“This Isn’t Going to Become a Habit, Right?” “Oh, Absolutely Not.” “Why Don’t I Believe You?”
When I started watching through my Diagnosis: Murder DVDs a few years back, I decided to save all the movies until I’d finished the series even though the first three were prequels. Which is why I am just now watching Diagnosis of Murder, Dr. Mark Sloan’s first chance to star in a mystery. Fans will find it a mixed bag.
If you aren’t familiar with the origins of the series, Dick Van Dyke introduced Dr. Mark Sloan in an episode of Jake and the Fatman, the only episode of that show I’ve seen, in fact. From there, CBS aired the three movies I mentioned before deciding to start the series. So, you could consider this episode the pilot for the show.
Oh, but what a strange pilot this would be for the fans. It originally aired in January of 1992, and the only things that held over to the series are that Dr. Mark Sloan is a medical advisor for the local police. And that his son, Steve Sloan (played by Barry Van Dyke), is a detective. Oh, and Mark works for Community General, the same name the hospital has for the entire run of the series even though the outside looks very different as the series goes along.
The differences? We do meet Dr. Amanda Bently, but she is played by Cynthia Gibb. The other young doctor is Dr. Jack Parker, as played by Stephen Caffrey. (His character would become Scott Baio’s Dr. Jack Stewart.) We also have an administrator and a nurse/secretary for Mark, but they’d both be recast and renamed before the series started.
Then there’s the location. We never get an exact location for this story, but we do see some British Columbia license plates in one scene.
The mystery? It involves a friend of Mark’s, Nick Osborne (Bill Bixby), who is accused of killing his boss, the head of a media conglomerate who is about to sell everything. It’s a pretty good mystery that incorporates some medicine along with the regular clues. We also get a storyline about a boy who might need some major surgery.
The story itself is fine. It’s engaging and I thought how things ended was clever. I found the who a little obvious and the pacing was a little uneven. It felt like the writers were used to writing for an hour show instead of a two-hour TV movie.
Obviously, for fans of the series, this is going to be a major shift from what we are used to. But it’s still fun to see an early take on the character and franchise we love. Steve is still a bit of a blank slate, but we can see the backbone of the relationship he and Mark would share on the series.
But what’s fun is seeing Mark. He’s already very much the character we’d come to know and love. We first see him roller skating when we first meet him, and there’s a great scene with that later. Yet another sub-plot involves him trying to learn how to tap dance. Yep, this is Dr. Mark Sloan.
Honestly, knowing the rest of the cast got replaced is a little sad. Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters and actors we got in the series, but I’d be curious to see how these characters as presented here would have progressed in a series. Basically, it’s like to see the alternative timeline where no cast members or characters were replaced. We can do both, right?
I’m not sure how much any of these movies are aired in reruns or streamed, but if you can find Diagnosis of Murder, you’ll find it interesting to watch. It’s a bit of a slow start to what becomes a fun franchise.
On DVD, this movie is part of the Diagnosis: Murder Movie Collection.
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