TUESDAY TV

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Do you remember this series!?
What catches your spying-eye radar!?

“Diagnosis: Murder”, a medical comedy-mystery-crime drama, originally aired on CBS 10/29/1993 – 05/11/2001. It began as a spinoff of “Jake & The Fatman”, a series of 3 TV movies 1st, then becoming a weekly series. With ratings struggles in the 1st 2 regular seasons, CBS almost canceled it, but brought it back as a mid-season replacement in its 3rd season & regularly renewed it after that. While the 3 initial TV movies were filmed in Canada, the 1st few episodes of the series were located & shot in Denver CO before a quick shift to Los Angeles for the remainder of the shows run, including the 2 TV movies that aired after the series ended. The cast includes Dick Van Dyke (title role), Barry Van Dyke, Michael Tucci, Victoria Rowell (as “Dr. Amanda Bentley”, played by Cynthia Gibb in the 1st 3 TV movies), Scott Baio, Charlie Schlatter & Delores Hall. Cameos are made by Rob Petrie (yes, THAT Rob, played by Dick Van Dyke), Mike Connors, Andy Griffith (as “Ben Matlock” from “Matlock”, which had inspired “Jake & The Fatman”), Barbara Bain, Peter Graves, Robert Culp, Jack Klugman, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Majel Barrett, Will Wheaton, Grace Lee Whitney, Bill Murny, Jamie Farr, Loretta Swit, William Christopher Elliot Gould, Sally Kellerman, Christopher Norris, Randolph Mantooth, Robert Fuller, Erik Estrada, Dr Joyce Brothers, Stephen J Cannell, Erin Moran, Pat Morita, Don Most, David Lander, Leslie Easterbrook, Conrad Janis, among many others. The guest stars list is quite extensive, too. The Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills CA served as the exterior of the show’s Community General Hospital; that same hotel appeared as a casino in the pilot of “CSI”. Every season featured at least 1 “nested pilot”, though none of them transitioned into a regular series.