.
Ithamar Enriquez as Hector, a skittish handyman and citizen of the Village of Fowl Devotees who befriends the Baudelaires.[16]
Mindy Sterling as Elder Anabelle, a member of the Village of Fowl Devotees' Council of Elders who often quotes "silence" when a non-police officer and/or a non-banker consultant attempts to violate the "No one may talk while on the platform" rule.[17]
Carol Mansell as Elder Jemma, a soft-spoken member of the Village of Fowl Devotees' Council of Elders.[17]
Ken Jenkins as Elder Sam, a gruff-speaking member of the Village of Fowl Devotees' Council of Elders.[17]
Lossen Chambers as Mrs. Morrow, an inhabitant of the Village of Fowl Devotees that wears a pink robe.
Kevin Chamberlin as Mr. Lesko, an inhabitant of the Village of Fowl Devotees that wears plaid pants.
Serge Houde as Milt, the shopkeeper of the Last Chance General Store in the Hinterlands.
Gabe Khouth as Lou, the newspaper delivery boy who brings the Daily Punctilio's newspapers to the Last Chance General Store.
John Bobek as the bearded leader of the Volunteers Fighting Disease.[17]
Lauren McGibbon as the perky member of the Volunteers Fighting Disease.
Kerri Kenney-Silver as Babs, the Head of Human Resources and Hospital Administration at Heimlich Hospital.[17]
David Alan Grier as Hal, a visually-disabled file clerk who is employed in the Library of Records at Heimlich Hospital.[24]
Robbie Amell as Kevin, an ambidextrous "freak" who works at Caligari Carnival.[25]
Kevin Cahoon as Hugo, a hunchbacked "freak" who works at Caligari Carnival.[17]
Bonnie Morgan as Colette, a contortionist "freak" who works at Caligari Carnival.[17]
David Burtka as Mr. Willums, a heckler with a pimpled chin who attends Caligari Carnival. He is based on The Man With Pimples On His Chin from "The Carnivorous Carnival" book.[26]
Jill Morrison as Mrs. Willums, the wife of Mr. Willums.
Harper and Gideon Burtka-Harris as Trixie and Skip Willums, the children of Mr. Willums.[27]
Allison Williams as an as-yet-unidentified woman who arrives to see the Caligari Carnival engulfed in flames.[28]

text: Episodes[edit]

text: SeasonEpisodesOriginally released18January 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)210March 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)

tag: table

text: Season 1 (2017)[edit]

text: The first season adapts the first four books of the novel series: The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, The Wide Window and The Miserable Mill.[29]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byWritten byOriginal release date11"The Bad Beginning: Part One"[a]Barry SonnenfeldDaniel HandlerJanuary 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire receive the news that their parents have perished in a house fire from well-meaning but inept banker Arthur Poe. While exploring the ruins, Klaus finds a broken spyglass with an insignia of an eye embedded on the front. Shortly afterwards, they are sent to live with their distant relative Count Olaf, a cruel and vain amateur actor, who forces them into servitude. One night, the siblings prepare puttanesca for Olaf's theatre troupe only for him to demand roast beef upon arriving home. The children state that they were never asked to prepare roast beef, angering Olaf and prompting him to slap Klaus across the face when he protests about the sleeping arrangements. Meanwhile, a mother and father are held against their will by a mysterious captor.
22"The Bad Beginning: Part Two"[a]Barry SonnenfeldDaniel HandlerJanuary 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)
The Baudelaires attempt to convince Mr. Poe of Olaf's actions, only to be sent away when Poe dismisses their claims. When Olaf gives Violet the starring role in his latest theatrical production, which ends with the two main characters being married, the siblings realize that Olaf intends to acquire their fortune by marrying Violet for real. Klaus confronts Olaf, who threatens to kill Sunny if Violet doesn't follow through with his plans. At the very last minute, however, Violet signs the marriage certificate with her left hand, invalidating the proceedings due to the fact that she is right-handed. Mr. Poe's mysterious secretary Jacquelyn reveals they were intended to be put in the care of their distant relative Montgomery Montgomery. Meanwhile, Jacquelyn's ally Gustav is mysteriously drowned, after being hit by a poisoned dart.
33"The Reptile Room: Part One"Mark PalanskyDaniel HandlerJanuary 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)
The Baudelaires are sent to live with their herpetologist uncle Montgomery Montgomery, who has recently come across a reptile he calls the Incredibly Deadly Viper. While attempting to learn more about Montgomery, Klaus discovers that the hedge maze in Montgomery's garden is exactly the same shape as the tattoo on Olaf's ankle. Olaf poses as Montgomery's new assistant Stephano and attempts to kidnap the Baudelaires, but Monty assures the Baudelaires that he recognizes Stephano as a threat. The four arrive at a movie theatre, where Monty deciphers a code sent for him through the subtitles of the film, using a spyglass identical to Klaus'. The message instructs him to bring the children to Peru. He fires Stephano shortly afterwards, believing him to be a spy sent to steal his research.
44"The Reptile Room: Part Two"Mark PalanskyEmily FoxJanuary 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)
Immediately after dismissing "Stephano," Montgomery notices that the door to his Reptile Room is ajar and investigates, only to be attacked by an unseen figure. The next day, the Baudelaires discover Olaf standing next to Montgomery's corpse. Olaf threatens to kill Sunny unless the siblings accompany him to Peru, but is prevented from carrying out his plan when Mr. Poe accidentally crashes into their car when they are trying to leave. Olaf's theatre troupe then arrives disguised as police and nurses, and claim Monty was killed by the Incredibly Deadly Viper, despite Monty's claim of it being completely harmless. While searching for proof of the snake's innocence, Klaus discovers a statue in Monty's hedge maze, and a photograph of Monty, both of them carrying spyglasses identical to Klaus'. Violet proves Olaf to be the murderer; however, he escapes via the hedge maze with Klaus' spyglass. While pursuing him, the Baudelaires meet Jacquelyn, who is posing as a statue. She tells them to seek answers on the spyglasses from their Aunt Josephine while she hunts down Olaf via underground passageways.
55"The Wide Window: Part One"Barry SonnenfeldDaniel HandlerJanuary 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)
Mr. Poe takes the Baudelaires to live with their Aunt Josephine, an irrationally frightened woman who lives in a dilapidated house overlooking Lake Lachrymose. She refuses to answer questions about their parents, so the siblings pursue answers themselves around her house, and discover their parents were members of a secret organization, with spyglasses being used as useful devices. They are also shocked to find out that Josephine was once fierce and formidable, and developed her phobias after the death of her husband. Olaf, who has followed the Baudelaires, disguises himself as a sailor named Captain Sham before pretending to fall in love with Josephine. Despite the siblings' warnings, Josephine accepts his invitation to take her out for a fried egg sandwich. Later that night, the siblings discover that Josephine has jumped out the library's bay window and left a note informing them that "Captain Sham" is their new guardian.
66"The Wide Window: Part Two"Barry SonnenfeldDaniel HandlerJanuary 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)
As Mr. Poe prepares to hand the Baudelaires over to "Captain Sham," the siblings discover the note has several grammatical errors, something Josephine would never do since she was obsessed with proper grammar. Mr. Poe takes the children to a restaurant and prepares to complete the transfer, but allows the siblings to leave after Larry, a waiter secretly a member of their parents' organization, triggers their allergy to peppermint. After returning to the house, the siblings decipher Josephine's suicide note and discover she is still alive moments before a hurricane sends the house teetering over the cliff. Escaping with a photograph of their parents standing in front of a lumber mill, the siblings find Josephine at a nearby cave, only to be confronted by Olaf, who abandons Josephine to be eaten alive by the leeches that inhabit Lake Lachrymose. Upon returning to shore, Olaf escapes after being unmasked in front of Mr. Poe while the Baudelaires sneak away and set out to find the lumber mill in the photograph.
77"The Miserable Mill: Part One"Bo WelchJoe TraczJanuary 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)
Upon arriving at the Lucky Smells Lumber Mill, the Baudelaires are forced to work by the owner Sir, who blames their parents for starting a fire that destroyed the entire town. While investigating the workers' unnaturally happy behavior, Klaus' glasses are broken by the Hook-Handed Man posing as Foreman Flacutono, and he visits local optometrist Georgina Orwell, who puts him into a hypnotic trance. Later that day, the siblings learn that two visitors are waiting to see them. Believing that their parents are still alive, the three are shocked to instead find Orwell and her receptionist "Shirley St. Ives," who is a poorly-disguised Olaf. Meanwhile, the mother and father who were previously held captive are revealed to be the parents of the Quagmire triplets, with whom they are reunited.
88"The Miserable Mill: Part Two"Bo WelchTatiana Suarez-PicoJanuary 13, 2017 (2017-01-13)
The Baudelaires discover the entire mill is under a hypnotic trance, ensuring they do not leave their jobs. Orwell and Olaf use a still-hypnotized Klaus to murder Sir's aide Charles, but Violet figures out how to break everyone's trance in the nick of time. The workers then storm the mill, causing Orwell to fall into the furnace and die. Sir escapes in the chaos while Count Olaf and the Hook-Handed Man get away. Charles reveals the truth about the Baudelaires' role in the town, where they actually helped to fight the fire. The three siblings are reunited with Mr. Poe, and Jacquelyn sends Klaus the broken spyglass that Olaf stole from him. Poe then sends the three siblings to a dreary boarding school, which two of the three Quagmire siblings are also sent to, due to their house being burnt down by an unknown woman. The Quagmires' parents are revealed to be members of the organization. In the final scene, Lemony Snicket, Count Olaf, the Baudelaires and Mr. Poe sing the song "That's Not How the Story Goes."

text: Season 2 (2018)[edit]

text: The second season adapts books five through nine of the novel series: The Austere Academy, The Ersatz Elevator, The Vile Village, The Hostile Hospital, and The Carnivorous Carnival.[32]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitle [b]Directed byWritten byOriginal release date91"The Austere Academy: Part 1"Barry SonnenfeldDaniel HandlerMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
The Baudelaires are introduced to life at Prufrock Preparatory School, an unpleasant institution run by an unpleasant vice-principal named Nero and terrorized by an equally unpleasant student named Carmelita Spats. The school's only redeeming qualities are its friendly librarian Olivia Caliban and the surviving Quagmire triplets Duncan and Isadora. During a lunch break, Klaus and Isadora discover that they are holding two halves of the same spyglass. The newfound friends quickly realize that they must track down a book on secret organizations to find the answers they seek—a book Jacquelyn sent Larry to give them, but which he carelessly misplaced. Meanwhile, Count Olaf and his troupe lurk around the grounds of the school, unable to enter the front doors due to an advanced computer system programmed by Nero to detect Olaf's presence. However, with Carmelita's help, Olaf finally gains entry and locks Larry in the cafeteria's walk-in refrigerator. He then dons his latest disguise: the school's new turban-wearing gym teacher named Coach Genghis.
102"The Austere Academy: Part 2"Barry SonnenfeldJoe TraczMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
Olaf is able to convince Nero to put the Baudelaires under a grueling exercise program, making the siblings run endless laps at night to prevent them from scheming against him, while also causing them to perform poorly in class from lack of sleep. Due to their slumping grades, Nero threatens to expel the Baudelaires if they fail a comprehensive exam to be given in front of the entire school, but because they must still exercise under Olaf's program, they know they will likely fail. The Quagmires offer to help, and that night take their place during exercises; however, their identity is discovered, and while hiding in the library, they find the copy of the book on secret organizations and read up on the purpose of the spyglass before they are caught by the Hook-Handed Man. The next day, with Mr. Poe in attendance, the Baudelaires readily pass the exam, and through it reveal Olaf's identity. Olaf and his gang then escape with the Quagmires, who try to shout the initials "V.F.D." from the backseat of Olaf's car. Meanwhile, Larry is rescued from the refrigerator with the help of Lemony's brother, Jacques, while Olivia walks off with the book on secret organizations that the Quagmires left behind.
113"The Ersatz Elevator: Part 1"Bo WelchDaniel HandlerMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
While a citywide manhunt for Count Olaf is underway, Mr. Poe takes the Baudelaires to the penthouse of Jerome Squalor and his trendy financial advisor wife Esmé. While being introduced to the Squalors, they find Olaf has already arrived, posing as a foreign auctioneer named Gunther. The Baudelaires theorize that Olaf is trying to kill Jerome so that he can marry Esmé and become their legal guardian again. They search the penthouse for the Quagmires to no avail, but Klaus becomes suspicious of an extra elevator that only seems to serve the penthouse. Meanwhile, Olivia tries to convince Mr. Poe about Olaf's scheme, which leads Jacquelyn to contact Jacques, who enlists her into their society. Esmé suggests they go out for lunch at a fashionable salmon-themed restaurant Cafe Salmonella, where Larry works to prolong their visit, giving Jacques and Olivia time to search the Squalor's building for the Quagmires. When the Baudelaires manage to sneak away and examine the second elevator, they learn that it is merely an empty shaft. With a makeshift parachute, they descend it to find the Quagmires locked in a cage at its bottom.
124"The Ersatz Elevator: Part 2"Bo WelchDaniel HandlerMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
The Baudelaires do not have the tools to free the Quagmires, so they ascend the shaft by turning the parachute into a hot-air balloon. They try to warn Esmé of Olaf's scheme, but learn too late that she is in cahoots with him and that they are planning to smuggle the Quagmires out of the city. Esmé pushes them down the elevator shaft, where they are caught in a net midway down. Sunny helps them to escape safely, and afterwards they find a secret passage that leads to the ashen ruins of their home. At the auction in Veblen Hall, the Baudelaires start a bidding war on a box labeled "V.F.D.", which they believe contains the Quagmires. Though they win the item, they find the box contains only doilies. In the aftermath, Olaf and his troupe escape with the Quagmires, who are hidden inside a red herring statue. The Baudelaires ask Jerome to help track down Olaf, but he is far too timid to do so, and gives up his guardianship of them. Mr. Poe tells the children that a village with the initials "V.F.D." is willing to raise them.
135"The Vile Village: Part 1"Barry SonnenfeldSigrid GilmerMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
Mr. Poe drops the Baudelaires off at the Village of Fowl Devotees, where the whole community will care for them collectively. The Baudelaires take up residence with Hector, a kindly handyman prone to fainting spells who is secretly building a self-sustaining hot-air mobile home. The Baudelaires soon begin finding clues written by the Quagmires themselves. Olaf, Esmé, and the troupe also arrive at the village, with Esmé disguising herself as the town's new chief of police. Jacques and Olivia also arrive and detain Olaf at the local jailhouse; the next day, the villagers learn of Olaf's capture and hold a town hall meeting, where Olaf appears in the disguise of Detective Dupin, tricking everyone into believing Jacques is Olaf. Jacques is sentenced to death, but Olivia convinces Esmé to free her and Jacques in exchange for the location of the Sugar Bowl, an object with ties to Esmé's past. Jacques stays behind to confront Olaf; however, the villain is unfazed by Jacques' offer of a truce, and he and Esmé incapacitate and kill him. The next morning, as the Baudelaires try to break into the jail to rescue Jacques, they are informed that "Olaf" has been murdered.
146"The Vile Village: Part 2"Barry SonnenfeldSigrid GilmerMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
The disguised Olaf and Esmé quickly convince Mr. Poe and the town that the Baudelaires murdered Jacques/"Olaf," and they are promptly condemned to be burned at the stake. While in jail, the children instruct Hector to prepare his hot-air mobile home to help them escape. While Violet creates a battering ram to weaken the jail wall, Klaus deduces from their clues that the Quagmires are hidden inside a crow fountain in the village square. Larry and Jacquelyn arrive on the scene to distract the villagers long enough for the children to escape via a fire truck and follow Hector. The Baudelaires cover for the Quagmires as they use the truck's ladder to climb aboard the mobile home. As they do so, Olaf, Esmé, and the villagers arrive, and Esmé begins damaging Hector's home with a harpoon gun. Realizing their danger, the Baudelaires tell Hector to escape with the Quagmires. In thanks, the Quagmires try to throw their friends their notes about the secrets of V.F.D., but Esmé shoots them with a harpoon, scattering the pages and harming a crow. While the villagers accost the disguised villains over the injured bird, the Baudelaires collect as many of the ruined pages as they can and make their escape.
157"The Hostile Hospital: Part 1"Allan ArkushJoshua ConkelMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
The Baudelaires hitch a ride with volunteer singing candy stripers heading to Heimlich Hospital. They learn that there is a Library of Records that collects and stores esoterica. After sneaking past the hospital's administrator Babs, they meet Hal, the man who runs the library. He welcomes their help, but forbids them to read material in storage. While Hal shows them the ropes, a film reel labeled "Snicket" arrives and catches the children's attention. Meanwhile, believing the Sugar Bowl to be in the hospital, Olaf and his troupe infiltrate the building. Desperate for answers, the children are forced to steal Hal's keys to access the library, where they find the film. It contains a debriefing of Jacques by a V.F.D. volunteer, with Jacques informing the interviewer that someone has survived a fire, which may or may not be the one that killed the Baudelaire's parents. However, before they can watch any further, they are interrupted by Esmé; as they try to escape, the library is ruined. Violet is captured by Olaf while Klaus and Sunny hide in a chute, in possession of the film.
168"The Hostile Hospital: Part 2"Allan ArkushJoshua ConkelMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
Olaf and Esmé hide Violet under a false name; to find her, Klaus disguises himself as "Dr. Faustus," with Sunny hidden in a sling underneath his coat. They eventually deduce which room Violet is in, but this is a trap laid by Olaf, who forces Klaus to operate on Violet inside an operating theater. Esmé promises to call off the scheme if Klaus can give her what he stole from the Library of Records, and he does so—only, it's not the Sugar Bowl that she has been searching for. Olaf, however, is interested in the Snicket film, and dashes off to watch it to learn its secret. Furious at its revelations, he burns the film, which also starts a fire in the hospital. The Baudelaires successfully evacuate the hospital and realize that their only chance to escape safely is in the trunk of Olaf's car. Hal is left depressed over the loss of the Library of Records. Elsewhere, an unknown person recovers the Sugar Bowl from the burning hospital.
179"Carnivorous Carnival: Part 1"[c]Loni PeristereJoe TraczMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
A flashback to a masked ball at the V.F.D. headquarters shows Lemony trying to warn Beatrice about Olaf. In the present, Olaf and his troupe arrive at the Caligari Carnival to speak with its fortune-teller, Madame Lulu, about the fire's survivor. Lulu, who is really Olivia in disguise, tells them to wait for the answer in the morning. The Baudelaires overhear this, and hoping to speak to Lulu as well, assume the identities of circus freaks, with Violet and Klaus as a two-headed person and Sunny as a wolf child. After calling V.F.D., Olivia is able to tell Olaf the next day that one of the Baudelaire parents did indeed survive the fire. Olaf then presents a freak show that proves disastrous, so he sets off to find a pack of roaming lions to help attract a larger crowd. This gives an opportunity for the children to sneak into Lulu's tent, where they discover films, books, and disguises belonging to the Volunteer Fire Department—the secret organization their parents and guardians belonged to. Olivia then appears and reveals her true identity to them.
1810"Carnivorous Carnival: Part 2"[c]Loni PeristereJoe TraczMarch 30, 2018 (2018-03-30)
Olivia explains to the Baudelaires that "Madame Lulu" is an alias used by V.F.D. agents to gather information. While Olivia admits she had to lie to Olaf about one of the children's parents surviving the fire, Jacques had asserted that there was a survivor, and they should head to the V.F.D. headquarters in the Mortmain Mountains to find them. Meanwhile, Olaf plans to throw one of the freaks into a pit filled with the hungry lions he has corralled, while Esmé connives to have Lulu killed. The next day, Olaf selects Violet and Klaus for the pit. When Olivia is told to push the children to the lions, she instead pushes them to safety, and is sent tumbling into the pit by Olaf for her troubles. As the children try to collect the V.F.D. materials from Lulu's tent, Olaf arrives and forces them to burn the tent down. Then, after placing Violet and Klaus in a towed caravan and taking Sunny in his car, Olaf has the other freaks cut the towing rope on a steep mountain path. At the same time, the previous operative to pose as Madame Lulu arrives at the burning carnival as Lemony Snicket claims that she is someone he knows.

text: Season 3[edit]

text: The third season will adapt the final four books of the novel series[32] in seven episodes: The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto and The Penultimate Peril will be adapted into two episodes each, and The End will conclude the series with a longer single episode.[35] Barry Sonnenfeld will direct the episodes for The Penultimate Peril.[35] Liza Johnson and Jonathan Teplitzky will also direct episodes in the season.[36][37][38]

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: The thirteen A Series of Unfortunate Events novels, written by Daniel Handler under the pen name Lemony Snicket from 1999 to 2006, achieved success in young adult fiction around the same time as the Harry Potter novels. As such, the Snicket books had been optioned to be filmed before they were published.[39] This led to the development of a 2004 feature film, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which covered the narratives of the first three novels in the series. Barry Sonnenfeld, who has expressed his love for the series, was originally slated to direct the feature film, and had hired Handler to write the screenplay.[40] About 10 months into production, shortly after the casting of Jim Carrey as Olaf, there was a "big crisis", according to Handler, which caused producer Scott Rudin to walk away and Sonnenfeld left the production under unclear terms.[39] With the film's completion in flux, its producing studios Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks fired Handler. While the film was eventually completed and released, sequels which would adapt the other novels in the series became unlikely due to "corporate shakeups" within DreamWorks, according to Handler, and the child actors that portrayed the Baudelaire children grew too old to star in a sequel.[40]

text: In November 2014, Netflix, in association with Paramount Television, announced its plans to adapt the novels into an original television series, with the author of the series, Daniel Handler, serving as executive producer.[41]

text: In September 2015, it was announced that Barry Sonnenfeld and Mark Hudis had agreed to helm the series. Hudis would serve as showrunner, Sonnenfeld as director, and both as executive producers,[42] with Handler writing some of the scripts along with working with the series' writing team.[32] However, in January 2016, Netflix announced that Hudis had left the project, with a replacement showrunner not named at the time.[4]

text: The first season consists of eight episodes,[5] with two episodes adapting each of the first four books of the series.[29] Handler considered this more in line with how he had written the books in the manner of a serialized melodrama, citing The Perils of Pauline as one of his influences in writing the book series.[43] In January 2017, Handler revealed that he was writing the series' second season, to consist of ten episodes adapting the fifth through ninth books of the series. A third season would adapt the remaining novels of the series, which Handler hoped "to get the go-ahead to do" since "given how quickly young actors age and change, we're trying to film everything as quickly as possible."[32] In March 2017, Netflix revealed the series had been renewed for a second season by releasing a video on their social media pointing to a viral marketing website, where a letter written by Snicket revealed the decision.[44] A month later, the series was "quietly" renewed for a third season,[45] which Harris confirmed would be the final one for the series.[46]

text: Casting[edit]

text: On December 3, 2015, an open casting call was announced for the roles of Violet and Klaus Baudelaire.[47] In January 2016, Netflix announced that Neil Patrick Harris had been cast as Count Olaf and Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes were cast as Violet and Klaus.[4][6] Handler had first considered Harris for the role of Olaf after seeing him perform the opening number "It's Not Just for Gays Anymore", at the 65th Tony Awards in 2011, noting "I just immediately saw someone who could pull off a million things at once" as was necessary for the character of Olaf, who utilizes various disguises and accents in his quest to steal the Baudelaire fortune.[48]

text: In March 2016, K. Todd Freeman was cast as Mr. Poe,[7] followed shortly after by the casting of Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket,[5] and Aasif Mandvi as Uncle Monty.[19] In September 2016, it was revealed that Dylan Kingwell and Avi Lake were cast as the Quagmire siblings, Duncan and Isadora, respectively.[11] In November 2016, Handler revealed Catherine O'Hara, Don Johnson, and Alfre Woodard had been cast as Dr. Georgina Orwell,[22] Sir,[21] and Aunt Josephine, respectively;[20] O'Hara had previously portrayed Justice Strauss in the 2004 film adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events.[22] It was also revealed that Presley Smith would play Sunny Baudelaire,[8] whose quasi-nonsensical lines are voiced by Tara Strong,[9] and Rhys Darby would play Charles, Sir's partner.[12]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Production began in May 2016 in Vancouver, British Columbia,[49][50] and in August 2016 several cast members expressed through social media that filming had finished.[51] Filming for the second season began in April 2017.[52] The third season began filming on January 5, 2018.[53]

text: One aspect of the series of books that the production team wanted to be captured in the series was the notion of a lack of specific time period or geography for the settings; Handler stated that he wrote enough for establishing set pieces, but purposely left more specific details vague "in order for young readers to fill in the blanks themselves." Sonnenfeld wanted to capture that same sense of ambiguous time and place, and he and his team worked to try to define a set of subjective rules of what elements could be included. Sonnenfeld brought on Bo Welch, production designer for Edward Scissorhands, which Handler considered to capture the same sense of a "familiar but completely imaginary" suburban setting he had in mind for his books. While the production team used computer-generated imagery where needed, they attempted to avoid this use where possible, such as by using large painted backdrops, by key scenic artist John E. Wilcox, rather than employing green screen filming.[43]

text: Music[edit]

text: In April 2016, Nick Urata was initially reported to be composing music for the series.[54] Once the first season was released, it was revealed that Urata collaborated with Daniel Handler to compose the main title theme, "Look Away", as well as various original songs that appear throughout the series, with Handler contributing the lyrics. The first season's original score was composed by James Newton Howard, with his frequent collaborators Sven Faulconer and Chris Bacon filling in to score certain episodes.[55] In the second season, Jim Dooley joined the production as composer and subsequently wrote the music for all ten episodes.[56]

text: "Look Away", the theme song for the opening titles of the series, is performed by Neil Patrick Harris.[55] In keeping with the tone of the book series, the song warns the viewer against continuing to watch the unpleasant story any further.[57] The lyrics of one verse of the song change for each pair of episodes, comprising a brief synopsis of those episodes' premise. [58]

text: Visual effects[edit]

text: Zoic Studios created visual effects for the series, including the effects for many of Sunny Baudelaire's actions.[59] Tippett Studio also did work on the series, including the effects for the destruction of Josephine's house, landscape shots of Lake Lachrymose and some of the more movement heavy Sunny Baudelaire shots.[60]

text: Release[edit]

text: All eight episodes of the first season of A Series of Unfortunate Events were released worldwide on Netflix on January 13, 2017,[18] in Ultra HD 4K.[61] The second season was released on March 30, 2018.[62]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: On July 5, 2015 a video titled "An Unfortunate Teaser" was uploaded to YouTube by a user named "Eleanora Poe". Netflix quickly released a statement saying "This was not released from Netflix." Media outlets were almost unanimous in agreement that the trailer was fan-made.[63][64][65][66] However, Caitlin Petrakovitz of CNET argued that the trailer may be real and that Netflix's carefully worded denial was a marketing campaign, noting the user name "Eleanora Poe" being the same as a character from the series, and that a vinyl record seen in the trailer was of The Gothic Archies, a band who provided the theme music for the audio books of A Series of Unfortunate Events.[67] The trailer was later revealed to be a spec promo, similar to a spec script, by an independent commercial director, whom Netflix contracted to make a title sequence for the series after the video's popularity, though they did not go ahead with the concept.[68]

text: In October 2016, Netflix released the first teaser trailer for A Series of Unfortunate Events, where Warburton narrates the events of the series as Lemony Snicket.[18] A trailer, featuring footage from the series and Neil Patrick Harris's character, Count Olaf, was released by Netflix in November 2016,[69] followed shortly by the first full trailer.[8] The second trailer was released in December 2016,[70] followed by a "holiday-themed" trailer from Count Olaf leading fans to a viral marketing website for the fictional Valorous Farms Dairy, which featured four holiday e-cards for download.[71]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Audience viewership[edit]

text: As Netflix does not reveal subscriber viewership numbers for any of their original series, Symphony Technology Group compiled data for the first season based on people using software on their devices that measure television viewing by detecting a program's sound. According to Symphony, 3.755 million viewers age 18-49 were watching an episode of A Series of Unfortunate Events over the average minute in its first weekend of release.[72]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: Season 1[edit]

text: The first season of A Series of Unfortunate Events received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the season an approval rating of 94% based on 67 reviews, with an average rating of 8.06/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Enjoyably dark, A Series of Unfortunate Events matches the source material's narrative as well as its tone, leaving viewers with a wonderfully weird, dry, gothic comedy."[73] On Metacritic the season has a score of 81 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[74]

text: Erik Adams of The A.V. Club awarded the season a B and praised it for treating "mature themes like grief, loss, and disappointment with sardonic honesty." Adams compared the program positively to the Adam West Batman series, calling it "kids stuff with adult sophistication, driven by two-part stories, outrageous visuals, and the scenery-chewing of big-name guest stars".[75] Ben Travers of Indiewire gave the series an A-, saying that it "proves as inspirational and endearing as it claims to be forlorn and heartbreaking". Brian Lowry of CNN praised the showrunners for "infusing the show with a lemony-fresh feel, conjuring a series similar to the fantastical tone of Pushing Daisies". Lowry wrote that "the show proves a good deal of fun" and that "Harris dives into his over-the-top character with considerable gusto." He also argued that the series improved upon the 2004 film.[76]

text: Several critics praised the television series as a better adaptation of the books than the 2004 feature film, which starred Jim Carrey as Count Olaf. Kelly Lawler of USA Today felt the television format gave the stories more room to develop, the addition of Warburton as the fourth wall-breaking Snicket helped to convey some of the wordplay humor used in the books, and Harris's portrayal of Olaf was "much more dynamic, and creepier" than Carrey's version.[77] The Verge's Chaim Gartenburg said that the show follows the books much more faithfully than the film, and "nails down the tone that made the stories so special".[78] Los Angeles Times writer Robert Lloyd felt that the backgrounds of Sonnenfeld and Welch made them "the right people for this job, set in a milieu that is hard to fix in time, except to say it is not now", in capturing the tones of the book compared to the feature film.[79]

text: Nick Allen of RogerEbert.com, on the other hand, gave the series a negative review, calling it "an unfunny parody of sadness" that is "never as clever as it wants to be" and would only appeal to fans of the books.[80] Caroline Framke of Vox Media praised the series for its unique and weird visuals, but found the show's tone, pacing and performances to be haphazard and considered the show to be "literally, a series of unfortunate events".[81]

text: Season 2[edit]

text: As with the first season, the second season received critical acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the second season an approval rating of 93% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 7.81/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Season two of A Series of Unfortunate Events is as gothic, twisted and absurd as the first, to the delight of moody tweens of all ages."[82] Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent praised the show as one that "essentially deals with thoughtful, intelligent young people battling to speak up against an illogical world." While observing that the "show may revel in the miserable", she opined "that the purpose of its own morbidity is to offer the assurance that hope lives in even the darkest of places." Loughrey also credited the show's expanded storyline for the Baudelaires' adult allies for "plumping up" the episodes' narrative arcs and deepening the show's emotional impact.[83]

text: Tristram Fane Saunders of The Telegraph awarded the second season four out of five stars. He described the show as a "gothic treat [that] also offers a wicked line in absurdist humour, and the most gorgeously toybox-like set designs you’ll find anywhere outside a Wes Anderson film."[84] Radio Times reviewer Huw Fullerton praised the series for its faithfulness to the original novels. While praising the improved CGI used to make Presley Smith's character Sunny Baudelaire react better to situations, he criticized the addition of supporting "good" characters such as Nathan Fillion's Jacques Snicket and Sara Canning's Jacquelyn for "undercutting the bleakness and loneliness that characterized the novels."[85]

text: Rohan Naahar of the Hindustan Times described A Series of Unfortunate Events as "one of the most lavish originals in Netflix's bottomless catalogue, created by fans, for fans."  He also praised Neil Patrick Harris' performance as Count Olaf.[86] The Den of Geek reviewer Michael Ahr praised tortoise-shell 'amphibiophones' and stone marimbas score for giving the television series its primal sound.[87] IGN reviewer Jonathon Dornbush criticized the second season's formulaic plot structure and lack of the insightful observations compared to the first season. He also praised several of the second season's episodes particularly "The Ersatz Elevator", "The Hostile Hospital", and "The Carnivorous Carnival" for smartly twisting the story formula and deepening the novel series' mythology. Dornbush also praised the performance of guest stars such as Lucy Punch and Patrick Warburton and awarded the second season 7.2 stars.[88]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text:
Year

Award

Category

Nominee

Result

Ref

2017

Leo Awards

Best Visual Effects in a Dramatic Series

Luis Alejandro Guevara, Bob Habros, Cale Jacox, Ron Simonson, Jeffrey De Guzman

Nominated

[89]

Best Make-Up in a Dramatic Series

Rita Ciccozzi, Krista Seller, Tanya Hudson, Gitte Axen

Won

Best Hairstyling in a Dramatic Series

Julie Mchaffie, Dianne Holme, Jenine Lehfeldt

Won

Best Guest Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series

Sara Canning

Nominated

Saturn Awards

Best New Media Television Series

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Nominated

[90]

Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Outstanding Music Composition for a Series

James Newton Howard

Nominated

[91]

Gold Derby TV Awards

Comedy Actor

Neil Patrick Harris

Nominated

[92]

Hollywood Music in Media Awards

Main Title Theme – TV Show/Limited Series

Nick Urata and Daniel Handler

Won

[93]

Peabody Awards

Children's & Youth Programming

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Won

[94]

69th Primetime Emmy Awards

Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score)

James Newton Howard

Nominated

[95]

2018

Satellite Awards

Best Actor in a Series - Comedy or Musical

Neil Patrick Harris

Nominated

[96]

70th Primetime Emmy Awards

Outstanding Children's Program

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Nominated

[97]

70th Primetime Emmy Awards

Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes

"The Vile Village: Part 1"

Nominated

[98]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
^ Jump up to: a b Netflix and critics name the first two episodes as "The Bad Beginning", following the title of the book, while the episode itself displays the name of "A Bad Beginning" after the opening credits.[30][31]

Jump up ^ Netflix names the episodes of the second season as Part 1 and Part 2, while the episodes themselves display the names as Part One and Part Two after the opening credits, following the format of the first season.

^ Jump up to: a b Netflix names the ninth and tenth episodes as "Carnivorous Carnival", while the episodes themselves display the name of "The Carnivorous Carnival" after the opening credits, following the title of the book.[33][34]


document_title: Forensic science

question_text: when was science first used to solve crimes

root

text: Forensic science

text: Etymology[edit]

text: The word forensic comes from the Latin term forensis, meaning "of or before the forum."[3] The history of the term originates from Roman times, during which a criminal charge meant presenting the case before a group of public individuals in the forum. Both the person accused of the crime and the accuser would give speeches based on their sides of the story. The case would be decided in favor of the individual with the best argument and delivery. This origin is the source of the two modern usages of the word forensic – as a form of legal evidence and as a category of public presentation. In modern use, the term forensics in the place of forensic science can be considered correct, as the term forensic is effectively a synonym for legal or related to courts. However, the term is now so closely associated with the scientific field that many dictionaries include the meaning that equates the word forensics with forensic science.

tag: p

text: History[edit]

text: This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Origins of forensic science and early methods[edit]

text: The ancient world lacked standardized forensic practices, which aided criminals in escaping punishment. Criminal investigations and trials heavily relied on forced confessions and witness testimony. However, ancient sources do contain several accounts of techniques that foreshadow concepts in forensic science that were developed centuries later.[4]

text: The first written account of using medicine and entomology to solve criminal cases is attributed to the book of Xi Yuan Lu (translated as Washing Away of Wrongs[5][6]), written in China by Song Ci (宋慈, 1186–1249) in 1248, who was a director of justice, jail and supervision,[7] during the Song Dynasty.

text: Song Ci ruled regulation about autopsy report for court,[8] how to protect the evidence in the examining process, the reason why workers must show examination to public impartiality.[9] He concluded methods that how to make antiseptic and to reappear the hidden injure from dead bodies and bones, (using sunlight under red-oil umbrella and vinegar);[10] how to calculate the death time (according to weather and insects);[11] how to wash dead body for examining the different reasons of death.[12] At that time, the book had given methods to distinguish suicide or pretending suicide.[13]

text: In one of Song Ci's accounts (Washing Away of Wrongs), the case of a person murdered with a sickle was solved by an investigator who instructed everyone to bring his sickle to one location. (He realized it was a sickle by testing various blades on an animal carcass and comparing the wound.) Flies, attracted by the smell of blood, eventually gathered on a single sickle. In light of this, the murderer confessed. For example, in the book also described that how to distinguish between a drowning (water in the lungs) and strangulation (broken neck cartilage), along with other evidence from examining corpses on determining if a death was caused by murder, suicide or an accident.[citation needed]

text: Methods from around the world involved saliva and examination of the mouth and tongue to determine innocence or guilt, as a precursor to the Polygraph test. In ancient India,[14] some suspects were made to fill their mouths with dried rice and spit it back out. Similarly, in Ancient China, those accused of a crime would have rice powder placed in their mouths.[15] In ancient middle-eastern cultures, the accused were made to lick hot metal rods briefly. It is thought that these tests had some validity[citation needed] since a guilty person would produce less saliva and thus have a drier mouth; the accused would be considered guilty if rice was sticking to their mouths in abundance or if their tongues were severely burned due to lack of shielding from saliva.[citation needed]

text: Development of forensic science[edit]

text: In 16th-century Europe, medical practitioners in army and university settings began to gather information on the cause and manner of death. Ambroise Paré, a French army surgeon, systematically studied the effects of violent death on internal organs.[16][17] Two Italian surgeons, Fortunato Fidelis and Paolo Zacchia, laid the foundation of modern pathology by studying changes that occurred in the structure of the body as the result of disease.[18] In the late 18th century, writings on these topics began to appear. These included A Treatise on Forensic Medicine and Public Health by the French physician Francois Immanuele Fodéré[19] and The Complete System of Police Medicine by the German medical expert Johann Peter Frank.[20]

text: As the rational values of the Enlightenment era increasingly permeated society in the 18th century, criminal investigation became a more evidence-based, rational procedure − the use of torture to force confessions was curtailed, and belief in witchcraft and other powers of the occult largely ceased to influence the court's decisions. Two examples of English forensic science in individual legal proceedings demonstrate the increasing use of logic and procedure in criminal investigations at the time. In 1784, in Lancaster, John Toms was tried and convicted for murdering Edward Culshaw with a pistol. When the dead body of Culshaw was examined, a pistol wad (crushed paper used to secure powder and balls in the muzzle) found in his head wound matched perfectly with a torn newspaper found in Toms's pocket, leading to the conviction.[21]

text: In Warwick 1816, a farm laborer was tried and convicted of the murder of a young maidservant. She had been drowned in a shallow pool and bore the marks of violent assault. The police found footprints and an impression from corduroy cloth with a sewn patch in the damp earth near the pool. There were also scattered grains of wheat and chaff. The breeches of a farm labourer who had been threshing wheat nearby were examined and corresponded exactly to the impression in the earth near the pool.[22]

text: Toxicology and ballistics[edit]

text: A method for detecting arsenious oxide, simple arsenic, in corpses was devised in 1773 by the Swedish chemist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele.[23] His work was expanded, in 1806, by German chemist Valentin Ross, who learned to detect the poison in the walls of a victim's stomach.[24]

text: James Marsh was the first to apply this new science to the art of forensics. He was called by the prosecution in a murder trial to give evidence as a chemist in 1832. The defendant, John Bodle, was accused of poisoning his grandfather with arsenic-laced coffee. Marsh performed the standard test by mixing a suspected sample with hydrogen sulfide and hydrochloric acid. While he was able to detect arsenic as yellow arsenic trisulfide, when it was shown to the jury it had deteriorated, allowing the suspect to be acquitted due to reasonable doubt.[25]

text: Annoyed by that, Marsh developed a much better test. He combined a sample containing arsenic with sulfuric acid and arsenic-free zinc, resulting in arsine gas. The gas was ignited, and it decomposed to pure metallic arsenic, which, when passed to a cold surface, would appear as a silvery-black deposit.[26] So sensitive was the test, known formally as the Marsh test, that it could detect as little as one-fiftieth of a milligram of arsenic. He first described this test in The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal in 1836.[27]

text: Henry Goddard at Scotland Yard pioneered the use of bullet comparison in 1835. He noticed a flaw in the bullet that killed the victim and was able to trace this back to the mold that was used in the manufacturing process.[28]

text: Anthropometry[edit]

text: The French police officer Alphonse Bertillon was the first to apply the anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement, thereby creating an identification system based on physical measurements. Before that time, criminals could only be identified by name or photograph.[29][30] Dissatisfied with the ad hoc methods used to identify captured criminals in France in the 1870s, he began his work on developing a reliable system of anthropometrics for human classification.[31]

text: Bertillon created many other forensics techniques, including forensic document examination, the use of galvanoplastic compounds to preserve footprints, ballistics, and the dynamometer, used to determine the degree of force used in breaking and entering. Although his central methods were soon to be supplanted by fingerprinting, "his other contributions like the mug shot and the systematization of crime-scene photography remain in place to this day."[30]

text: Fingerprints[edit]

text: Sir William Herschel was one of the first to advocate the use of fingerprinting in the identification of criminal suspects. While working for the Indian Civil Service, he began to use thumbprints on documents as a security measure to prevent the then-rampant repudiation of signatures in 1858.[32]

text: In 1877 at Hooghly (near Kolkata), Herschel instituted the use of fingerprints on contracts and deeds, and he registered government pensioners' fingerprints to prevent the collection of money by relatives after a pensioner's death.[33]

text: In 1880, Dr. Henry Faulds, a Scottish surgeon in a Tokyo hospital, published his first paper on the subject in the scientific journal Nature, discussing the usefulness of fingerprints for identification and proposing a method to record them with printing ink. He established their first classification and was also the first to identify fingerprints left on a vial.[34] Returning to the UK in 1886, he offered the concept to the Metropolitan Police in London, but it was dismissed at that time.[35]

text: Faulds wrote to Charles Darwin with a description of his method, but, too old and ill to work on it, Darwin gave the information to his cousin, Francis Galton, who was interested in anthropology. Having been thus inspired to study fingerprints for ten years, Galton published a detailed statistical model of fingerprint analysis and identification and encouraged its use in forensic science in his book Finger Prints. He had calculated that the chance of a "false positive" (two different individuals having the same fingerprints) was about 1 in 64 billion.[36]

text: Juan Vucetich, an Argentine chief police officer, created the first method of recording the fingerprints of individuals on file. In 1892, after studying Galton's pattern types, Vucetich set up the world's first fingerprint bureau. In that same year, Francisca Rojas of Necochea was found in a house with neck injuries whilst her two sons were found dead with their throats cut. Rojas accused a neighbour, but despite brutal interrogation, this neighbour would not confess to the crimes. Inspector Alvarez, a colleague of Vucetich, went to the scene and found a bloody thumb mark on a door. When it was compared with Rojas' prints, it was found to be identical with her right thumb. She then confessed to the murder of her sons.

text: A Fingerprint Bureau was established in Calcutta (Kolkata), India, in 1897, after the Council of the Governor General approved a committee report that fingerprints should be used for the classification of criminal records. Working in the Calcutta Anthropometric Bureau, before it became the Fingerprint Bureau, were Azizul Haque and Hem Chandra Bose. Haque and Bose were Indian fingerprint experts who have been credited with the primary development of a fingerprint classification system eventually named after their supervisor, Sir Edward Richard Henry.[37][38] The Henry Classification System, co-devised by Haque and Bose, was accepted in England and Wales when the first United Kingdom Fingerprint Bureau was founded in Scotland Yard, the Metropolitan Police headquarters, London, in 1901. Sir Edward Richard Henry subsequently achieved improvements in dactyloscopy.[citation needed]

text: In the United States, Dr. Henry P. DeForrest used fingerprinting in the New York Civil Service in 1902, and by December 1905, New York City Police Department Deputy Commissioner Joseph A. Faurot, an expert in the Bertillon system and a fingerprint advocate at Police Headquarters, introduced the fingerprinting of criminals to the United States.[39]

text: Uhlenhuth test[edit]

text: The Uhlenhuth test, or the antigen–antibody precipitin test for species, was invented by Paul Uhlenhuth in 1901 and could distinguish human blood from animal blood, based on the discovery that the blood of different species had one or more characteristic proteins. The test represented a major breakthrough and came to have tremendous importance in forensic science.[40] The test was further refined for forensic use by the Swiss chemist Maurice Müller in the 1960s.[41]

text: DNA[edit]

text: Forensic DNA analysis was first used in 1984. It was developed by Sir Alec Jefferys, who realized that variation in the genetic code could be used to identify individuals and to tell individuals apart from one another. The first application of DNA profiles was used by Jefferys in a double murder mystery in a small England town called Narborough, Leicestershire in 1985. A 15-year-old school girl by the name of Lynda Mann was raped and murdered in Carlton Hayes psychiatric hospital. The police did not find a suspect but were able to obtain a semen sample.

text: In 1986, Dawn Ashworth, 15 years old, was also raped and strangled in a nearby village of Enderby. Forensic evidence showed that both killers had the same blood type. Richard Buckland became the suspect because he worked at Carlton Hayes psychiatric hospital, had been spotted near Dawn Ashworth's murder scene and knew unreleased details about the body. He later confessed to Dawn's murder but not Lynda's. Jefferys was brought into the case to analyze the semen samples. He concluded that there was no match between the samples and Buckland, who became the first person to be exonerated using DNA. Jefferys confirmed that the DNA profiles were identical for the two murder semen samples. To find the perpetrator, DNA samples from the entire male population, more than 4,000 aged from 17 to 34, of the town were collected. They all were compared to semen samples from the crime. A friend of Colin Pitchfork was heard saying that he had given his sample to the police claiming to be Colin. Colin Pitchfork was arrested in 1987 and it was found that his DNA profile matched the semen samples from the murder.

text: Because of this case, DNA databases were developed. There is the national (FBI) and international databases as well as the European countries (ENFSI : European Network of Forensic Science Institutes). These searchable databases are used to match crime scene DNA profiles to those already in a database.[42]

text: Maturation[edit]

text: By the turn of the 20th century, the science of forensics had become largely established in the sphere of criminal investigation. Scientific and surgical investigation was widely employed by the Metropolitan Police during their pursuit of the mysterious Jack the Ripper, who had killed a number of prostitutes in the 1880s. This case is a watershed in the application of forensic science. Large teams of policemen conducted house-to-house inquiries throughout Whitechapel. Forensic material was collected and examined. Suspects were identified, traced and either examined more closely or eliminated from the inquiry. Police work follows the same pattern today.[43] Over 2000 people were interviewed, "upwards of 300" people were investigated, and 80 people were detained.[44]

text: The investigation was initially conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), headed by Detective Inspector Edmund Reid. Later, Detective Inspectors Frederick Abberline, Henry Moore, and Walter Andrews were sent from Central Office at Scotland Yard to assist. Initially, butchers, surgeons and physicians were suspected because of the manner of the mutilations. The alibis of local butchers and slaughterers were investigated, with the result that they were eliminated from the inquiry.[45] Some contemporary figures thought the pattern of the murders indicated that the culprit was a butcher or cattle drover on one of the cattle boats that plied between London and mainland Europe. Whitechapel was close to the London Docks,[46] and usually such boats docked on Thursday or Friday and departed on Saturday or Sunday.[47] The cattle boats were examined, but the dates of the murders did not coincide with a single boat's movements, and the transfer of a crewman between boats was also ruled out.[48]

text: At the end of October, Robert Anderson asked police surgeon Thomas Bond to give his opinion on the extent of the murderer's surgical skill and knowledge.[49] The opinion offered by Bond on the character of the "Whitechapel murderer" is the earliest surviving offender profile.[50] Bond's assessment was based on his own examination of the most extensively mutilated victim and the post mortem notes from the four previous canonical murders.[51] In his opinion the killer must have been a man of solitary habits, subject to "periodical attacks of homicidal and erotic mania", with the character of the mutilations possibly indicating "satyriasis".[51] Bond also stated that "the homicidal impulse may have developed from a revengeful or brooding condition of the mind, or that religious mania may have been the original disease but I do not think either hypothesis is likely".[51]

text: Handbook for Coroners, police officials, military policemen was written by the Austrian criminal jurist Hans Gross in 1893, and is generally acknowledged as the birth of the field of criminalistics. The work combined in one system fields of knowledge that had not been previously integrated, such as psychology and physical science, and which could be successfully used against crime. Gross adapted some fields to the needs of criminal investigation, such as crime scene photography. He went on to found the Institute of Criminalistics in 1912, as part of the University of Graz' Law School. This Institute was followed by many similar institutes all over the world.[52]

text: In 1909, Archibald Reiss founded the Institut de police scientifique of the University of Lausanne (UNIL), the first school of forensic science in the world. Dr. Edmond Locard, became known as the "Sherlock Holmes of France". He formulated the basic principle of forensic science: "Every contact leaves a trace", which became known as Locard's exchange principle. In 1910, he founded what may have been the first criminal laboratory in the world, after persuading the Police Department of Lyon (France) to give him two attic rooms and two assistants.[53]

text: Symbolic of the new found prestige of forensics and the use of reasoning in detective work was the popularity of the fictional character Sherlock Holmes, written by Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 19th century. He remains a great inspiration for forensic science, especially for the way his acute study of a crime scene yielded small clues as to the precise sequence of events. He made great use of trace evidence such as shoe and tire impressions, as well as fingerprints, ballistics and handwriting analysis, now known as questioned document examination.[54] Such evidence is used to test theories conceived by the police, for example, or by the investigator himself.[55] All of the techniques advocated by Holmes later became reality, but were generally in their infancy at the time Conan Doyle was writing. In many of his reported cases, Holmes frequently complains of the way the crime scene has been contaminated by others, especially by the police, emphasising the critical importance of maintaining its integrity, a now well-known feature of crime scene examination. He used analytical chemistry for blood residue analysis as well as toxicology examination and determination for poisons. He used ballistics by measuring bullet calibres and matching them with a suspected murder weapon.[56]

text: Late 19th–early 20th centuries figures[edit]

text: Hans Gross applied scientific methods to crime scenes and was responsible for the birth of criminalistics.

text: Edmond Locard expanded on Gross' work with Locard's Exchange Principle which stated "whenever two objects come into contact with one another, materials are exchanged between them". This means that every contact by a criminal leaves a trace. Locard was also known as the "Sherlock Holmes of France".

text: Alexander Lacassagne, who taught Locard, produced autopsy standards on actual forensic cases.

text: Alphonse Bertillon was a French criminologist and founder of Anthropometry (scientific study of measurements and proportions of the human body). He used anthropometry for identification, saying each individual is unique and by measuring aspect of physical difference, there could be a personal identification system. He created the Bertillon System around 1879, which was a way to identify criminals and citizens by measuring 20 parts of the body. In 1884, there was over 240 repeat offenders caught through the Bertillon system. Fingerprinting became more reliable than the Bertillon system.

text: 20th century[edit]

text: Later in the 20th century several British pathologists, Mikey Rochman, Francis Camps, Sydney Smith and Keith Simpson pioneered new forensic science methods. Alec Jeffreys pioneered the use of DNA profiling in forensic science in 1984. He realized the scope of DNA fingerprinting, which uses variations in the genetic code to identify individuals. The method has since become important in forensic science to assist police detective work, and it has also proved useful in resolving paternity and immigration disputes.[57] DNA fingerprinting was first used as a police forensic test to identify the rapist and killer of two teenagers, Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth, who were both murdered in Narborough, Leicestershire, in 1983 and 1986 respectively. Colin Pitchfork was identified and convicted of murder after samples taken from him matched semen samples taken from the two dead girls.

text: Forensic science has been fostered by a number of national forensic science learned bodies including the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences,[58] (founded in 1959), then known as the Forensic Science Society, publisher of Science & Justice;.[59] American Academy of Forensic Sciences (founded 1948), publishers of the Journal of Forensic Sciences;[60] the Canadian Society of Forensic Science (founded 1953), publishers of the Journal of the Canadian Society of Forensic Science; the British Academy of Forensic Sciences[61] (founded 1960), publishers of Medicine, science and the law,[62] and the Australian Academy of Forensic Sciences (founded 1967), publishers of the Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences.[63]

text: 21st century[edit]

text: In the past decade, documenting forensics scenes has become more efficient. People started using laser scanners, drones and photogrammetry to obtain 3D point clouds of accidents or crime scenes. Reconstruction of an accident scene on a highway using drones involves data acquisition time of only 10–20 minutes and can be performed without shutting down traffic.The results are not just accurate, in centimeters, for measurement to be presented in court but also easy to digitally preserve in the long term.[64]

text: Subdivisions[edit]

text:
Art forensics concerns the art authentication cases to help research the work's authenticity. Art authentication methods are used to detect and identify forgery, faking and copying of art works, e.g. paintings.
Computational forensics concerns the development of algorithms and software to assist forensic examination.
Criminalistics is the application of various sciences to answer questions relating to examination and comparison of biological evidence, trace evidence, impression evidence (such as fingerprints, footwear impressions, and tire tracks), controlled substances, ballistics, firearm and toolmark examination, and other evidence in criminal investigations. In typical circumstances evidence is processed in a crime lab.
Digital forensics is the application of proven scientific methods and techniques in order to recover data from electronic / digital media. Digital Forensic specialists work in the field as well as in the lab.
Ear print analysis is used as a means of forensic identification intended as an identification tool similar to fingerprinting. An earprint is a two-dimensional reproduction of the parts of the outer ear that have touched a specific surface (most commonly the helix, antihelix, tragus and antitragus).
Forensic accounting is the study and interpretation of accounting evidence.
Forensic aerial photography is the study and interpretation of aerial photographic evidence.
Forensic anthropology is the application of physical anthropology in a legal setting, usually for the recovery and identification of skeletonized human remains.
Forensic archaeology is the application of a combination of archaeological techniques and forensic science, typically in law enforcement.
Forensic astronomy uses methods from astronomy to determine past celestial constellations for forensic purposes.
Forensic botany is the study of plant life in order to gain information regarding possible crimes.
Forensic chemistry is the study of detection and identification of illicit drugs, accelerants used in arson cases, explosive and gunshot residue.
Forensic dactyloscopy is the study of fingerprints.
Forensic document examination or questioned document examination answers questions about a disputed document using a variety of scientific processes and methods. Many examinations involve a comparison of the questioned document, or components of the document, with a set of known standards. The most common type of examination involves handwriting, whereby the examiner tries to address concerns about potential authorship.
Forensic DNA analysis takes advantage of the uniqueness of an individual's DNA to answer forensic questions such as paternity/maternity testing and placing a suspect at a crime scene, e.g. in a rape investigation.
Forensic engineering is the scientific examination and analysis of structures and products relating to their failure or cause of damage.
Forensic entomology deals with the examination of insects in, on and around human remains to assist in determination of time or location of death. It is also possible to determine if the body was moved after death using entomology.
Forensic geology deals with trace evidence in the form of soils, minerals and petroleum.
Forensic geomorphology is the study of the ground surface to look for potential location(s) of buried object(s).[65]
Forensic geophysics is the application of geophysical techniques such as radar for detecting objects hidden underground[66] or underwater.[67]
Forensic intelligence process starts with the collection of data and ends with the integration of results within into the analysis of crimes under investigation.[68]
Forensic Interviews are conducted using the science of professionally using expertise to conduct a variety of investigative interviews with victims, witnesses, suspects or other sources to determine the facts regarding suspicions, allegations or specific incidents in either public or private sector settings.
Forensic limnology is the analysis of evidence collected from crime scenes in or around fresh-water sources. Examination of biological organisms, in particular diatoms, can be useful in connecting suspects with victims.
Forensic linguistics deals with issues in the legal system that requires linguistic expertise.
Forensic meteorology is a site-specific analysis of past weather conditions for a point of loss.
Forensic odontology is the study of the uniqueness of dentition, better known as the study of teeth.
Forensic optometry is the study of glasses and other eyewear relating to crime scenes and criminal investigations.
Forensic pathology is a field in which the principles of medicine and pathology are applied to determine a cause of death or injury in the context of a legal inquiry.
Forensic podiatry is an application of the study of feet footprint or footwear and their traces to analyze scene of crime and to establish personal identity in forensic examinations.
Forensic psychiatry is a specialized branch of psychiatry as applied to and based on scientific criminology.
Forensic psychology is the study of the mind of an individual, using forensic methods. Usually it determines the circumstances behind a criminal's behavior.
Forensic seismology is the study of techniques to distinguish the seismic signals generated by underground nuclear explosions from those generated by earthquakes.
Forensic serology is the study of the body fluids.[69]
Forensic social work is the specialist study of social work theories and their applications to a clinical, criminal justice or psychiatric setting. Practitioners of forensic social work connected with the criminal justice system are often termed Social Supervisors, whilst the remaining use the interchangeable titles forensic social worker, approved mental health professional or forensic practitioner and they conduct specialist assessments of risk, care planning and act as an officer of the court.
Forensic toxicology is the study of the effect of drugs and poisons on/in the human body.
Forensic video analysis is the scientific examination, comparison and evaluation of video in legal matters.
Mobile device forensics is the scientific examination and evaluation of evidence found in mobile phones, e.g. Call History and Deleted SMS, and includes SIM Card Forensics.
Trace evidence analysis is the analysis and comparison of trace evidence including glass, paint, fibres and hair (e.g., using micro-spectrophotometry).
Wildlife forensic science applies a range of scientific disciplines to legal cases involving non-human biological evidence, to solve crimes such as poaching, animal abuse, and trade in endangered species.
Bloodstain pattern analysis is the scientific examination of blood spatter patterns found at a crime scene to reconstruct the events of the crime.

tag: ul

text: Questionable techniques[edit]

text: Some forensic techniques, believed to be scientifically sound at the time they were used, have turned out later to have much less scientific merit or none.[70] Some such techniques include:

text:
Comparative bullet-lead analysis was used by the FBI for over four decades, starting with the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963. The theory was that each batch of ammunition possessed a chemical makeup so distinct that a bullet could be traced back to a particular batch or even a specific box. Internal studies and an outside study by the National Academy of Sciences found that the technique was unreliable due to improper interpretation, and the FBI abandoned the test in 2005.[71]
Forensic dentistry has come under fire: in at least two cases bite-mark evidence has been used to convict people of murder who were later freed by DNA evidence. A 1999 study by a member of the American Board of Forensic Odontology found a 63 percent rate of false identifications and is commonly referenced within online news stories and conspiracy websites.[72][73] The study was based on an informal workshop during an ABFO meeting, which many members did not consider a valid scientific setting.[74]
By the late 2000s, scientists were able to show that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, thus "undermining the credibility of what has been considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases".[75]

text: Litigation science[edit]

text: Litigation science describes analysis or data developed or produced expressly for use in a trial versus those produced in the course of independent research. This distinction was made by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals when evaluating the admissibility of experts.[76]

text: This uses demonstrative evidence, which is evidence created in preparation of trial by attorneys or paralegals.

text: International demographics[edit]

text: In the United States there are over 14,500 forensic science technicians, as of 2014.[77]

text: Media impact[edit]

text: Real-life crime scene investigators and forensic scientists warn that popular television shows do not give a realistic picture of the work and often wildlly distorting the nature of the work, and exaggerating the ease, speed, effectiveness, drama, glamour, influence and comfort level of their jobs—which they describe as far more mundane, tedious and boring.[78][79]

text: Some claim these modern TV shows have changed individuals' expectations of forensic science, sometimes unrealistically—an influence termed the "CSI effect".[80][81]

text: Further, research has suggested that public misperceptions about criminal forensics can create, in the mind of a juror, unrealistic expectations of forensic evidence—which they expect to see before convicting—implicitly biasing the juror towards the defendant. Citing the "CSI Effect," at least one researcher has suggested screening jurors for their level of influence from such TV programs[81]

text: Controversies[edit]

text: Questions about certain areas of forensic science, such as fingerprint evidence and the assumptions behind these disciplines have been brought to light in some publications[82][83] including the New York Post.[84] The article stated that "No one has proved even the basic assumption: That everyone's fingerprint is unique."[84] The article also stated that "Now such assumptions are being questioned – and with it may come a radical change in how forensic science is used by police departments and prosecutors."[84] Law professor Jessica Gabel said on NOVA that forensic science "lacks the rigors, the standards, the quality controls and procedures that we find, usually, in science."[85]

text: In America, on 25 June 2009, the Supreme Court issued a 5-to-4 decision in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts stating that crime laboratory reports may not be used against criminal defendants at trial unless the analysts responsible for creating them give testimony and subject themselves to cross-examination. The Supreme Court cited the National Academies report Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States[86] in their decision. Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia referred to the National Research Council report in his assertion that "Forensic evidence is not uniquely immune from the risk of manipulation."

text: In 2009, scientists indicated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence, therefore suggesting it is possible to falsely accuse or acquit a person or persons using forged evidence.[75]

text: In America, another area of forensic science that has come under question in recent years is the lack of laws requiring the accreditation of forensic labs. Some states require accreditation, but some states do not. Because of this, many labs have been caught performing very poor work resulting in false convictions or acquittals. For example, it was discovered after an audit of the Houston Police Department in 2002 that the lab had fabricated evidence which led George Rodriguez being convicted of raping a fourteen-year-old girl.[87] The former director of the lab, when asked, said that the total number of cases that could have been contaminated by improper work could be in the range of 5,000 to 10,000.[87] This could have been avoided if the lab had been accredited by organizations such as ASCLD/Lab, which require crime labs to undergo rigorous assessments to show that they are able to perform multiple tests accurately. Once they become accredited, they are periodically re-evaluated to ensure that the lab is still functioning at its best.[88] Periodic evaluations of a lab's performance by an independent organization will help to prevent scandals from occurring in forensic science laboratories.

text: Although forensic science has greatly enhanced the investigator's ability to solve crimes, it has limitations and must be scrutinized in and out of the courtroom to avoid the occurrence of wrongful convictions.[89]

text: Forensic science and humanitarian work[edit]

text: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) uses forensic science for humanitarian purposes to clarify the fate of missing persons after armed conflict, disasters or migration,[90] and is one of the services related to Restoring Family Links and Missing Persons. Knowing what has happened to a missing relative can often make it easier to proceed with the grieving process and move on with life for families of missing persons.

text: Forensic science is used by various other organizations to clarify the fate and whereabouts of persons who have gone missing. Examples include the NGO Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, working to clarify the fate of people who disappeared during the period of the 1976–1983 military dictatorship. The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) uses forensic science to find missing persons,[91] for example after the conflicts in the Balkans.[92]

text: Recognising the role of forensic science for humanitarian purposes, as well as the importance of forensic investigations in fulfilling the state's responsibilities to investigate human rights violations, a group of experts in the late-1980s devised a UN Manual on the Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, which became known as the Minnesota Protocol. This document was revised and re-published by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2016.[93]


document_title: Michael Stivic

question_text: who played michael stivic on all in the family

text: Michael Stivic

text:
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text:
Michael Stivic

Mike "Meathead" Stivic (Rob Reiner, top) with rest of Bunkers, Archie (Carroll O'Connor, bottom). Edith (Jean Stapleton, left), and Gloria (Sally Struthers, right) in cast photo

First appearance
"Meet the Bunkers"
(All in the Family)

Last appearance
"Thanksgiving Reunion: Part 2"
(Archie Bunker's Place)

Created by
Norman Lear
Based on Mike Rawlins, a character created by Johnny Speight

Portrayed by
Rob Reiner

Information

Occupation
College student, then professor (1975-)

Family
Edith Bunker (mother in-law) 1971-1980, her death
Archie Bunker (father in-law) 1971-1982 (?)
Casimir "Cas" Stivic (uncle)
Alexsander "Alex" Stivic (uncle)

Spouse(s)
Gloria Bunker Stivic (1971-1982)(?)

Children
Joey Stivic (son)

text: Michael Casimir "Mike" Stivic is a fictional character on the 1970s American television sitcom All in the Family. He was the live-in son-in-law of the series' lead character, Archie Bunker, who frequently called him "Meathead". Michael was the husband of Archie's daughter Gloria (played by Sally Struthers). Rob Reiner played the role of Michael Stivic throughout the series.

text: Character overview[edit]

text: The character of Michael Stivic is an Americanized version of the British original: Till Death Us Do Part's Mike Rawlins, the Trotskyist "Randy Scouse Git" who arouses the passionate ire of his arch-conservative father-in-law Alf Garnett. For the American version of this character, the Trotskyist angle was drastically softened: Michael Stivic is a social liberal and a leftist, but not an adherent of any form of communism and is presented as possibly a Democrat who is sympathetic to the Students for a Democratic Society movement (SDS), which is hinted by his occasional use of SDS ally and Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman's guerrilla theatre antics.

text: Michael Stivic is a Polish-American from Chicago. He was orphaned at a young age, with his parents having been killed in a car crash. He was raised by his uncle Casimir Stivic, an ex-Marine lieutenant turned florist, who calls him "Mickey" with great affection. He also has an uncle Alex.

text: When All in the Family begins, Michael is married to Gloria and shares a bedroom with her in the home of her parents, whom he addresses as "Ma" and "Archie" (or "Arch"), while focusing his efforts on earning a college degree in sociology.[1] His first meeting with Archie (seen in a flashback) shows him as a bearded hippie with a tie-dyed shirt. His wardrobe throughout most of the series is much more subdued: most often he wears a denim shirt, jeans, and boots. He shaves his beard for his wedding with Gloria, but keeps his mustache afterwards (on rare occasions later in the series, however, he would go for a clean shaven look) and wears his hair well below the collar. (As Reiner was losing his hair very rapidly early on in the series, he began wearing a toupee when playing his character.) The exact year of the Stivics' marriage is somewhat ambiguous. In season 2, episode 5, "Flashback: Mike Meets Archie" (mentioned above), which first aired October 16, 1971, Mike and Gloria celebrate their first wedding anniversary. A 1972 episode centers on Mike and Gloria's second wedding anniversary: meaning they would have been married in 1970 while the 1978 episode The Stivics Go West it is revealed that Mike and Gloria are coming upon the ninth anniversary meaning they would have been married in 1969.

text: Exacerbating the conflicts between college student Michael and his conservative father-in-law Archie Bunker, is the fact that in the early years of the television series, these two characters live under the same roof. This proximity means that the tensions between these seemingly diametrically opposed people result in endless arguments over the simplest of topics, even the proper order in which to put on socks and shoes. Along with other issues, such as Michael's frequent decision to sit in Archie's coveted chair and huge appetite for food purchased by Archie's working-class income, their huge ideological differences greatly contributed to the conflict between the two characters.[2] Michael is a determined agnostic-though he would at times identify himself as an atheist in order to rile up Archie, who assumed he was in complete disbelief of God-,[3] in contrast to his mother-in-law's quiet Christian church attendance and his non-practicing but nonetheless staunchly Christian father-in-law. He also is a dedicated humanitarian who wishes to help change the world:[2] originally, Michael wanted to become a social worker, but his career aspirations shifted towards teaching as the series progressed.[2] When the neighboring Jefferson family moves out of the neighborhood, the family patriarch George allows Michael to rent his old house so Michael and Gloria can have a home of their own. George, however, is still the house's legal owner. Although being next door still results in frequent visits, the tension between Michael and Archie eases as they now live under different roofs.

text: Despite his frequent conflicts with his father-in-law, Mike enjoys a warm relationship with his mother-in-law, Edith, whom he calls "Ma". Edith frequently intervenes to try to defuse tensions between her husband and son-in-law, though she also occasionally takes Mike to task for initiating unnecessary arguments with Archie, and, in 1973 episode "Games Bunkers Play", offers insight to Mike into Archie's attitude toward him, suggesting that Archie had to drop out of high school to help support his family during the Depression, and that he resents the fact that Mike had the chance to attend college and advance his education.

text: Michael is presented as a representative of the counterculture of the 1960s (reflecting current events during the period in which the show was broadcast). There is no suggestion, however of the drug use or "free love" of that subculture and Michael is a dedicated academic. It is revealed in the season eight episode Gloria and Mike Meet that in 1969, Michael's dedication to humanitarianism was galvanized in order to weaken support for newly elected President Richard Nixon and that he was probably a member of the SDS's newly formed Worker Student Alliance that sought to encourage university students to find ways to fix problems within the working class.

text: Though supportive of human rights, Michael would at times display male chauvinism as well; examples showed when he did not want his appendix removed by a female doctor and was a sore loser when playing a board game called Group Therapy with his family and neighbors. Though he differed with Archie over the potential successes women and racial minorities could achieve, Michael also believed that neither could socially evolve without good education from people like him; such an example showed when he falsely characterized a blue-collar handyman's African American assistant as a minstrel show stereotype who donned the same "happy-go-lucky" attire as his boss in the season 3 episode Everybody Tells the Truth (Archie's version is just as stereotyped—the assistant is a member of the Black Power movement and his boss is a mafia thug). He was also determined to ensure that Gloria shared his beliefs.[2]

text: Although taken by surprise, Michael is excited to learn that Gloria is pregnant in 1971, though the pregnancy ends in a miscarriage. Gloria becomes pregnant again in 1975 and their baby Joseph "Joey" Stivic is born in December of that year.

text: During early episodes, Michael's best friend is Lionel Jefferson. In the first season, Lionel surprises Michael by announcing that he and his family are moving into the house next door to the Bunkers. However, the characters rarely see or refer to each other after the Jeffersons leave All in the Family to join the spin-off The Jeffersons, George Jefferson, however, would later make a guest appearance at his old residence when the Stivics start preparing for their move to California and meet with him to give notice that they will no longer be staying in his house. Another of Michael's close friends, Al Bender (played by Billy Crystal), marries Gloria's best friend Trudy Tannen in a 1976 episode.

text: Mike accepts a faculty position at UCSB and he and Gloria move to Santa Barbara, California, at the end of the 1977–78 season (at which time Reiner and Struthers ceased to be regulars on the show). They appear in a Christmas episode during the 1978–79 season, in which Archie and Edith (and Edith's niece Stephanie) visit Michael and Gloria, exposing the fact that the couple have secretly separated due to troubles in their marriage, including an infidelity Gloria had with one of his college faculty colleagues. Though they seemingly resolve their differences during this episode, a Thanksgiving visit by Mike and Gloria to the Bunkers' house during the 1979-80 season of Archie Bunker's Place shows that the Stivics' marriage is still troubled, exacerbated by Michael having lost his job after he and Gloria participated in a nude protest of a proposed nuclear power plant and got arrested. This is the last appearance of the character.

text: Michael Stivic does not appear in the 1982 spin-off series Gloria, which starred Sally Struthers. Initially, Reiner had been asked to participate in the series, resurrecting his Michael Stivic character, but he declined. It is explained (on the show) that Michael had left his wife and young son Joey (then played by Christian Jacobs) to live in a California commune with one of his students (which suggests he had found a new teaching job) -- whom Gloria described as "the homecoming queen, a girl named Muffy" -- and was in the process of going through a bitter divorce. At the beginning of the series (September 1982), it has been 63 days since Michael walked out on Gloria; Michael calls to invite Gloria to the commune, but things deteriorate quickly when he claims Gloria is incapable holding a job, or of supporting herself and Joey. By the end of the series (spring 1983), the divorce is final.

text: "Meathead"[edit]

text: Archie routinely refers to Michael by the derogatory nickname "Meathead", from the first time they meet, as seen in flashback in the second season episode "Mike Meets Archie". In Archie's own words, it means "dead from the neck up". Rob Reiner has said that "I could win the Nobel Prize and they'd write 'Meathead wins the Nobel Prize'."[4]

text: A later episode of All in the Family reveals that Archie Bunker himself was referred to as "Meathead" in his youth.