Diagnosis: Murder is an American mystery medical crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son Steve, a homicide detective played by Van Dyke's real-life son Barry. The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman (Sloan made his first appearance in the 1991 episode "It Never Entered My Mind"), became a series of three television films, and then a weekly television series that premiered on CBS on October 29, 1993. Joyce Burditt, who created the show, wrote the Jake and the Fatman episode.
The series struggled at first and was almost canceled at the end of the second season, but it returned as a mid-season replacement in the third season and was regularly renewed thereafter. During the show's eight seasons, 178 episodes were produced and aired on the CBS network in the United States, and two more TV movies aired after the series' final episode aired on May 11, 2001. The show is currently distributed by CBS Television Distribution.
In the Jake and the Fatman episode, Dr. Mark Sloan was a widower with no sons. Dr. Amanda Bentley is played by Cynthia Gibb in the TV movies, and by Victoria Rowell in the TV series. Stephen Caffrey played Dr. Jack Parker in the movies, a role that went to Scott Baio as Dr. Jack Stewart in the weekly series (first two seasons).
The first two TV movies were shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, and the third was shot in Denver, Colorado. The first eight episodes of the series were also shot (and set) in Denver, before quickly (and without explanation) shifting to Los Angeles for the remainder of the show's run. Since 1997, reruns of the show have been shown in syndication and on Freeform (formerly ABC Family and originally CBN Satellite Service), Ion Television (formerly PAX-TV), Hallmark Channel, 10 Bold, CBS Action and MeTV. In the UK, it is currently being shown on Great! TV.
Plot The plot centered around Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick Van Dyke), a former United States Army doctor who served in a MASH unit. After his service ended, Dr. Sloan became a renowned physician and began consulting with the local police, and found himself unable to resist a good mystery or a friend in need. Cases often involved his son, Detective Steve Sloan (Barry Van Dyke), and Norman Briggs (Michael Tucci in seasons 1–4), a hospital administrator and a close friend of his. Also assisting Dr. Sloan are his colleagues, medical examiner/pathology Dr. Amanda Bentley (Victoria Rowell) and Dr. Jack Stewart (Scott Baio in the first two seasons), who is later replaced by a new resident, Dr. Jesse Travis (Charlie Schlatter from season 3 onward).
Episodes
Diagnosis: Murder had a total of eight seasons and 178 episodes which were broadcast on CBS between 1993 and 2001.
Cast
Main Character Played by Occupation Seasons Movies (1992–93) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Movies (2002) Mark Sloan Dick Van Dyke Doctor colspan="10" Amanda Bentley Cynthia Gibb Doctor colspan="1" colspan="9" Victoria Rowell colspan="1" colspan="9" Jack Parker Stephen Caffrey Doctor colspan="1" colspan="9" Steve Sloan Barry Van Dyke Police detective/lieutenant colspan="10" Jack Stewart Scott Baio Doctor colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan="7" Norman Briggs Michael Tucci Administrator colspan="1" colspan="4" colspan="5" Delores Mitchell Delores Hall Secretary colspan="1" colspan="2" colspan="7" Jesse Travis Charlie Schlatter Doctor colspan="3" colspan="7"
Dr. Mark Sloan (played by Dick Van Dyke), Former army doctor and Chief of Internal Medicine at Community General Hospital, and protagonist of the series. Son of a police officer and father of another, in whose cases he often gets involved. He is a medical consultant to the LAPD. Dick Van Dyke was considered for the lead role after the positive reviews he received from his dramatic role in the 1990 movie Dick Tracy (although the character he played in the movie was villain and very different from the role of Mark Sloan). In the pilot, the character had interests in tap dance and clarinet playing; however, these were considered distracting and were toned down and eventually removed from the character as the series developed. Lieutenant Detective Steve Sloan (played by Barry Van Dyke), a detective sergeant (later lieutenant from season 2 onward) in the Robbery/Homicide Division of the LAPD and Dr. Mark Sloan's son. After an earthquake destroyed his apartment, he lived in a separate apartment in his father's beach house in Malibu, California. Steve often uses his "patented" dive to apprehend criminals. Dr. Amanda Bentley (played by Cynthia Gibb in the TV movies set before the series), later Bentley-Livingston (played there by Victoria Rowell), resident Pathology at Community General Hospital and assistant County Medical Examiner, who is also Dr. Mark Sloan's double act and medical partner, involving in each of Mark's & Steve's cases, after the accident. As a favorable character of the show, she also dated Jack and was later Jesse's best friend. During the series, she married a military man named Colin Livingston, and they had one son named C.J. She named her only biological child Colin Jesse Livingston after his father and Dr. Jesse Travis, who delivered the baby alone in the back of his beloved VW convertible, with Mark assisting over cell phone. Her husband was overseas at the time and unfortunately unreachable. Depending on the episode, she later divorced her husband or he was killed in an airplane crash. Later in the series, she adopted another boy, Deon. Dr. Jack Stewart (played by Scott Baio in the series from 1993 to 1995, seasons 1–2), a doctor at Community General Hospital and Steve's best friend, who he often helped in his cases. He left to open his own family medicine in Colorado. Jack Stewart does reappear in a couple of Lee Goldberg's Diagnosis Murder books, The Silent Partner and The Last Word. In the first three TV Movies, a similar character named Jack Parker, played by Stephen Caffrey, filled Stewart's position. Dr. Jesse Travis (played by Charlie Schlatter, 1995–2001, seasons 3–8), a residency and handsome student at Community General Hospital who Mark took under his wing and who became best friends with Amanda. He later went into business with Steve as partners in a barbecue restaurant. Another favorable/list of breakout characters of the series, he often got involved in Mark and Steve's cases, with good intentions but not always good results. In the crossover double episode "Murder Two", he himself became the prime suspect of a rival doctor's killing, hence he badgered Mark to call his old friend Ben Matlock (played by Dick's real-life best friend Andy Griffith) for help. The hospital staff thought he wrote the tell-all book "Big City Hospital" as Dr. Anonymous but later found out it was written by someone else. Jason Tucker was a character in the book who sounded exactly like Jesse, which is why the hospital staff thought it was him. Norman Briggs (played by Michael Tucci, 1993–1997, seasons 1–4), business administration at Community General Hospital and a close friend of Dr. Mark Sloan, even though he is often exasperated by him. Delores Mitchell (played by Delores Hall, 1993–1995, seasons 1–2), Dr. Sloan's lively secretary.
Notable guest stars One unique aspect of the series was that it frequently appropriated characters from various classic television series, or featured veteran actors playing characters inspired by or similar to their classic roles. Rob Petrie (played by Van Dyke himself in The Dick Van Dyke Show) features in a cameo in the episode "Obsession, Part 2" where Dr. Sloan is in a radio station, and walks past a studio where (through use of CGI), Rob is trying his hand at radio Disc jockey. The footage of Rob as a DJ is taken from the Dick Van Dyke Show episode "One Hundred Terrible Hours". This scene moves Diagnosis: Murder into the realm of fantasy as Petrie is shown in black and white (with Sloan visible in a color insert behind him), after which Sloan breaks the fourth wall and looks at the audience before the story continues. Mike Connors reprised his titular character of Mannix in the season 4 episode "Hard-Boiled Murder." The episode's story was a sequel to the Mannix episode "Little Girl Lost." Andy Griffith reprised his titular role of Ben Matlock from Dean Hargrove's Matlock series in Season 4 two-parter "Murder Two" (1997). In a sense, this brought Diagnosis: Murder full circle, as its parent series, Jake and the Fatman, was inspired by a Season 1 episode of Matlock in 1986. Barbara Bain reprised her role of Cinnamon Carter of Mission: Impossible in season 5 episode "Discards." Peter Graves, who starred alongside Barbara Bain on Mission: Impossible as Jim Phelps did not return as his character, but did make a very brief cameo in "Must Kill TV" and the same scene is seen in part 1 of the Series 6 episode Trash TV Part 1 as "Dr. Sloane" [sic] in a Mission: Impossible-style illusion of his first TV pilot of "Doctor Danger," later replaced during the show. Robert Culp also guest starred in the episode "Discards" as Dane Travis, a retired espionage, tennis professional, and Dr. Travis' father. The character was similar to his Kelly Robinson character from I Spy, though Travis was said to have worked with the Impossible Missions Force (also seen on Mission: Impossible). "Discards" also featured appearances by former TV spies Patrick Macnee (The Avengers), Robert Vaughn (The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) and Phil Morris (the 1988 version of Mission: Impossible), though they did not play their original characters. Jack Klugman also guest starred in season 4 episode "Physician, Murder Thyself," as a character very similar to his famous role on Quincy, M.E.. He guest-starred again, in season 6 episode "Voices Carry" as police detective Harry Trumble, the former fiance of Dr. Mark Sloan's late wife. Trumble reappeared in Lee Goldberg's Diagnosis Murder novel "The Past Tense." George Takei, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett, Wil Wheaton, and Grace Lee Whitney (all from Star Trek or Star Trek: The Next Generation), as well as Bill Mumy (from Lost in Space), were guest stars in "Alienated!" one sixth season episode, which involved an apparent extraterrestrial life alien abduction and coverup. The episode "Drill for Death" included appearances by several actors associated with the M*A*S*H franchise: Elliott Gould and Sally Kellerman from the original movie; Jamie Farr, Loretta Swit and William Christopher from the television series; and Christopher Norris from the sequel series Trapper John, M.D.. Randolph Mantooth and Robert Fuller, who worked together on NBC's Emergency! appeared together in a 1997 episode about the Malibu, California brushfires. The episode "Must Kill TV" features a number of small cameos by television personalities such as Erik Estrada and Dr. Joyce Brothers playing themselves and a larger one from Stephen J. Cannell as an over-the-top producer of action TV. The role is reprised in the two-parter "Trash TV." The episode "Food Fight" (1998) features Erin Moran, Pat Morita, Don Most, David Lander, Leslie Easterbrook and Conrad Janis. All of these actors starred alongside Scott Baio in Happy Days or its spin-offs, Laverne & Shirley, Joanie Loves Chachi and Mork & Mindy. The episode "Promises to Keep" (1998) features characters introduced in the Promised Land (a spin-off of Touched by an Angel) episode "Total Security" (1998) crossover into the show. A somewhat special case is the appearance of Jennifer Ringley (the internet's first web-based lifecaster with her pioneering JenniCam website from 1996 to 2003) in the 1998's episode "Rear Windows '98", where she played a fictionalized version of herself (with a website called "Joannecam") who is killed in the first minute. Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford skewered their image as friendly daytime TV talk show hosts on the 1998 episode, "Talked to Death."