DIAGNOSIS MURDER: THE ROAST {SEVENTH SEASON PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
The seventh season premiere in 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.
In this episode, Mark prepares to be "honored" at a comedic roast, while elsewhere nightclub owner Lou Summers tunes out his furious wife Liz – and doesn't notice when a bullet from an unseen figure's gun narrowly misses him. At the venue, Lenny Rosen and Lorraine Kay reunite backstage, and Jesse is excited to meet several of his favorite comedians as Amanda arrives with up-and-coming actor Jay Wilde. Jay admits that his career was seriously damaged by a movie, "Cop and Saucer," co-starring the scene-stealing Andy Baxter. Lenny and Ray Masters complain about their hatred of joke-stealer Lou, though Pat Zito begs Lou to book him onstage. As the comics take the stage and begin humorously insulting Mark, Andy barges in and causes a scene by heckling Lou and all the other "losers" present. During a momentary blackout, someone fatally stabs Andy.
Finding no fingerprints on the knife, Mark tries to determine which of the spiteful comedians committed the murder. Lorraine, who falsely claims to have a midnight gig, flirts with Lenny and then sneaks off to make a suspicious phone call. Jesse is then found backstage, having been knocked out with Mark's award – and Lou lies dead nearby. Mark speculates that Andy's death was accidental and Lou was the killer's target all along; as he attempts to comfort a distraught Liz, reporter Maren Briggs tells Steve that Lou was supposed to give her "something" for her new article after the event. Lenny tells Steve that Lorraine is likely the culprit, as she had a secret affair with Andy in the past and believed that Lou saw her kill him, though Steve in turn suspects Lenny, as Lou once sued him over a sitcom character. Mark determines that the killer is left-handed, and he soon finds a torn photograph featuring Lou and Liz's granddaughter Molly.
As the comedians continue arguing amongst themselves, Mark declares that he will reveal the murderer by process of elimination. Though he successfully narrows the pool down to Lenny and Lorraine, he appears to be lacking the final piece of evidence. Jesse, however, then reveals that a gossip website has recently dropped hints about a comic with a taste for underage girls – including Molly – and reveals that Lou intended to give Maren the photo for her exposé on said criminal. Mark then examines a photo of the comedians' softball team and announces that Lenny is actually ambidextrous, meaning that he is the left-handed killer. Lorraine is outraged to discover that she turned down a night with famous TV host David Letterman in order to sneak off with a murderer; Liz thanks Mark for solving the case. With everyone else gone, Mark amuses himself by viewing a taped message from actor Ted Danson. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: September 23, 1999 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:44:38
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:81341
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense; Drama, medical
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1993-2001
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Dean Hargrove … Executive Producer
- Fred Silverman … Executive Producer
- Dick Van Dyke … Executive Producer
- Chris Abbott … Executive Producer
- Steve Brown … Supervising Producer
- Donald L. Gold … Producer
- Craig Yahata … Associate Producer
- Christopher Hibler … Director
- Mark Solomon … Writer
- Joyce Burditt … Created by
- Lou Forestieri … Music by
- Dick DeBenedictis … 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
- Steve Allen … Cast, Ray Masters
- Ruth Buzzi … Cast, Liz Summers
- Tim Conway … Cast, Tim Conrad
- Norm Crosby … Cast, Pat Zito
- Julia Duffy … Cast, Lorraine Kay
- David Leisure … Cast, Lenny Rosen
- Dick Martin … Cast, Lou Summers
- Jayne Meadows … Cast, Connie Masters
- Tom Poston … Cast, Tom Porter
- Kivi Rogers … Cast, Jay Wilde
- Ted Danson … Cast, Himself
- Chris Tallman … Cast, Andy Baxter
- Caroline Williams … Cast, Maren Briggs
- David Shofner … Cast, Tony the Valet
- Jeff Campbell … Cast, Cop
- Howard Stevens … Cast, Bartender