User Reviews

I have now seen the pilot and two of the four episodes, including this final one.

The trajectory was toward blandness. The excitable ex-cop Barney of the pilot portrayed by Art Carney (memorable for bellowing "Wrong" in response to the sisters' shenanigans) morphed in the series into ex-con on parole Barney portrayed by Lou Antonio who barely raises an objection however outrageous their escapades. Ernesta's bad driving in the pilot vanishes in the series. Also their occupation as mystery writers which we witness a session of in the pilot dissolves into a background gimmick while they basically devolve into mystery solving busybodies.

Part of the problem is 75 minutes (plus 15 of commercials to fill the 90 minute timeslot) isn't enough to do justice to the two leads and the premise. The writing also became less sharp. This entry especially feels like it could have used a major re-write. Could they have rushed it into production once they learned of the cancellation to squeak out one last episode? Maybe Leonard Stern was stretched thin as he had two other series (McMillan and Wife and Diana) vying for his attention? Jackson Gillis was an accomplished writer of mysteries whose resume included Perry Mason and Columbo, could his first draft been better than what reached the screen after Barrett and Foster tweaked it?

The storyline of this entry lurches and has highs and lows. While the film festival opening is promising for laying out the suspects and various motives the unnecessary and awkward "steal the will" sequence (the palm reading scene is downright embarrassing to watch) followed by the interminable gourmet dinner stalling scene take up so much time there is little left for the hasty solution. Only the golf course scene shows the series in its best light. Other than that all one has is the guilty pleasure of beholding Price's scenery chewing in all its glory.

Cissy and David vanish after the mid-point (with no payoff when David pointedly tells his sister to not worry about where he is going when leaving). Lawrence never returns after the opening (possibly because Mort Sahl is terrible in the few scenes he has) and Lionel after a perfunctory introduction near the start is gone until near the end when hastily the resolution is abruptly pulled together. The lawyer's convenient cardiac arrest death just clutters an already disconnected poorly developed plot. A great cast is shamefully wasted. What an ignominious end to a once promising series. Maybe cancellation was a mercy killing.