DIAGNOSIS MURDER: WRONG NUMBER (TV)

Summary

One in this series of mystery programs about Dr. Mark Sloan, a physician at Community General Hospital who enjoys solving murder cases with the help of his son, Steve, a homicide detective.

Mark receives a call one morning from an unknown party discussing a “change in plans,” asking him to bring a large sum of money to a nearby park. He seems to be holding a young boy hostage and has mistakenly called Mark instead of the boy’s father, but he hangs up before Mark can explain this to him. He informs Steve of the incident, but the LAPD has no records of recent kidnappings. They resolve to inform the family of the kidnapped boy about the call, but are faced with too many possibilities to start searching through random phone numbers. Mark suggests to Steve that he call in a favor from his personal contact at the FBI, Kathryn Wately, and Steve does so reluctantly. She attempts to help him and remarks about their failed romantic relationship, causing tension between both of them. Kathryn believes that the incident is nothing more than a prank phone call, but Steve disagrees.

Eventually Mark manages to figure out where the money is supposed to be delivered and visits the park in question with Steve. They spot a lone man in the park and believe that it is the kidnapper, and Mark offers to confront him alone while Steve hangs back. However, the man turns out to be the kidnapping victim’s father, who believes that Mark is the one who called him. The man panics and pleads with the unseen kidnappers that he came alone as instructed, but the kidnappers shoot and kill him, and Steve is unable to find the assailants. Kathryn and the police arrive, identifying the deceased man as Ted Edelman, a computer game designer. They find that his six year-old son Joey was reported missing the previous day, and the FBI takes over the investigation. Mark feels responsible for Ted’s death and believes he could have prevented it. Steve is set to report to Kathryn, but they continue to be argumentative and standoffish with each other. Together they visit the Edelman home and the police wiretap and secure the place. Kathryn and Steve introduce themselves to Cheryl Edelman, Ted’s widow, who is distraught over the entire situation. Kathryn blames both Mark and Steve for complicating the investigation and inadvertently causing Ted to get murdered.

The next day, Mark arrives at the Edelman house and is introduced to Cheryl and Jason Dalloway, Ted’s business partner. Before Mark can explain himself the kidnapper calls the house, and Mark tells him that he accidentally arrived alongside Ted. The kidnapper says he does not care about Mark’s interference and increases his ransom, making very specific demands about how it is to be transported to him. Cheryl comes to blame Mark for Ted’s death as well. Steve suggests using a fake money drop-off in order to draw out the kidnapper and arrest him, but Dalloway believes that this unnecessarily endangers Joey’s life. Kathryn brings Steve aside to chide him for his conduct. He explains that he is bitter because he believes that Kathryn arranged to have her husband discover their affair, although she insists that this was not the case. As preparations are made, Mark speaks to Dalloway about his long friendship with Ted and how their company has recently received a buyout offer from a large software developer. Dalloway suddenly experiences a shortness of breath and has to sit down, piquing Mark’s curiosity. Cheryl apologizes to Mark for accusing him of contributing to her husband’s death and appreciates his efforts to help her.

They receive instructions from the kidnapper about where to drop off the money and Steve goes in wearing a surveillance device in his hat. He reaches the designated point, a phone booth, and finds a greeting card with a voice-recording microchip, asking Steve to travel to a different phone booth. This process repeats itself several times over, and Steve travels from phone booth to phone booth in an attempt to keep up. Finally, at a pay phone, the kidnapper instructs Steve to deposit the money in a nearby trash bin, and then Steve receives a call from the pay phone; the kidnapper says it was “just a test” and tells Steve to retrieve the suitcase of money and go to yet another drop-off point. The kidnapper instructs Steve to leave the suitcase on a park bench, and Steve sets up his surveillance device there as the police establish a perimeter. Mark, monitoring the entire situation remotely, realizes that something is amiss and asks Steve to check the suitcase. Kathryn argues with Mark, believing that he has made an error in judgment. However, Steve complies with Mark’s assessment and opens the suitcase. Simultaneously, Dalloway faints and Mark has Kathryn call 911, as he has suddenly entered critical condition. The suitcase turns out to have been switched out for an identical one filled with newspapers instead of money.

Steve and Kathryn try to determine when and how the switch was made, and begin to resume their romantic relationship. Mark inspects the newspapers from the briefcase and formulates a theory about what transpired. Dalloway recovers in the hospital as Jesse explains that he has a form of anemia preventing his blood cells from obtaining enough oxygen in his bloodstream. Jesse is puzzled as to how Dalloway obtained the disorder, as it is usually only contracted via exposure to toxic chemicals. He receives legal documents relating to the buyout of his company and is frustrated that they have arrived at such a time. Mark deduces that one of the newspapers has a single article cut out of it: an article about the buyout hanging on Ted’s refrigerator. This leads him to conclude that the newspapers came from the Edelman household and that the money was switched before Steve left. They come to suspect that the Edelman’s au pair, Irene Meredith, is responsible for the kidnapping and Steve puts out an all-points bulletin in search of her. Mark and Steve also manage to determine that Irene fled to the nearby town of Falling Springs, as it is the only place where she could receive medication for her Lyme disease.

Kathryn, Steve, and Amanda arrive at an isolated cabin where Joey is supposedly being held by Irene’s accomplice Russell Spinks, a former electrical engineer. They apprehend the kidnappers and rescue Joey, and Steve takes down Russell when he tries to flee. He admits to taking part in the kidnapping but says he did not murder Ted. Joey is reunited with his mother, and Russell and Irene are taken in for questioning. Russell continues to insist that he did not kill Ted, and Irene corroborates this. He also says that he told Ted to arrive at the park later than the time that the kidnapper gave to Mark on the phone, but that he went in early to inspect the site. This convinces Steve that someone other than Russell or Irene killed Ted. Mark also realizes that something is amiss when he is informed that Russell had no telephone at his cabin, meaning that he could not have called him. He believes that another party killed Ted and made it seem that the kidnappers were responsible. After consulting with Amanda, Mark figures out the truth: Dalloway was the one hiding in the park in order to kill Ted, and his fainting spells can be attributed to exposure to chemical fertilizers at the park, thus triggering his anemia. Mark confronts Dalloway with these accusations as he is being discharged from the hospital, and Dalloway tries to flee. Steve and Kathryn chase him down and capture him. Later, Steve learns from Cheryl that Ted had some reservations about selling out his company since he believed he might lose the intellectual property rights to the games he created. Dalloway, however, was enticed by the buyout and killed Ted in order to ensure that it would take place. Steve and Kathryn fully rekindle their romance. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: November 30, 1999 8:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:44:08
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: 120591
• GENRE: Drama, medical; Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/private detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical; Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/private detective
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1993-2001
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Joel Steiger … Executive Producer
• Gerald Sanoff … Executive Producer
• Dean Hargrove … Executive Producer
• Fred Silverman … Executive Producer
• Lee Goldberg … Executive Producer
• William Rabkin … Executive Producer
• Dick Van Dyke … Executive Producer
• David Bennett Carren … Supervising Producer
• J. Larry Carroll … Supervising Producer
• Barry Steinberg … Producer
• Jacquelyn Blain … Producer
• Robin Madden … Co-Producer
• Craig Yahata … Associate Producer
• Christian I. Nyby II … Director
• Joyce Burditt … Created by
• Peter Myers … Music by
• Dick DeBenedictis … Theme Music by
• Dick Van Dyke … Cast, Dr. Mark Sloan
• Victoria Rowell … Cast, Amanda Bentley-Livingston
• Charlie Schlatter … Cast, Dr. Jesse Travis
• Barry Van Dyke … Cast, Steve Sloan
• Eva La Rue … Cast, Kathryn Wately
• Kathy Evison … Cast, Cheryl Edelman
• Stuart Fratkin … Cast, Jason Dalloway
• Michael Wiseman … Cast, Russell Westbrook
• Ange Billman … Cast, Irene Meredith
• Paul Schackman … Cast, Dan Edelman
• Corey Padnos … Cast, Joey Edelman