Jack Klugman Wants Copy of His Own 'Quincy' Deal from NBC

Posted by Matthew Belloni

We've seen plenty of profit participation claims by actors on classic shows who don't believe their accounting statements accurately reflect what they're owed. But here's a relatively rare subset of the genre: Actor Jack Klugman is alleging NBC won't even let him see his own deal for the 1976-83 medical drama "Quincy M.E."

In the complaint for dec relief, filed Friday in L.A. Superior Court, Klugman claims his contract allegedly gives him 25% of defined net profits, but NBC says that by the end of 2006 the show had generated a $66 million loss. And since Klugman's deal was apparently lost when his agent died, his lawyer, well-known plaintiff-side litigator Neville Johnson, started a letter-writing campain to get it.

According to the complaint, that effort resulted in NBC saying it is "unable to comply with your request...because it is NBC Universal policy not to provide copies of talent contracts or other confidential documents."

Even to the talent itself? The AP didn't get a response from NBC, but we're betting that lawyers for Steve Carell, Tina Fey or any of NBC's current stars could probably ring up business affairs and get courtesy copies of their deals.