Murder, She Wrote Season 3, Episode 9
"Obituary for a Dead Anchor"
Original Airdate: Dec. 7, 1986
Writer: Robert Van Scoyk; Story by Bob Shayne
Director: Walter Grauman
Cast: Angela Lansbury, Tom Bosley, Richard Paul, Abby Dalton, Chad Everett, Robert Hogan, Robert Lipton, Kathleen Lloyd, Robert Pine, Rex Robbins, Mark Stevens, Erik Stern, Frank Annese, Patti Karr, Paul Ryan
Kevin Keats (Everett) is a journalist with a flare for the dramatic. The star of Scrutiny, a television news magazine in the vein of 60 Minutes, he specializes in hard-hitting, often dangerous exposés. Lately, he’s got a real mad-on for Ronald Ross (Annese), an art dealer with ties to South American drug cartels. So it comes as a surprise when producer Doug Helman (Pine) reassigns Keats to a cozy spotlight on Cabot Cove originally pitched by fellow reporter Paula Roman (Lloyd). Remember: despite our perception of Cabot Cove as the murder capital of New England, its in-universe reputation is much sleepier.
This is the first of four guest spots for Chad Everett, and we see just a hint of his creepy little rattail; at this stage it’s just a bit of party-in-the-back. When he turns up again in later seasons, it’s the sleaziest padawan braid this side of a Crüe reunion tour. Everett’s a bit of a character himself, notoriously listing his wife among his pets on an episode of The Dick Cavett Show in 1972. Lily Tomlin walked off in protest.
Dateline: Cabot Cove
Now, when Paula first approached Jessica about the interview, Jessica was hesitant. We all remember how her very first press tour went in the pilot. Paula assured her the coverage would be tasteful and Jessica agreed to take it to the town council. This is our introduction to Richard Paul as bumbling Mayor Sam Booth, who I have to imagine was inspired by Larry Vaughan in Jaws and Jaws II. Locals like Sam and Amos are delighted for the spotlight. Though Seth is absent from this episode, we’re informed he was the lone vote in opposition to hosting Scrutiny and took his loss as an excuse to visit his sister for the week. That leaves his friend Dr. Wylie Graham (Hogan) to play sawbones for his second and final appearance in the role. They were clearly looking to pass the torch from Seth to Wylie, but clearer heads prevailed. Not that I dislike Wylie; he’s a charming foil for Jessica, but I cherish her chemistry with Seth like birdsong and honeysuckle.
Jessica and Keats don’t get off on the best foot, the bulldog reporter and his crew descending on her front garden unannounced. They agree to relocate for a walk-and-talk along the town’s main drag with a camera setup that boggles the mind. Keats’s line of questioning, framing Jessica as a world-class author in a rube-infested backwater, rankles our gal and she demands he afford the Cove some respect. To his credit, he gives her an opportunity to reflect on her life with Frank and how she’ll always be grateful for this place she calls home. Unfortunately, Amos scrambles into the shot (understandably blind to the camera crew shooting the conversation from a van like they’re surveilling an undercover sting). He just witnessed a bald man exit a helicopter and hop into a waiting limousine and his gut told him to inform Jessica. Keats is keen to hear more. The sheriff’s description of the bald man matches a man named Foster (Stern), a heavy employed by art dealer/drug cartel associate Ross.
Keats asks Amos to hire a boat for him to take out alone the next morning, which Amos ends up paying for out of his own pocket. As Amos watches, Keats takes off in the small fishing boat, which explodes in the middle of the harbor.
A visibly shaken Paula reports live from the scene as divers pull a body from the wreckage. Now everyone from Scrutiny is camped out in town for special coverage of their colleague’s death. Jessica puts two and two together and lets Paula know her swift arrival doesn’t track; she’s been here since sometime last night. Paula concedes that she’s been romantically involved with Keats, but they’ve been keeping it quiet because his divorce isn’t yet finalized. His wife, Judith (Dalton), meets with Jessica in a local bar a few times over the next few days, but it’s pretty clear she relishes the idea of taking Keats to court far too much to kill him, even if it meant inheriting everything.
Jessica is charmed to meet Nick Brody, an old school reporter and the most senior of the Scrutiny anchors. Shades of Walter Cronkite. Brody is played by screen veteran Mark Stevens, a former contract player for 20th Century Fox and Universal. Lots of great noir roles. You probably see where this is going.
Of course, Scrutiny isn’t the only outfit interested in the curious case of the exploding news anchor. National media descends on the cove, bumping up against the likes of Clara Polsby (Karr), who covers the society section for the local Gazette. Why Ms. Polsby doesn’t go on to be a recurring thorn in Jessica’s side, I’ll never understand. The society section for the Cove! The coverage isn’t too kind to ol’ Sam, I’ll tell you.
Meanwhile, (a very much alive) Kevin Keats watches the media circus from the safety of a motel room, nervously snacking on no-brand potato chips.
The Eight-Toed Man
Keats turns himself in to Amos around about the time Doc Wylie discovers the body from the explosion only has eight toes. The missing piggies aren’t floating on the harbor either; they’d been surgically removed some time ago. I’ll also mention that Wylie is waltzing around Seth’s home office like he owns the place.
Keats explains that it’s their producer Doug Helman they found in the drink; they’d conspired to fake Keats departure so he could talk to an informant. The explosion was never part of the already bizarre plan, nor was this an attempt to fake his own death. Amos has no choice but to take Keats into custody, and this time I can’t really blame him.
Production continues on the next installment of Scrutiny, but Jessica puts a damper on senior anchor Nick Brody’s excitement. Like so many other killers before him, he slipped up in referencing information he couldn’t have had, tipping Jessica off to his intimate knowledge of Keats and Helman’s conspiracy. Just after Helman informed him he was being set out to pasture in favor of younger, sexier correspondents, Brody overheard a call between the producer and Keats and somehow made sense of their plan with the boat. He drove all night to Maine to plant the explosives, fully intending to kill Helman and frame it as an attempt on Keats’s life. He asks Jessica if she’ll allow him to finish typing his report while she calls for Amos.
In a definite rarity, Jessica actually turns her back to pick up the receiver and we don’t see her face in the closing freeze frame.
Next week, a modern take on a Washington Irving classic!
