Episode 17 - "Simon Says, Color Me Dead"
What a terrible episode title! Reductive in the worst way, and not even really amusing. As it implies, we have an artist named Simon who is, indeed, found murdered in his studio. The artist, Simon Thane (which, for once, sounds believable) is a personal friend of Jessica going back many years, and she attends a dinner party in his honor on the very night of the murder - imagine that!
Well, there is a side plot of a poor mother and her son (Sheriff Amos really takes a shine to the son), that quickly becomes the main plot when the mother becomes the main suspect in the murder. Was it her? The art agent? The wife? Another person in orbit? Jessica, you better believe it, is on the case.
Dick Sargent is here! The TV veteran is known of course for the role of Darrin Stephens on Bewitched (84 episodes), as well as shows like Broadside (32 episodes), Down to Earth (93 episodes). The dead artist is played by character actor Foster Brooks (many roles). The poor mother is played by Tess Harper (Mrs. Pinkman on Breaking Bad, Wendy on Crash, the show Christy (19 episodes).
Episode 18 - "No Laughing Matter"
I liked this one despite all the odds. It's a weird premise - two aging comics whose best years together are deep in the past (think Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin), and in fact now hate each other's guts. But, all these years later, their children have fallen in love and plan to marry, Romeo and Juliet style. They all gather to "celebrate" at a resort in the Catskills (which is decidedly un-resort-ish), when one of the comics is stabbed in the back ... and then their old talent agent is founded hanged in the pantry!
Jessica is attending, in the capacity of "vague old friend" as she so often does, and immediately senses problems both with the supposed suicide and also the stabbing. She begins to dig around, as tempers rise and good temperaments begin to fray, and the comics become distinctly unfunny. Not to mention the local "chief" of police is about fifteen years old and probably doesn't even shave yet. It's a mess.
The comic partners are played by the great Buddy Hackett (a nightclub legend, known for movies like The Music Man, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Love Bug, and Scrooged) and Steve Lawrence (famous nightclub singer, appeared in The Blues Brothers and more). Their accountant is played by George Furth (many roles over the years, including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Blazing Saddles, Shampoo, and more).
And in a special note, the cook at the resort is played by Alice Nunn, who scared the living hell out of me as a kid as the truck driver Large Marge in the movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. It was really trippy to see her here in such an innocuous role.
Episode 19 - "No Accounting for Murder"
This show does particularly well when it takes place in New York, partly because New York was just so full of character (dirty, grimy, seedy character) in the 1980s. In this one, Jessica's hapless nephew Grady is now a junior CPA at a fairly busy firm, where - like all junior employees everywhere - he gets dumped on endlessly and then takes the fall when the house of fraudulent cards comes tumbling down.
But, of course, this isn't Accounting, She Wrote, and a murder is pretty much required. A senior accountant at the firm is found dead in his office and Grady is the prime suspect. AND the old building the firm is in is supposed to be haunted! Jessica starts digging around and discovers old passages between the walls due to shoddy remodeling over the years - and an interesting grizzled old man who lives there. When Grady is accused of both tax fraud and murder, Jessica gets really aggressive really quickly, and partners up with the super-Irish NYPD detective to solve the case. It's a colorful, quirky episode across the board.
Dorothy Lamour is here! Playing client Mrs. Ellis, she is renowned for many roles starting in the '30s, and great movies like The Road To... series with Hope and Crosby, The Greatest Show on Earth, Donovan's Reef, and more. The IRS agent after Grady is veteran Geoffrey Lewis, known for movies like High Plains Drifter, Dillinger, Macon County Line, The Wind and the Lion, Night of the Comet, Maverick, and shows like Flo (29 episodes), Falcon Crest (9 episodes), Land's End (22 episodes), and more. This is his first of four roles on Murder, She Wrote.
The most Irish of cops ever is played by Barney Martin, comic of many years experience, and known for The Tony Randall Show (38 episodes), Sydney (13 episodes), and - of course - the great role of Morty Seinfeld across 20 episodes of Seinfeld. His character will return on a future Murder, She Wrote. The widow here is played by actress Kate Vernon, known for Falcon Crest (25 episodes), Nash Bridges (7 episodes), Battlestar Galactica (23 episodes), and movies like Malcolm X and Pretty in Pink. The old hobo in the wall is played by Paul Comi, whose career stretches back to the 1950s, and is known for many roles including Ripcord (14 episodes), Rawhide (6 episodes), The Virginian (8 episodes), and many many guest roles.
But perhaps most interesting here is Ron Masak, who will appear in 41 episodes of Murder, She Wrote, nearly all of them as running character Sheriff Mort Metzger ... but not here. This is actually the second time we've seen him as he played a police lieutenant in "Footnote to Murder," the great episode skewering the literary scene; here is another client of the accounting firm. It's like on M*A*S*H when Harry Morgan plays a crazy general in an episode before being cast as mainstay Colonel Potter - a little disconcerting.
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