The main benefit of this episode is the victim- Clete Hawley. Richard Carlson who played him is a veteran actor by this time who started in movie roles in the 1930's, broke into live television in the 1950's and was used in some Sci-Fi as well. Here he is very convincing as the star maker who gets involved in a strange case of show business.
Granted, this way of making stars is out dated or is it? I hate to inform you but this was still being used as the way to make stars just recently as this was the staple FOX Network used on American Idol. That show took unknowns, put them before an audience and judges who basically were there to ramp them up and make them stars. They even used a Dick Clark clone who dates back to this time (Clark makes a guest shot on Mason's last episode) Clete Hawley is the prehistoric dinosaur of American Idol in many ways. Carlson even portrays him as a sort of Simon Cowell and the rich man, Cowell could have gotten the idea from this episode.
Enough about the victim, this episode is pretty formula Mason. There are several possible killers as no one likes Hawley. How Mason finally sorts it out is through a lot of conversations with everyone involved. He also finds several other skeleton's in the closets of others besides though this was not intended as a Halloween episode.
At any rate, the scissors manage to cut the manager out, just when they were coming into some real money.
Granted, this way of making stars is out dated or is it? I hate to inform you but this was still being used as the way to make stars just recently as this was the staple FOX Network used on American Idol. That show took unknowns, put them before an audience and judges who basically were there to ramp them up and make them stars. They even used a Dick Clark clone who dates back to this time (Clark makes a guest shot on Mason's last episode) Clete Hawley is the prehistoric dinosaur of American Idol in many ways. Carlson even portrays him as a sort of Simon Cowell and the rich man, Cowell could have gotten the idea from this episode.
Enough about the victim, this episode is pretty formula Mason. There are several possible killers as no one likes Hawley. How Mason finally sorts it out is through a lot of conversations with everyone involved. He also finds several other skeleton's in the closets of others besides though this was not intended as a Halloween episode.
At any rate, the scissors manage to cut the manager out, just when they were coming into some real money.