SUMMARY: APPROX. RUNNING TIME: 47:00 Min.
First airing on CBS on November 23, 1995, this final season episode was directed by Angela Lansbury’s son, Anthony Pullen Shaw, off series producer/writer Tom Sawyer’s script.
In New York City, on behalf of a museum, Jessica Fletcher (Lansbury) is eagerly in pursuit of a genuine Arthur Conan Doyle manuscript. Meanwhile, ominous deaths are linked to an elusive, multi-million-dollar Edgar Degas painting that may have resurfaced at the same auction house where the now-disputed Doyle manuscript is up for bidding.
Shady international bidders, include one stateside team that sends perpetually luckless Chicago private detective Charlie Garrett (Rogers) as their representative, quickly become interested in eccentric artist Angus Neville’s (Hutchinson) latest painting at the auction. With art world mobsters now involved, could this development be a coincidence or not?
After Garrett bungles his assignment and overbids by $300,000, it’s a murky question of now who really owns the interpretative Neville work. Once Neville himself steals the painting, his subsequent homicide has Jessica, her trusted friends Reggie and Pete (Jones & Williams), and the NYPD’s irritable Sgt. Unger (Allen) in search of his missing artwork and an opportunistic killer.
With the lost Degas also still at stake, could Jessica’s opportunistic ally, Garrett, turn into the greedy culprit?
Jessica Fletcher: Angela Lansbury
Reggie Evers: Renée Jones
Pete Dunning: Jeff Williams
Giles Havelock: Martin Jarvis
Charlie Garrett: Wayne Rogers
Milt Solomon: Paul Lieber
Diana Barrow: Melanie Smith
NYPD Sgt. Unger: Tyrees Allen
Lawrence Mezznou: Aharon Ipalé
Angus Neville: Doug Hutchinson
Felix Wesker: Craig Richard Nelson
Serena Rundle: Kathleen Garrett
Kenneth Rundle: Edd “Cookie” Byrnes (uncredited cameo)
NYPD Det. McKenna: Charles Hoyes
Waiter: Sian Taylor (Dane Taylor Matthews)
Auction House Extras: Uncredited
NYPD Cops: Uncredited
Restaurant Customers: Uncredited.
REVIEW:
This episode’s complex premise teases intriguing possibilities. The problem is that its whodunnit substance is sabotaged by exceedingly dull execution (pardon the expression) of the plot twists. While guest stars Renée Jones and Tyrees Allen convey some vibrant energy supporting Angela Lansbury, that cannot be said of the other cast members. Ironically, the episode’s weakest link – in spite of his generally reliable career – is Wayne Rogers’ lazy contribution.
Rogers’ dubious effort as private detective ‘Charlie Garrett’ falls far short of the welcome snark that Jerry Orbach’s semi-sleazy ‘Harry McGraw’ once imbued Murder, She Wrote. Suffice to say, replacing Orbach’s world-weary gumshoe with Rogers’ affable ‘Garrett’ does neither Jessica Fletcher nor viewers any favors. This unfortunate observation is especially true in “Deadly Bidding,” as the script plays ‘Garrett’ as a weakly forgettable suspect rather than Jessica’s co-sleuth.
Had Orbach’s everyman star power replaced a bored Rogers (and with a few necessary plot tweaks), “Deadly Bidding” likely would have been far more entertaining.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 5 Stars
IMAGE NOT AVAILABLE
