SOURCE: "The Potter Legacy: Faith in Quality TV," in The New York Times, June 9, 1994, pp. C15, C18.

[In the following excerpt, O'Connor lauds the stylistic and thematic depth of Potter's work in television, praising him for believing in the intelligence of the viewer and for resisting the commercializing tendencies of the medium.]

Dennis Potter died this week. And so did a powerful voice cantankerously insisting that television, which he always praised as the most democratic medium, could be far more than a tireless purveyor of fluffy diversions. Mr. Potter, who was 59, wrote novels, plays and screenplays, but his talents flourished most splendidly, and often controversially, in television drama. If the medium can lay claim to masterpieces, two would have to be the Potter mini-series: Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective.

Probing themes of reality and illusion, sex and death, public and personal betrayal, Mr. Potter had boundless...