User Reviews

This topic about a single hysterical female reminded me of course PLAY MISTY FOR ME, although the detailed lines are quite different from Clint Eastwood's first picture. But not the overall scheme. For the rest, besides this accurate point, this is a true sad story speaking of loneliness and despair. But I won't call this a crime story, No, that's a drama for me, as were most of the other episodes of the show.

I hate to be so picky.

Overall, this episode was really quite good. Lois Nettleton was obviously a favorite of producer Leonard, and whereas she was a good actress, she always comes across as slightly too affected for my taste. Still, she's convincing enough here.

The almost-murder scene in the restaurant kitchen is really well directed; very realistic and unexpected. It took FOREVER to get the victim some medical attention when the cabbie got him to the hospital; Detectives Flint and Arcaro arrived and entered the hospital while the poor guy was still outside the entranceway with a knife stuck in his chest.

The show started to get a little slack in the middle; the dialogue between Flint and Libbie (a struggling actress living in a near-luxury apartment) was slow and almost pointless. But the pace picked up once again for the final scene. I liked the imaginative staging with Flint and Arcaro walking towards the camera talking, while the crowd of gawkers started to gather IN BACK of them.

The final scene, however, was too predictable, exactly what you'd expect from this series. Lois got really poetic; something about the sky, wind, flowers...something like that.

But what REALLY blew it was the stunt double for Lois in the "shocking, nail-biter" action shot when Adam made his daring move to save her. Even watching it the first time I noticed the TERRIBLE match-up of Lois and the stand-in; upon reviewing it in SLO-MO, I guffawed at the (obviously) MALE stand-in, wearing a big, old wig (much bigger than Lois' hair), her trench-coat, but with his pant legs rolled up to reveal his skinny, hairy legs, and wearing flat men's shoes (wing-tips?), instead of Lois' stylish pumps. And even though the shot only lasts a second onscreen, its is painfully obvious, and really takes the punch out of the climatic scene.

It killed it for me, and I'm still chuckling when I think about it. LR

Padded out with insipid comic relief and plenty of mean-spirited content, this misguided episode would have worked better in the series' original 1/2 hour format. As it stands, we get to see the talented Lois Nettleton emote and nothing else worth watching.

She plays a lonely Manhattanite, on a date with a creep she met through Mildred's Escort Service. He's been scamming her all along, a married man, and when a chance encounter in a restaurant reveals his true identity, Lois freaks out and tries to escape, accidentally stabbing him with a knife in the restaurant's kitchen when he gets violent with her.

The rest of the hour show consists of slow-witted police work, poorly written comic relief, distraught monologues by poor Lois, leading to an emotional climax when she tries to apologize and give money to the creep's wife, resulting in the wife (played by Gerry Jedd) freaking out and overacting horribly in the violent confrontation. I shouldn't speak ill of Gerry -like me she was from Cleveland, and sadly died a year after this telecast from a stroke while performing on stage in New York.

Finale has Burke saving Lois from suicide in an extremely hokey rooftop scene, the location shooting plus Lois''s fine acting once again unable to overcome the lousy script.