Show218
Perry Mannix? This episode absolutely felt like a (failed IMHO) trial run for the show without Raymond Burr. It seems to have been done purposefully to force Burr into signing his contract. They even had Mannix sitting at Perry's desk with Della making him coffee and hovering nearby! Would not have blamed Burr if he was annoyed by this. We have seen other lawyers on the show, but never have they so brazenly made themselves at home at Perry's desk! I was fully expecting Mannix to put his feet up on the desk! Really looking forward to Burr's triumphant return. DellaMason
Wild West Episode The entire premise of this episode was ridiculous. An old lady is angry that her daughter died so tries to harm her son-in-law by forcing his business to shut down. Apparently, she doesn't mind harming her grandchild in the short-term as long as she can get custody of him. The doctor helps her because he feels guilty over not saving her daughter. But he also doesn't mind harming the woman's husband and child. Oh but alls well that ends well when the doctor is killed and the Duchess magically becomes a doting granny at the end. If the Duchess did get custody of the kid, what then? She would surround him with nannies and raise him to hate his father. It felt like a story written for a film set in the Old West. Seems like the episodes without Perry stymie the creativity of the writers. They absolutely suffer. DellaMason
Samuel Newman did a uniquely poor job of story and dialogue in this episode. From the stilted "legalese" used by Kelly (Mike Connor) prior to trial and in the courtroom, to the childish plotting and characters and odd defendant in-court outbursts, it was all very poorly done. cgraul 5 March 12.
Paul Drake looked ridiculous when he arrives to go bowling: in a full suit and tie and carrying his ball-bag! Then when actually bowling, he only takes off his jacket, keeping his tie tightly knotted. This whole episode is so poorly done ... Jesse usually does a better job. cgraul 2 march 20
The Duchess objects to a bowling alley in her town but carries a grudge against Bill for not wanting to work in an oil refinery, even has a scale model of an oil derrick in her study. jfh 31Jan2017.
Perhaps she wanted him to work at it in a managerial role, since her daughter (his wife) would be inheriting it. The family business. --yelocab 18JUL19
In a normal episode, I would have expected Bonnie Mae to get murdered since there was plenty who had motives. In this episode, the doctor gets killed. Like my comment in the prior episode, the trend is changing. Bonnie and those surrounded her were guilty of many crimes and some lied on the stand, but Bonnie Mae supposedly redeems herself in the closing scene. Submitted by Perry Baby 11/1/16.
I didn't like the way Bonnie Mae turns from the cold, conniving matriarch to the warm granny at the end. --yelocab 18JUL19
+ IMHO this seems as though it might not only have been a try-out for a Perry replacement but also an attempt to test other cost-cutting efforts: fewer characters, stilted writing, fewer sets, shifting to a married, more blue-collar "Joe" attorney and clients, etc. jfh 31Jan2017.
The ending credits are now included in the DVD release of Season 8 Volume 1. Differences between the reconstructed cast and the cast shown on the video include the title "The Duchess" following Bonnie Mae Wilmet's name, the title "Mayor" appended to Orson Stillman's name, order of billing for Patricia Morrow, name of Allan Hunt's character (Fourth Boy) and his billing order, and the addition of Gilman Rankin as "Man in Hospital". As anticipated, Don Anderson and Robert Wegner are uncredited. The technical crew is now included. Co-incidentally, the "crew" credits are identical to those of the preceding episode, which makes us hope that the DVD editors didn't just take a shortcut, but that the same identical crew were properly credited for this episode as well. Kudos to all the contributing scholars whose reconstructed cast has served so admirably for all these years. Your work was remarkably accurate given the obstacles you faced. Bravo! alan_sings 6 December 2012.
The Tesoro police officer was called "sergeant" but didn't seem to have anything on his uniform to show his rank. Submitted by H. Mason 4/10/15
Kelly (Connor) seems to pronounce 'subpoena' with a long 'ee' sound at the end, rather than a short "a" sound, when giving them to the Duchess and family. --yelocab 18JUL19
+ That's surely because he's referring to the group of subpoenas that he has, and is using an incorrectly derived Latin plural "subpoenae", pronouncing the "ae" as "ee" (as commonly happens in English). The reason why that plural is incorrect is that the Latin is actually not a distinct noun, but rather a prepositional phrase "sub poena" (with the final -a in the ablative case); it thus doesn't pluralize. TriviaSleuth, 5/21/2020
Interesting that Jack impudently brandishes brass knuckles in Bonnie Mae's office when threatening to eject Joe, Paul, and the Jarises. jfh 02Mar2020