TV and Movies

[Oznell]

1:00 p.m. Eastern--  Diagnosis Murder "Miracle Cure"  D i c k Van D y k e,  Scott Baio, Victoria Rowell, Barry Van D y k e, Michael Tucci, Charlie Schlatter, Delores Hall

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries is starting up from Day One on "Diagnosis Murder" today at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.  Then check your guide tomorrow-- here they've run Diagnosis Murder episodes on weekdays from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.--  but since they are starting up again, they might have a different morning schedule.

LOVE D i c k and Barry Van D y k e's relationship, love spirited and elegant Victoria Rowell, and cheeky Scott Baio.  In the first episodes, they're in Denver, then without explanation the show shifts to L.A. and "Dr. Mark Sloan" (D i c k) is ensconced in his deeply enviable Malibu beach house!

Other major changes that happen include the later installation of Charlie Schlatter, and losing adorable Scott Baio.  I like them both, but enjoyed the spunky street cred that Baio brought to his brash young doctor role.

I always say the writing is uneven on this-- some episodes are so poignant and wonderful, and a few verge on cartoonish.  But with this terrific cast, which meshes so well with each other, it's mostly a big win! 

We'll probably start recording them again, to catch the ones we missed....

[catter70]

Thanks, @Oznell . I generallly watch everday, but didn't realize it was starting from the beginning.One of my favorite shows.

[ROMARY]

Excellent!!!!

[twinsister]

@Oznell  - thanks for this alert!  Loved that show and that Malibu beach house!  It will be nice to see the beginning episodes again.   Scott Baio grew up a few blocks from me and we have a mutual friend.  From what I hear he was quite the Brooklyn street kid in his youth (I don't mean that in a bad way) and I think that shows up in how he played his role in ths show.

[Oznell]

Wow, that's neat, @twinsister -- you New Yorkers are so lucky!  I've always liked him.  He brings an electric charge!

[ROMARY]

Love Scott Baio!   

Wondering how and what he's doing now.

Hopefully all are well.

[stevieb]

I always thought this was a pleasant and somewhat entertaining show and while I did appreciate the more ensemble approach of the early seasons, I never cared for Baio in anything he did...  As I recall, this show had a pretty good run and like so many other shows of that era made heavy use of guest stars... I seem to think they gradually moved away from a larger ensemble to more of a focus on a smaller group and, if I recall correctly, toward the show's end became little more than a Van D. family affair that often included several of Barry's children... Mr. Van D's family was attractive but the acting wasn't always the best...

[Oznell]

I think that's a pretty shrewd and accurate summing up of, especially the latter part of the series, clever @stevieb .  I think they were running out of ideas.  I've bemoaned the unevenness of the scripts-- some quite affecting, and even intricate, mysteries, and others just kind of a mess!

Of course, it's DVD who holds it together for me.  What a standout he is in American entertainment-- there's no one else quite like him, effortlessly funny, but with depth and the ability to evoke pathos...  There's one episode you might have seen, where he and a luminously frail, aging, ailing Sylvia Sidney dance together in the hospital-- quite magical.

He almost reminds me of one of the old-time English music hall performers in his versatility, and in that unusual sort of engaging, "comic-harlequin" sort of quality he has (hey, maybe that's why he was such a perfect "Bert",  the chimney sweep in "Mary Poppins"....)   Or he's a bit like his hero, wonderful Stan Laurel...   And, by virtue of the warmth he's able to project, he must have more "audience goodwill" than almost any other performer...

Interesting that he fills his casts with relatives, and always has.... brother, daughter, son, grandchildren, et al.  And those episodes tend to be the least interesting, at least to me!   But Barry, at least, sort of grew into his role, as his son the policeman.  Over time, Barry was able to make that kind of sturdy, 'stolid' aspect of his personality somehow "work" in his good-guy policeman guise.  I love the scenes between DVD and BVD in which the father and son relationship is so palpable, and you almost can't tell if they're acting, or actually being Dad and offspring...