Actually, I think it might have been twelve years. The other day I watched a recorded re-run of Northern Exposure, an episode from the last season that involved Dr. Joel Fleishman. I think his final season was 1994. Pretty sure. Anyway, Joel was played by Rob Morrow, and since he left Northern Exposure to pursue a film career that started well with Quiz Show, he hasn't been in much. At least nothing that I've seen. So a decade had gone by where I hadn't seen this guy's face.

Tonight I decided I'd watch that new CBS series, NUMB3RS. It looked interesting. It was. Gotta say, best pilot I've seen since...hey, maybe since Northern Exposure. There's a surplus of cookie cutter cop/investigator/crime scene shows on television, so when I first saw the promo I think I rolled my eyes or grumbled or something. Then I saw that Rob Morrow was in it and figured, hey. Dr. Fleishman! I should check that out.

Glad I did. Well done. The writing was pretty crisp. It didn't inspire a cliché count. I wasn't aware of the acting. I didn't want to stop watching. If I had to find an area for criticism, I'd say that Joel I mean Rob's character, Don Eppes, seemed a little too cavalier about his kid brother's help. In a period of what seemed to be two to three days, the young math genius Charlie Eppes not only saved a young woman's life, he developed a whole new science for cracking serial crimes. Not too shabby. You'd think he'd at least get a good ol' hug from his big bro the FBI case manager. Usually when new avenues of science are opened up, or when theories and equations find powerful new applications, people take notice. Awards are handed out. Exclusive interviews with shadowy government agencies are offered, if not ordered. At the end of the pilot, it seemed a little too casual and "business as usual" considering all that had taken place.

But I digress. So the other night I saw the face of Rob Morrow, circa 1994. Same face I've known since I watched the show in the early 90s. Haven't seen hide nor hair of him since then. To see him the next day, aged 11 years, was pretty interesting. His frown lines were deeper. His skin is coarser, blemished by time and experience. He looked to me like he had seen some tough times. It was probably just time, though. We don't recognize change very well when we see it in intervals throughout a span of time, but man. When you see a face age 11 years in a single day, you notice some things.

By the way, figured this might be a good time to ask:

Don'tcha think that it's just a wee bit creepy that

111,111,111

X

111,111,111

Equals 12,345,678,987,654,321?