Yet another Diagnosis Murder gimmick/crossover episode. Let me explain (if you've read some of the other Diagnosis Murder pages, skip ahead as I go through the same old explanation) Diagnosis Murder started out as a sort of Murder, She Wrote knock off but even when the show premiered Murder, She Wrote had already largely wore out that "find the killer" format. So Diagnosis Murder started playing around to keep things interesting. They started doing shows with gimmicks to get viewers to watch. They would, for instance, have a show where all the guest stars were actors who had previously starred in popular cop shows. And sometimes they would actually have crossovers with actors playing the characters they made popular on other shows. In the episode "Discards" they did both.

   In the episode, Doctor Sloan's associate Doctor Jesse Travis discovers that his father is in fact.... A SPY!!!! I hate it when that happens! Same thing happened to a friend of mine. He thought his dad was a janitor, turned out that he was a spy. Then he discovered his dad wasn't a spy but in fact was a janitor and a liar who had some issues to work through in therapy. But I digress...

   Not only does it turn out that Jesse's dad is a spy, he is also a spy who someone is trying to kill. So in true TV murder mystery fashion we get tons of guest star suspects. And given the whole spy theme, those guest stars were all played by actors best known for having played spies on other TV shows: I Spy's Robert Culp, The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'s Robert Vaughn, The Avenger's Patrick Macnee... Also included was Phil Morris who starred in the 1980's revival of Mission: Impossible and who's father starred in the original.

   So you're saying, "Yeah? Big deal? Make with the crossover Jackson!" You got it! The show had one more guest star, Barbara Bain, who had also starred in the original Mission: Impossible series as Cinnamon Carter. While all the other guest stars in the episode are playing new characters, Barbara Bain's in fact reprises her role of Cinnamon Carter. Cool. Well... sorta cool. I like any crossover but the idea of badass Mission: Impossible crossing over with the not-so-hip Diagnosis Murder... well it's kinda weird (Okay Diagnosis Murder fans- start writing your indignant emails to me now!). Still, I do sorta love crossovers that do make you go, "Why? Why these two shows?" While this is a little weird, it isn't nearly as funky as, say, Alice crossing over with The Dukes Of Hazzard .

Other Diagnosis Murder Crossover Links
Diagnosis Murder and Jake And The Fatman
Diagnosis Murder and Mannix
Diagnosis Murder and Matlock
Diagnosis Murder and Promised Land

Other Mission: Impossible Crossover Links
Mission: Impossible and Mission:Impossible

Click here to return to main Crossover List

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