DIAGNOSIS MURDER: MUST KILL TV (TV)
Summary
One in this series of mystery programs about the life and times of Dr. Mark Sloan, a physician at Community General Hospital who enjoys solving murder cases with the help of his son, Steve, a homicide detective. This episode focuses on the murder of Rachel Woodrell, the young, beautiful, and powerful -- yet much disliked -- president of a major television network. The first attempt on her life occurs when an individual dressed in a quasi-space suit tries to run her over. Next, while watching the pilot episode of a new series produced by has-been Jackson Burley, Rachel suffers a heart attack, and the nitroglycerine pills she keeps nearby for her heart condition fail to help her. Since Rachel had so many enemies, the list of suspects is long, and includes the obsessed fans of the "Space Cops" series that she canceled. Various celebrities are interviewed throughout the show to demonstrate how unpopular she was. Shortly after Rachel's death, network bigwig Carl Everest gives her job to Paige Jennings, who, like Rachel, became head of the network after a meteoric rise from working in the mailroom. Paige becomes a suspect since she profited by Rachel's death, as does Burley, when it is discovered that Rachel waylaid his movie career by ruthlessly forcing him to stick to his network contract. Meanwhile, Jesse decides to work undercover in the mailroom to see if he can learn more about the competition and intrigue of the network from the inside. Sloan discovers that Rachel died precisely at the point in Burley's pilot when she witnessed a Satanic ritual. That fact, coupled with the knowledge that someone had substituted sugar pills for her nitroglycerine tablets, and a confession from former sorority sister Karen Dinino that while in college Rachel fooled around with devil worshipping, confirm Sloan's theory that Rachel's death was not simply an accident. The plot thickens when Paige is found dead by hanging in her office. In a crazy twist, Jesse is promoted over mailroom veteran Harry Fellows to the position of vice president of development, and the murderer attempts to strike again. Commercials deleted. This program is closed-captioned.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: November 6, 1997 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:46:20
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:54707
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/private detective; Drama, medical
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/private detective; Drama, medical; Television - Drama
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1993-2001
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Dean Hargrove … Executive Producer
- Fred Silverman … Executive Producer
- Tom Chehak … Executive Producer
- Dick Van Dyke … Executive Producer
- Lee Goldberg … Supervising Producer, Writer
- William Rabkin … Supervising Producer, Writer
- David Bennett Carren … Producer
- J. Larry Carroll … Producer
- Barry Steinberg … Producer
- Robin Madden … Co-Producer
- Craig Yahata … Associate Producer
- Joyce Burditt … Consulting Producer, Created by
- Christopher Hibler … Director
- Peter Myers … Music by
- Dick DeBenedictis … Theme Music by
- Dick Van Dyke … Cast, Dr. Mark Sloan
- Victoria Rowell … Cast, Amanda Bentley
- Charlie Schlatter … Cast, Dr. Jesse Travis
- Van Dyke, Barry … Cast, Steve Sloan
- John Aniston … Cast, Carlton Everest
- Tom Gallop … Cast, Phil Zarkin
- Michele Greene … Cast, Rachel Woodrell
- Molly Hagan … Cast, Paige Jennings
- Brenda Varda … Cast, Karen Dinino
- Fred Willard … Cast, Harry Fellows
- Stephen J. Cannell … Cast, Jackson Burley
- Erik Estrada … Cast, himself
- Peter Graves … Cast, himself
- Doug E. Doug … Cast, himself
- Vel Johnson, Reginald … Cast, himself
- Jane Seymour … Cast, herself
- Jaleel White … Cast, himself
- Dr. Joyce Brothers … Cast, herself
- Sam Rubin … Cast, the TV Host
- Timothy McNeil … Cast, Ernie Cooley
- Jennifer Fairbanks … Cast, Jennifer
- Andre Khabbazi … Cast, T.J. Mann
- Nicole Nieth … Cast, Cindy
- Sloan Devine … Cast, the Woman