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DIAGNOSIS MURDER: MURDER TWO {PART 1 OF 2} (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. A stuntwoman named Paula McCarthy is found dead in a motel room in Santa Barbara and her husband is arrested as the prime suspect behind her murder. Dr. Eric Spindler, who works alongside Jesse, watches a tape of a news story about Paula’s murder with interest. A man who suffered trauma in a car accident is brought into the hospital and Jesse is attending. Spindler gets into an argument with him about procedure and Jesse throws him out. That night, Spindler goes on a date with Jeri, a nurse at the hospital. The trauma patient is partially paralyzed. Jeri tells him she’s pregnant with his child; Spindler is upset at this news and believes Jeri will use the child as an excuse to get more money from him. Outraged, Jeri dumps her drink on Spindler and leaves. Jesse is getting sued by the trauma victim and Spindler is testifying against him. He asks Dr. Sloan to contact his old lawyer friend Ben Matlock from Atlanta. Dr. Sloan visits Matlock; they catch up and he convinces him to fly out to Los Angeles with him to defend Jesse. The case goes to trial and Spindler gives his testimony. Matlock seems ill-suited for the case and offends the judge to such a degree that he is placed in jail overnight for misconduct. Jeri, distraught and outraged, arrives at Spindler’s house at night to find him sitting on his couch with headphones on. She clobbers him over the head with a lamp, apparently killing him. Jeri is brought to the police and interrogated by Steve. Meanwhile Dr. Sloan visits Matlock in his cell, asking him to help Jeri, who is pleading guilty to the murder charge. However, they soon discover that Spindler was dead before Jeri arrived, poisoned by a rare compound called monocaine. Matlock wants to return to Atlanta, but Dr. Sloan invites him to stay awhile. Steve discovers he is being taken off the Spindler case. The police now believe that Jesse is the culprit for the murder; Spindler’s monocaine-laced wine bottle had Jesse’s fingerprints on it, and they found monocaine on his bathroom sink. Much to his reluctance, Steve is forced to arrest Jesse. Amanda visits Matlock, who is packing to return to Atlanta. Matlock recounts how he met Dr. Sloan: when he was just starting in law he was taken to the emergency room for eating bad fish, and Dr. Sloan was on duty that night. Amanda pleads with him to defend Jesse in his trial. She, Matlock, Steve, and Dr. Sloan all search through Spindler’s house. They find the headphones he was wearing at the time of death were broken. They are watched by an unknown man, who Steve chases out of the building. The man gets away. Matlock manages to deduce that Spindler was packing to leave his house at the time of death, and discovers a packed bag in the trunk of his car. The evidence indicates Spindler was planning to go to a motel in Santa Barbara. Matlock also notices sap on the hood of Spindler’s car. Jesse, while in police custody, meets with Matlock, who assures him that he and all his friends are doing everything in their power to help him. According to his phone records, Spindler called a woman named Debbie Gardner six times the day before he died. Debbie lives in Santa Barbara and Amanda went after her. In Santa Barbara, Debbie, a stuntwoman, is in the middle of filming a movie. Amanda discovered that her sister was Paula McCarthy, who was murdered a few months ago. Debbie replaced her as the stunt double for the film. Matlock speaks to Debbie about Spindler; she claims not to know why he was calling her. He notices that Debbie drives a truck seemingly identical to the one driven by the unknown man that Steve chased out of Spindler’s house, and that the hood is also covered in sap. Jeri gets Dr. Sloan to give her the opportunity to look through Spindler’s house for some of her personal effects. Meanwhile, Amanda discovers that the sap on Debbie’s truck came from Spindler’s house, and that Debbie’s phone bill indicates that she called him. Debbie denies having called Spindler and claims the truck belongs to her husband, Jack. Inside the truck, Matlock finds an envelope marked with Spindler’s name and swipes it. He is watched by the unknown man. While looking through Spindler’s house, Jeri, Dr. Sloan, and Steve find a photograph of the unknown man in Spindler’s safe. Matlock tells Amanda he found newspaper clippings about Paula’s death and a video tape in the envelope. He gets a message from Dr. Sloan asking him to meet him by the hotel pool. However, it is actually an ambush and a masked man tackles Matlock into the pool. Debbie sees this and rescues Matlock. Security arrives and unmasks the man, whom she recognizes as her husband Jack. Continued in B:54711. Commercials deleted.

Details

  • NETWORK: CBS
  • DATE: January 30, 1997 8:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:46:13
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: B:54710
  • GENRE: Drama, medical; Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/private detective
  • SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical; Drama, mystery; Drama, police/private detective
  • 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
  • Joel Steiger … Executive Producer, Writer
  • Gerald Sanoff … Executive Producer, Writer
  • Steve Hattman … Co-Executive Producer
  • Barry Steinberg … Producer
  • Robin Madden … Co-Producer
  • Lee Goldberg … Supervising Producer
  • William Rabkin … Supervising Producer
  • Christopher Habler … 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
  • Michael Tucci … Cast, Norman Briggs
  • Barry Van Dyke … Cast, Steve Sloan
  • Andy Griffith … Cast, Ben Matlock
  • Thom Barry … Cast, Captain Phil Bryant
  • Lee Chamberlin … Cast, Judge Gwen Mosford
  • Kevin Cooney … Cast, Edward Price
  • Susan Diol … Cast, Jeri Murdico
  • Mark Kiely … Cast, Dr. Eric Spindler
  • Jennifer Sommerfield … Cast, Debbie Gardner
  • Michael C. Mahon … Cast, Barry McCarthy
  • Murray Rubinstein … Cast, District Attorney
  • Greg Benson … Cast, Messenger
  • Jann Carl … Cast, Reporter
  • Jim Jansen … Cast, Judge Douglas Karp
  • Rob Steinberg … Cast, Hal Carter
  • Gregory White … Cast, Charlie
  • Norm Compton … Cast, Ross
  • Carlo Felix … Cast, Uniformed Officer #1
  • Susie Schelling … Cast, Nurse
  • Spike Silver … Cast, Jack Gardner