SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: Approx. 45:00 Min.
Reviving his 1963-66 TV series, star Gene Barry appeared in twenty-seven new episodes over two seasons in 1994-95. During the opening credits, each episode’s glitzy roster of guest stars appears Love Boat-style off the grill of Burke’s chauffeured Bentley. Directed by Dennis Dugan, CBS first broadcast this second-season installment on July 6, 1995.
Obnoxious playboy Wally King – “King of the Hot Tubs” and his flagrant ‘nouveau rich’ act infuriates several attendees at the exclusive Beverly Glen Country Club. While King awaits a lover in the club’s private sauna, somebody ensures that King gets fatally steamed. Millionaire LAPD Chief of Detectives Amos Burke and his son, Peter, soon find that the free-wheeling King had some surprising enemies and allies … on and off the club’s golf course.
Is the killer: King’s would-be lover, political cartoonist Jensen Farnsworth? Possibly Jensen’s jilted yet enigmatic fiancé, Hamilton Paine III? Or maybe Jensen’s ultra-snobbish mother, Frances? Maybe a clumsy plastic surgeon who previously feuded with King? The blind locker room attendant? Or even the country club president himself? Burke’s team recognizes that the killer may elude justice unless the past suggests that evidence has been misinterpreted.
Meanwhile, hapless Vinny Piatte is ecstatic over a million dollar stash of money he found on the docks. Despite the Burkes urging reasonable caution, Vinny gleefully plays the big spender … assuming the authorities let him keep the anonymous cash.
LAPD Chief of Detectives Amos Burke: Gene Barry
LAPD Detective Peter Burke: Peter Barton
LAPD forensics lab technician Lily Morgan: Bever-Leigh Banfield
Henry: Dany Kamekona
Vinny Piatte: Dom DeLuise
Archie Cook: Carl Gordon
Jensen Farnsworth: Sheree J. Wilson
Frances Farnsworth: Marion Ross
Dr. John Richmond: Harvey Korman
Hamilton Paine III: Greg Evigan
Conrad Hill: Darren McGavin
Richmond’s Nurse: Tanya Wright
Wally King: Jed Allan
Beverly: Badience Magaziner
Emily: Denice D. Lewis
REVIEW:
From Aaron Spelling’s production factory, there’s no pretenses involved – especially considering this episode’s one-liners and sight gags (i.e. Burke’s hilarious golf cart is a gem). Working off formulaic whodunnit schlock for plots, Burke’s Law’s watchability relies upon its all-star guest casts, regardless of how lackluster their paycheck acting is. There’s no mistaking that Burke’s Law is pure TV sleuthing escapism amongst L.A.’s rich-and-famous and nothing more. Even Diagnosis: Murder plays more realistic than this TV cop show answer to The Love Boat.
Still, “King” presents a better-than-usual Burke’s Law episode, since the characters aren’t all one-dimensional clichés. Credit should go to director Dennis Dugan, who ensures that the stars deliver relatively good performances. More so, the cast appears to be having a fun time selling the script’s plot twists, no matter how implausible they are.
The sole disappointment is the climatic ‘big reveal’ finish, as the culprit’s heartless motive is really melodramatic farce lifted from movie spoofs like Soapdish. Had the semi-spoofy script just tried harder, “King” possesses enough of a mystery to potentially give Jessica Fletcher a run for her money, so to speak.
Ultimately, when compared to Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, and Diagnosis: Murder, Burke’s Law lands a distant fourth-place. “King” offers some undemanding entertainment, as long as one doesn’t try thinking it through.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 4 Stars
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