DIAGNOSIS MURDER: TALKED TO DEATH (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. This episode concerns the intrigues that take place behind the scenes of three major talk shows. During sweeps week, Larry Duggin, Lucy Caruso, and co-hosts Mary and Darren are vying for the top ratings in their genre. As the competition escalates, Mary and Darren conspire to pull a series of stunts on their show to capture the audience's attention. After one show, on which Mary knocks Darren out, he ends up at Community General, where Dr. Sloan treats him and learns about the co-hosts' media ploys. So when a murder occurs the next day on Darren and Mary's show, Dr. Sloan and Steve take an immediate interest in the case. Although Darren initially appears to be the murderer, the team from Community General suspects that foul play is afoot among the other talk-show hosts. During his investigation, Dr. Sloan finds some incriminating files in Mary's computer that give Larry, Lucy, and talk-show producer, Tom, motives for the murder. When a second murder takes place, the pieces begin to fall into place, and Dr. Sloan sets a trap to catch the real killer. Commercials deleted. This program is closed-captioned.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: February 26, 1998 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:46:13
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T:54603
• GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/private detective; Drama, medical
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, medical; Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, police/private detective
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1993-2001
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Fred Silverman … Executive Producer
• Dean Hargrove … Executive Producer
• Lee Goldberg … Executive Producer
• William Rabkin … Executive Producer
• Dick Van Dyke … Executive Producer
• Gerry Conway … Co-Executive Producer
• Steve Hattman … Co-Executive Producer
• 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, Writer
• Nyby, Christian I., II … 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
• Regis Philbin … Cast, Darren Tate
• Kathie Lee Gifford … Cast, Mary Montgomery
• Todd Susman … Cast, Tom Grant
• Ian Ogilvy … Cast, Larry Duggin
• Mary Frann … Cast, Lucy Caruso
• Phyllis Diller … Cast, herself
• Army Archer … Cast, himself
• Greg Lauren … Cast, Freddie Meyers
• Louisa Abernathy … Cast, the Female Audience Member
• Venessa Blair … Cast, Bernice
• Susan Isaacs … Cast, Deborah