Up until season 5, I really enjoyed the episodes of "Barnaby Jones" and thought they were among the better detective shows of the era. However, starting in season 5, they began making more and more of the shows about Betty and a new character, Jedediah Jones. If this wasn't bad enough, soon about one in every two or three episodes involved friends of Betty or Jedediah...to the point of being ridiculous. After all, how many friends can one have who are murdered, commit murders or are falsely accused of murder?! The friend trope drops into the episodes more and more and by season eight, probably half or more of the episodes were like this and the show clearly suffered.
In "Death Is the Punchline", the episode involves a friend of Jedediah who is a a terribly unfunny stand-up comedian who is accused of murdering the club owner. While this motivation seems tenuous, what's really amazing is how unfunny Ed Begley Jr. Is in this role. However, at the same time, some loan sharks are hanging about the place and they might be the killers....or, perhaps, some other party.
I thought the casting of Begley was odd. I have nothing against him...he's a decent actor...but folks just don't think of him as being funny. His character also is completely clueless when it comes to his lack of ability. He just didn't fit in the role.
Overall, typical of too many later "Barnaby Jones" episodes, this one was just watchable and nothing more.
In "Death Is the Punchline", the episode involves a friend of Jedediah who is a a terribly unfunny stand-up comedian who is accused of murdering the club owner. While this motivation seems tenuous, what's really amazing is how unfunny Ed Begley Jr. Is in this role. However, at the same time, some loan sharks are hanging about the place and they might be the killers....or, perhaps, some other party.
I thought the casting of Begley was odd. I have nothing against him...he's a decent actor...but folks just don't think of him as being funny. His character also is completely clueless when it comes to his lack of ability. He just didn't fit in the role.
Overall, typical of too many later "Barnaby Jones" episodes, this one was just watchable and nothing more.