PARTNERS IN CRIME: FASHIONED FOR MURDER (TV)
Summary
One in this detective series about a pair of women, both of whom are divorcees to the same man, who run a detective agency in San Francisco.
A man breaks into Jared Martin Designs, an upscale fashion boutique, at night to take photographs of design sketches for a new fashion line, knocking out a guard in the process. The next day Carole and Sydney visit the facility on an unrelated matter, but soon become involved in the investigation surrounding the break-in, offering to hire themselves out to Martin himself. He accepts; unbeknownst to them Barney McKay, the private detective Martin previously hired, has been collaborating with the men behind the break-in. Martin explains to Sydney and Carole that the designs for his new fall line were photographed; such an incident occurred once before, leading to other designers producing copies of his clothes. They also find out that McKay was recommended to Martin by Wingate Sloane, one of his photographers.
Carole talks to Sloane and his staff, and discovers that McKay was not as highly recommended as previously indicated. Later, while Carole guards Martin’s designs, Sydney spends the evening with him and they discuss his history within the fashion industry; he notes that he engaged in “bridge-burning” when he left the fashion company Brockwin Industries to set out on his own, and if his business fails they’ll see to it that he cannot recover. Sydney is interested to know that Martin’s secretary Irene left Brockwin to work for him around the same time that his designs were first copied, although Martin does not suspect her of any illicit dealings. A man with a razor breaks into Martin’s design room and Carole attacks him, driving him away. She talks about it with Sydney the next day, believing that his intention was to sabotage Martin’s dresses. They come to the conclusion that there are two forces at work, one attempting to copy Martin’s designs and another attempting to put him out of business. Shain attempted to follow Irene the previous night, but was blocked from doing so when she left briefly, which occurred at the same time as the break-in. They theorize that Irene opened the building for the break-in.
Irene and her superior at Brockwin argue about what to do next, and decide to tamper with Martin’s shipping to prevent his dresses from reaching stores. Martin still refuses to believe that Irene has betrayed him. He proposes extra security measures during his upcoming fashion show, including having Carole and Sydney go undercover as models. During a practice run of the show, Carole takes photographs of the surroundings and Sydney talks to Mary, the mother of one of the models in the show. She abruptly ends her conversation with Sydney and takes her daughter backstage. While no one is looking, Sydney finds several invoices in the trash. Later, Mary visits an illegal production facility outside the city led by Max, the man responsible for the first break-in, and asks them to shut down operation, but they refuse and offer to deal with Carole and Sydney if they get too close to the truth. Carole arrives at Sloane’s photography studio just as the man behind the first break-in enters and shoots him, getting away in the process.
The police investigate Sloane’s murder and Vronsky is suspicious of Carole and Sydney’s presence, asking them to accompany him to the station. Carole tells Sydney that the film of Sloane’s photographs from the fashion show rehearsal have been taken. Carole still has her photographs and believes she has to do something with them. They manage to get Vronsky to release them, and Jeanine and Shain help Carole and Sydney inspect Carole’s photographs of the rehearsal. They notice a discrepancy in the clothing worn by Mary’s daughter Chris, and they conclude that she was wearing a silk sash, a copy of an accessory from Martin’s new line, stolen by his competitors. They decide to question Chris, and discover that her mother took the sash away from her, although she does not know why.
The invoices turn out not to yield any significant evidence, and so they decide to sneak in to Irene’s apartment to search for further clues. Based on messages left on her answering machine, they conclude that Irene intends to commit arson and burn Martin’s warehouse to the ground, destroying his inventory. They report back to Vronksy and find Irene at the warehouse before the arson can occur, and Vronsky arrests the arsonist. Carole, Sydney, and Vronsky decide to cooperate to find and arrest Sloane’s murderer. The fashion show begins and Carole and Sydney prepare to go on posing as models, while Jeanine is in the audience posing as a representative of an English fashion retailer. During the show Jeanine makes small-talk with Mary in the audience and convinces her that she is involved with a discount store chain in England, making Mary interested in a business proposition with her. Mary reports back to Max and tells him that she has a buyer, and he gives her permission to give Jeanine their facility’s address.
Jeanine arrives at the site with a briefcase of cash, and Carole and Sydney watch from a distance. Max shows her inside as McKay arrives, and Carole and Sydney race to protect Jeanine as McKay warns Mary that Jeanine is not who she says she is. In the confusion Max and Mary attempt to get away as Jeanine pulls a gun on McKay. Vronsky and the police show up to prevent Mary and Max from escaping. Carole and Sydney manage to knock out both Max and Mary, allowing the police to capture them. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: November 21, 1984 10:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:58:55
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:39530
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1984
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Bill Driskill … Executive Producer
- Larry Brody … Supervising Producer
- Everett Chambers … Producer
- Don Weis … Director
- Leonard B. Stern … Created by
- James Stark … Created by
- Jayne Ehrlich … Writer
- Simon Muntner … Writer
- Johnny Harris … Music by
- Nathan Sassover … Theme Music by
- Lynda Carter … Cast, Carole Stanwyck
- Loni Anderson … Cast, Sidney Kovak
- Walter Olkewicz … Cast, Harmon Shain
- Leo Rossi … Cast, Lt. Ed Vronsky
- Eileen Heckart … Cast, Jeanine
- Rod McCary … Cast, Jared Martin
- Joel Bailey … Cast, Wingate Sloane
- Jonathan Goldsmith … Cast, Barney McKay
- Kaz Garas … Cast, Max Dixon
- Patricia McCormack … Cast, Irene
- Diana Barton … Cast, Chris
- Mim Solberg … Cast, Mary
- Fred Field … Cast, The Buyer
- Christina Landman … Cast, The Model
- Sterling Lim … Cast, Kim
- Will Marchetti … Cast, Jason Farrel
- Wanda McCaddon … Cast, Margaret Stewart
- Charles Picerni … Cast, The Man
- Gordon Pinkney … Cast, The Doorman
- Sheela Tessler … Cast, Narrator