Jessica attends a tennis tournament as the guest of honor. She struggles to protect her former student, Carol, when her boyfriend is blown up in her car, and she is the only suspect.

Season 2, Episode 20: Menace, Anyone? – Died on Sunday (April 6, 1986)

Jessica can’t even go to a tennis game without someone dying.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Mitch Mercer is played by Dennis Cole.

Brian East? It’s a young Bryan Cranston!

Barbara McDermott is played by Karlene Crockett, and Muriel Gillis is from Dallas.

Carol McDermott is Linda Hamilton! This cast is star-studded.

Don’t believe me? There’s Van Johnson, once second only to Sinatra as a male star.

Cissy Barnes? Kelli Maroney! I mean, who else could be in this? 

Doug McKeon (On Golden Pond) is Donny Harrigan.

Det. Sgt. Len Berger is played by Barry Primus. The other law officer, Det. Lt. Tad Travis is David Spielberg.

Betsey Russell is in everything from the Saw movies to Private School. Oh! And Avenging Angel and Tomboy. She’s Doris Robinson.

Kerry Sherman from Eyes of Fire is Rosie.

In minor roles, Harold Ayer plays Sexton, Laurence Haddon is a judge, Gus Corrado is a paramedic, and Rod Porter, Helen Baron, Richard Jacobson, Larry Carr, and Ivonne Perez Montijo all have background parts.

What happens?

No Terminators for Linda Hamilton. She is a former student of Jessica, which is like telling death you’re ready. She’s married to Bryan Cranston, a tennis player, which seems like a conflict of interest for someone running a tennis tournament, much less one she’s named after JB, and as you’d expect, Cranston’s character soon dies in a car bomb explosion.

Yes, if a tennis event is named for Jessica, not just one person will die. A detective will, too. And his body is left in Carol’s (Hamilton) house, making her scream as if she were the target of a giallo killer. She even gets overdosed on pills by the killer and her dad to keep her quiet, but she escapes death thanks to a friend of the devil, JB.

There’s also a fantastic moment where Jessica goes to the mental hospital to see how Carol is doing, meets a doctor, talks to her, and realizes she’s talking to a crazy person. What no one wants to discuss is that Carol still thinks her sister, Barbara, is alive and talks about her as if she were. That’s fine, and we’re going to get over that.

Who did it?

Doris. She’s insane!

Who made it?

This episode was directed by Arthur Allan Seidelman, who also made Hercules In New York. It was written by story editor Robert B. Sherman.

Does Jessica get some?

No. Come on, our girl is going to be a virgin again!

Was it any good?

It’s good. Not the best or worst episode.

Any trivia?

Betsy Russell was married to real-life tennis pro Vincent Van Patten.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Carol McDermott: I’d like to see her.

Jessica Fletcher: Oh, I think you two are going to see a great deal of each other for a long, long time to come.

What’s next?

In New Orleans at Mardi Gras, a distant cousin of Jessica is falsely accused of murder. And Robert Forster is in it!