oh, THAT is who she is

If not for this episode on tonight's "Quantum Leap", I might never have put the name and face together.

The character being comforted is Abagail, accused of murder for the third time in her life.

The first time had been as a child, accused of killing another girl over a locket.

The second time was as a 21-year-old bride to be, accused of killing a boy she babysat.

This third time was as a 33-year-old mother, accused of killing the woman who'd accused her of the two earlier murders.

Not quite thirty minutes later, I'm watching "Dancing With The Stars" and I recognized the name of this actress, but couldn't quite place her at first.

Then, I realized with a flash who she was: the same actress I'd just seen with Scott Bakula.

Say what???

But it was true: Melora Hardin, now 54 years old and a contestant on this season's dance sompetition, had played Abagail on two of the three episodes of "Trilogy" in Season 5 of "Quantum Leap".

Here she was in the second episode, when we first meet the adult Abagail, now 21.

That aired in 1992, so Melora was 25 years old at the time.

The episode in the first photo aired the following week in 1992, so she was still 25, but playing a 33-year-old.

Pretty cool, right?

But wait, it gets better!

She's a prominent figure in another show I love: "Monk".

This is her in 2004, in one of the earliest episodes, when the actress was 37 years old.

And just who is the character she's playing?

Trudy, Monk's beloved, dead, wife.

For real.

By the time the tenth episode with her aired in 2009, she was 42 years old.

Doesn't look like she's changed much in the twelve years since then, does it?

Ah, the magic of Lady Clairol and professional make-up!

(smile!)