Houston heads home to Texas to help old flame Sharon Dardis (Rebecca Holden) who, like Houston himself is under surveillance by mysterious men who follow their every move. Once back home Houston becomes the target of a bizarre plot wherein evil business rival Elgin Cody (Lloyd Bochner) has a man in his employ undergo plastic surgery to resemble Houston and steal his identity to push through a controversial business deal and perhaps take over Houston's massive holdings once they have killed Houston.
Helping Houston is his real father Wade Matlock (Lloyd Bridges) who happened to be friends with the plastic surgeon (William Windom) that performed the operation on the impostor. The remarkable coincidence of having the plastic surgeon who created your evil double being friends with your biological father and telling him about the ruse thus giving him a reason to reunite with you is a rather convenient series of strokes of fortune anyone of which should be too much for an audience to swallow but we've come this far, right? Like other episodes of the show you have these kinds of happy coincidences that just pop up out of nowhere. Here we see Houston just happen to find a shotgun with shells laying on top on his ex-girlfriends foyer table when she reveals that the baddies are on their way. It is a typical episode of this show, one that obliterates any credibility which might be derived from performances or snappy dialogue or on screen chemistry between actors with these clumsy unimaginative shortcuts.
The series was set in Los Angeles but continually we have the Texas city of Houston referenced in the surname of the character, the nickname his friends call him by, the company - Houston Inc. that he owns and the Texas drawl Houston and C.J. both speak in. My theory is that this was another way the producers of the show tried to have it both ways - a Los Angeles setting with a kind of Houston consulate.
It seems like a lot of shows in TV history have a doppelganger character as a plot line. When the writers run out of ideas it is the type of thing they can fall back on because it is easy to stage and the star gets to ham it up as a baddie which a lot of them like doing. Seldom is the doppelganger ever brought back as a recurring character as they might have done on this series because of the darker, more realistic vibe they were cultivating by season three.
The presence of Lloyd Bochner in the role of evil oil baron Elgin Cody suggests Dynasty, the show on which he portrayed evil oil baron Cecil Colby.
The direction was shifted in favour of making the show a normal detective mystery and as a result the production team was backpedalling away from the part-time business tycoon part of the character and the ironic tone by the end of the first season which was kind of a no-brainer to them.
By the end of this opening episode of the second season Houston had given up day-to-day management of his business dealings (delegating it to Murray whom he named president of the company) to be a detective full-time though he still kept use of his penthouse office, helicopter etc.
Here they even severed biological ties to Houston's rich daddy instead making him the son of a hard-drinking, hell-raising wild-catter who had only been adopted into a wealthy family. Again this is in line with the conflicts of the character study.
The first season made sure to remind audiences every so often that Houston was a self-made billionaire who had grown up rich but wanted to prove to his father that he could make it on its own and then done so by becoming a self-made millionaire.
This whole adoption nonsense was seemingly to further the notion that he is his own man. It begs the question: Do you want the character to be a rich guy or don't you? They try to have it both ways wherever they can.
Also in Season 1, Episode 10 - "The Good Doctor", we are told that family friend Cattle Annie (Jeanette Nolan) had delivered Houston saving him and his mother when she went into labour far from a hospital. This episode tells us that Houston's mother died giving birth to him.
A number of supporting cast members did not make it back for season two including the dimwit ranch hands played by Paul Brinegar and Dennis Fimple. The Novelli family got kissed off as well before season two as the series cultivated a more serious tone for more adult audiences.
Lloyd Bochner was in Season 1, Episode 7 - "Shark Bait", Rebecca Holden guest starred in Season 1, Episode 17 - "Another Fine Mess", Don Stroud had guested on Season 1, Episode 15 - "Get Houston" and William Windom had been a guest star on Season 1, Episode 10 - "The Good Doctor". They brought them back in this episode like the first season never happened.
Helping Houston is his real father Wade Matlock (Lloyd Bridges) who happened to be friends with the plastic surgeon (William Windom) that performed the operation on the impostor. The remarkable coincidence of having the plastic surgeon who created your evil double being friends with your biological father and telling him about the ruse thus giving him a reason to reunite with you is a rather convenient series of strokes of fortune anyone of which should be too much for an audience to swallow but we've come this far, right? Like other episodes of the show you have these kinds of happy coincidences that just pop up out of nowhere. Here we see Houston just happen to find a shotgun with shells laying on top on his ex-girlfriends foyer table when she reveals that the baddies are on their way. It is a typical episode of this show, one that obliterates any credibility which might be derived from performances or snappy dialogue or on screen chemistry between actors with these clumsy unimaginative shortcuts.
The series was set in Los Angeles but continually we have the Texas city of Houston referenced in the surname of the character, the nickname his friends call him by, the company - Houston Inc. that he owns and the Texas drawl Houston and C.J. both speak in. My theory is that this was another way the producers of the show tried to have it both ways - a Los Angeles setting with a kind of Houston consulate.
It seems like a lot of shows in TV history have a doppelganger character as a plot line. When the writers run out of ideas it is the type of thing they can fall back on because it is easy to stage and the star gets to ham it up as a baddie which a lot of them like doing. Seldom is the doppelganger ever brought back as a recurring character as they might have done on this series because of the darker, more realistic vibe they were cultivating by season three.
The presence of Lloyd Bochner in the role of evil oil baron Elgin Cody suggests Dynasty, the show on which he portrayed evil oil baron Cecil Colby.
The direction was shifted in favour of making the show a normal detective mystery and as a result the production team was backpedalling away from the part-time business tycoon part of the character and the ironic tone by the end of the first season which was kind of a no-brainer to them.
By the end of this opening episode of the second season Houston had given up day-to-day management of his business dealings (delegating it to Murray whom he named president of the company) to be a detective full-time though he still kept use of his penthouse office, helicopter etc.
Here they even severed biological ties to Houston's rich daddy instead making him the son of a hard-drinking, hell-raising wild-catter who had only been adopted into a wealthy family. Again this is in line with the conflicts of the character study.
The first season made sure to remind audiences every so often that Houston was a self-made billionaire who had grown up rich but wanted to prove to his father that he could make it on its own and then done so by becoming a self-made millionaire.
This whole adoption nonsense was seemingly to further the notion that he is his own man. It begs the question: Do you want the character to be a rich guy or don't you? They try to have it both ways wherever they can.
Also in Season 1, Episode 10 - "The Good Doctor", we are told that family friend Cattle Annie (Jeanette Nolan) had delivered Houston saving him and his mother when she went into labour far from a hospital. This episode tells us that Houston's mother died giving birth to him.
A number of supporting cast members did not make it back for season two including the dimwit ranch hands played by Paul Brinegar and Dennis Fimple. The Novelli family got kissed off as well before season two as the series cultivated a more serious tone for more adult audiences.
Lloyd Bochner was in Season 1, Episode 7 - "Shark Bait", Rebecca Holden guest starred in Season 1, Episode 17 - "Another Fine Mess", Don Stroud had guested on Season 1, Episode 15 - "Get Houston" and William Windom had been a guest star on Season 1, Episode 10 - "The Good Doctor". They brought them back in this episode like the first season never happened.