DIAGNOSIS MURDER: THE BLAIR NURSE PROJECT {SERIES FINALE} (TV)

Summary

The finale of this series of mystery programs about Dr. Mark Sloan, a physician at Community General Hospital who enjoys solving murder cases with the help of his son, Steve, a homicide detective.

An old rumor about the ghost of a nurse wandering the halls of Community General Hospital leads to several interviews with the staff, which aspiring filmmaker Craig Wilson hopes to utilize as part of his latest horror film project. He and his friend Alex investigate the section of the hospital wherein the ghost supposedly dwells; the entire area has been off-limits for some time after suffering from earthquake damage. They accidentally lock themselves into a dark room and start calling for help. Harry the janitor lets them out and Alex immediately runs off. Later Craig and his crew set up filming equipment in the off-limits section without attracting the notice of the hospital staff. His crew complains constantly about their less-than-ideal working conditions but Craig attempts to placate them. One of his crew, Scott, uses a strange electronic device to scan for paranormal activity in their surroundings. Craig sets up his shots, instructing his actors that he is aiming for a “documentary feel” to the film, and they perform a scene narrating about the legend of the ghost, Nurse Blair Lawson.

Alex informs Dr. Sloan about Craig’s presence in the basement and he allows them to remain for the time being. Craig’s film crew uses a substance to turn up traces of blood, falsifying a sign of paranormal activity. However, Scott soon picks up a genuine paranormal reading on his device and they discover signs of a splatter of blood. Craig is soon called into Dr. Sloan’s office; he admits to planting the first sign but claims that the second one was real. He convinces Dr. Sloan to run tests on the blood sample they obtained in exchange for temporarily suspending their filming until the following day. In the meantime, Craig does more research on Blair Lawson by visiting the house where she used to live, speaking with its current resident. She is convinced that Blair’s disappearance was the result of foul play and gives him a box of Blair’s possessions she hung on to.

Craig and his crew continue their filming and experience odd phenomena which the actors attribute to special effects devised by Craig, although he had nothing to do with it. Missy, one of the actors, is knocked unconscious by a sudden electrical surge. Missy’s injuries are tended to in the hospital and most of Craig’s crew tries to convince him not to continue filming, but Craig is becoming increasingly intrigued by his findings and wishes to continue. Dr. Matthews grows suspicious of Craig’s crew and believes they have overstayed their welcome. He speaks to Dr. Sloan about it and he agrees to speak to Craig. Dr. Sloan goes down to the basement and speaks to Scott, who explains the functions of his paranormal detector and talks about his degree in parapsychology and desire to legitimize his field via Craig’s film. Scott leaves temporarily and Dr. Sloan futzes around with Scott’s device until he discovers more paranormal readings. Dr. Sloan is frightened off by the sound of approaching footsteps, failing to realize that it is Harry, the janitor.

Dr. Sloan and Amanda are invited to a meeting with Craig and his crew in order to contact the ghost of Blair by means of a séance orchestrated by Marie, a medium. Marie holds the séance and a number of disturbances occur, such as flickering lights and objects being knocked over. Marie is seemingly possessed by Blair and implies that she was murdered by someone sneaking up behind her, but soon grows too agitated to answer further questions, and the séance ends with a violent paranormal disturbance. Craig inspects an old film reel found in Blair’s box and attempts to communicate with her spirit. Suddenly the room becomes ice-cold and Craig is knocked out from behind. Later he tries to bring this event to Steve’s attention, but he and Dr. Sloan remain skeptical as to the presence of a genuine ghost. Craig intends to prove that he is right, but the rest of his crew are growing concerned about their safety and don’t want to return to the hospital.

Craig returns to the basement and is confronted by Harry, who warns him not to remain or else he might get hurt. Scott is down there too checking his equipment, and the two of them get into an argument. Craig is soon called into Dr. Sloan’s office, where he informs Craig that the hospital has discovered his secret: his actual birth mother is Blair Lawson, and he was adopted after her mysterious death. He believes that she was murdered in the hospital and that her body might still be somewhere on the hospital grounds. At first Dr. Sloan dismisses this claim as ridiculous but then realizes that the medical skeleton in his office could belong to Blair, as it possesses a skull fracture and has been in his office since Blair’s death. He brings the skeleton into the police station and asks Steve to verify its identity with a DNA test. He reveals that the basement is where the hospital used to carry out the process of stripping flesh from bodies in order to use their skeletons for medical students.

Dr. Matthews is called down to the basement by Craig, who accuses him of being Blair’s murderer and the one who attacked him the previous night. He determined his identity via the video camera he was using at the time; it picked up the sound of Dr. Matthews chewing nicotine gum as he snuck up behind Craig. Craig turns out to be correct and Dr. Matthews threatens him with a gun. He captures Craig and explains that Blair rejected his advances and he killed her, then used his position at the hospital to covertly reduce her to a skeleton. He knocks out Craig, drags him into a closet, and then spreads gasoline all over the basement. He lights the whole place on fire and flees as Dr. Sloan uses Craig’s tape to figure out that Dr. Matthews is behind everything. He and Steve rush to seize Dr. Matthews and then move into the basement to rescue Craig. Steve and Alex pull Craig out of the burning room, saving his life. Miraculously, Craig and his tapes survive without damage from the fire, and he attributes this and his insight into the identity of the murderer to the séance, where he believes his mother gave him advice from beyond the grave. He also announces that he no longer intends to complete his film, as he feels that he and his crew are the only ones meant to see what they found. The video shows Dr. Matthews attempting to burn Craig to death, and what appears to be a ghostly apparition preventing the flames from reaching Craig. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: CBS
• DATE: May 11, 2001 8:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:44:49
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:81313
• GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
• SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1993-2001
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Fred Silverman … Executive Producer
• Dean Hargrove … Executive Producer
• Chris Abbott … Executive Producer
• Dick Van Dyke … Executive Producer
• Steve Brown … Supervising Producer
• Donald L. Gold … Producer
• Craig Yahata … Co-Producer
• Geoffrey Colo … Associate Producer
• Barry Van Dyke … Director, Writer
• Joyce Burditt … Created by
• Carey Van Dyke … Writer
• Lou Forestieri … Music by
• Dick de Benedictis … Theme Music by
• Dick Van Dyke … Cast, Dr. Mark Sloan
• Victoria Rowell … Cast, Amanda Bentley-Livingston
• Charlie Schlatter … Cast, Dr. Jesse Travis
• Barry Van Dyke … Cast, Steve Sloan
• Gloria Le Roy … Cast, Christine Wilson
• Eric Pierpoint … Cast, Dr. Dan Matthews
• Charles Tyner … Cast, Harry Clark
• Josh Roman … Cast, Scott
• Carey Van Dyke … Cast, Craig Wilson
• Shane Van Dyke … Cast, Alex Smith
• Taryn Van Dyke … Cast, Missy
• Wes Van Dyke … Cast, Wes
• Connie Danese … Cast, Marie
• Lynda Robinson … Cast, Young Female Intern