ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, The Good, the Bad and the Verdict and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Official synopsis: Marine Cargo Insurance Claims Adjuster William J. Sterbenz, a creature of habit worn down by the daily grind and lonely suburban living, feels helpless against his fate of climbing the corporate ladder. But when a sudden brush with death lights a fire under his ass, Will realizes that he has free will and decides to finally use it, charting a new course for himself as he meanders through new experiences, from Bigfoot hunting to out-of-body time travel – and even coming face to face with his personal guardian angel.

 Writer/director/editor Edward Bursch’s episodic dramedy series The Human, Will is a gentle, philosophical, quirky character study of everyman Will (William J. Sterbenz), who asks for a job demotion and tries to get the most out of life after the sudden unexpected death of his pet fish. He is guided on his journey by his guardian angel (slow-talking comedian Joe Pera, perfectly cast in a mostly narration performance).

The pacing is leisurely, and even unanticipated from-out-of-nowhere occurrences startle in a subtle manner. The comedy is often whimsical, and goes for knowing nods with a smile rather than for belly-laughs. 

The emotional factor is high, though. An episode in which a young Will confronts the adult Will hit me where it counts and caused a pensive trip down nostalgia lane. Another episode involving the hunt for a skunk ape appealed to my cryptozoology interests in a decidedly more fun manner.

Bursch and company deliver a fine series with The Human, Will. Go along with Will on his existential journey and you’ll be treated to an offbeat exploration of what some might consider normalcy.

The first episode of The Human, Will screened at Slamdance, which ran February 24–March 6, 2026 in Los Angeles. 

While on a flight to London, a wealthy woman’s chauffeur dies suddenly, and when the priceless necklace he was carrying turns up missing, it becomes a case of murder.

Season 3, Episode 12: The Corpse Flew First Class (January 18, 1987)

JB is headed to London to research some dusty old Victorian slaying, because apparently, Cabot Cove doesn’t have enough corpses to keep her busy this week. But before she can even touch her complimentary peanuts, the guy in 4B, Leon Bigard, decides to kick the bucket right there in coach.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Mary Jo Catlett plays Mrs. Metcalf. She was Rosemary in Serial Mom. 

Robin Dearden is Kay Davis.

Pat Harrington Jr., Schneider from One Day at a Time, is Gunnar Globle.

David Hemings is investigator Errol Pogson. He was in so much, but Deep Red is the one.

Kate Mulgrew is Sonny Greer. Captain Janeaway!

Gene Nelson is Louis Metcalf, Andrew Parks is Fred Jenkins, Vince Howard is Blanton, Robert Walker Jr. (Star Trek’s Charlie X) is Otto Hardwick, Charles Hoyes is Carney, John S. Ragin is Dr. Clint Strayhorn, and Chris Robinson is Capt. Whetsel. 

James Shigeta, Takagi from Die Hard, is John Sukahara.

The dead person, Leon Bigard, is played by Mark Venturini, who was Suicide in Return of the Living Dead. 

Lia Sargent is Elizabeth Welch. She’s done a ton of animated voices.

In smaller roles, Charles Davis is Mr. Stegmeyer, Don Maharry is Mr. Miley, Crystal Jenious is Mrs. Miley, Ron Barker is British Chief, Ian Howard is a security man, Ron Southart is Bobby, Jim Malinda is a photographer, Curtis Hood is a porter, John Straightley is a customs man, Gerald York is a man on the phone, and Robert Bakanic, Dotty Ertel, Buddy Gates and Walter Spear are passengers.

What happens?

Leon was the bodyguard (read: boy-toy) for heiress Sonny Greer. He was also carrying the Empress Carlotta necklace, a bauble worth more than a mid-sized European country. When Leon expires, the necklace vanishes, and J.B. Fletcher has to solve a locked-cabin mystery at 30,000 feet.

Enter Inspector Pogson of Scotland Yard. Usually, the local heat wants to throw J.B. Fletcher in jail, interfering, but Pogson realizes pretty quickly that he’s outmatched by a woman who writes mystery novels and has a 100% conviction rate. What follows is a high-altitude whodunit where everyone on the flight is a suspect, the motive is pure greed, and the only thing more dangerous than the killer is the airline food.

The craziest thing is that Gunnar Globle is based on Roger Corman. He’d like Jessica to touch up the script for Off-road Aliens 2, and I’d like her to take on that project. He could also be a reference to the Cannon Go Go Boys, Golan and Globus.

Sonny Greer turns out to have poisoned Mr. Bigard. Jessica finds out that they were in a situationship and he’s been moving on, ready to break up with her when they get to London. She kills him before that.

There’s also the matter of the Empress Carlotta necklace, which Mr. Hardwick was planning to steal. Maybe he had some help. We’ll see. When it’s switched out for a fake, John Sukahara turns out to be a gem expert and calls it out as fake.

Between a necklace and a murder, that’s a lot on one plane. But when you let Jessica fly, I’m shocked no one died.

Who did it?

The real enemy is Pogson, who planned to switch out the necklace and retire.

Who made it?

This was directed by Walter Grauman and written by Donald Ross, who also wrote Hamburger: The Motion Picture.

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?

No. It seemed like she was going to bang it out with the inspector, but once he’s bad, she can’t get with him.

Was it any good?

Yes. A great cast!

Any trivia?

The Blues Brothers is the in-flight movie.

Twelve of the characters have the last names of musicians, singers or arrangers who worked for Duke Ellington.

This was made on the set of Airport 1975.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Jessica Fletcher: Mr. Globle… Here’s your script. You know, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the sophisticated imagery and the poetic wit. I see it as a cross between cinema verite…

Gunnar Globle: Imagery and cinema verite?

Jessica Fletcher: I think if you change the title, it might do very well in those quaint little, uh, art theaters.

Customs Man: Anything to declare, sir?

Gunnar Globle: Yes. This is a dud.

What’s next?

The phone lines get crossed during a storm, and Jessica can’t convince anyone that what she heard was a real murder plot. It’s directed by David Hemings, who was in this episode!

Desperate to save her granddaughter, Mary Jane, from an encroaching supernatural rot, the wealthy Mrs. Nugent turns to the only experts she can find: Nora (Phyllis Diller) and Jack Mills (Lawrence Tierney). Nora is a wisecracking, flamboyant medium, while Jack is a hard-nosed cynic. They are career con artists used to fleecing pockets and putting on dim-lit seances, but Mrs. Nugent’s $50,000 bounty is enough to make them ignore the smell of sulfur.

Mary Jane claims to be Aisha Candisha, a Moroccan demon of legendary malice. To prove her pedigree, she doesn’t just growl. She casually unhinges her jaw and consumes a silver spoon like it’s a communion wafer. Nora, realizing they are wildly out of their depth, tries to bow out, admitting they are merely fortune tellers. Jack, fueled by greed and a stubborn refusal to be intimidated, doubles down. He wants to try a transfer ritual, removing the entity from Mary Jane and trapping it inside a live pig.

Directed by T.J. Castronovo and written by Edithe Swensen, this ends with both Aisha and Gad finding new bodies to live in. As the demons argue over their prize, the con artists realize that playing at being the Warrens has invited a darkness that doesn’t care about their bank accounts.

Accused of murdering his own bully, soft-spoken poet Dorian Beecher relies on Jessica’s assistance to prove his innocence.

Season 3, Episode 11:  Night of the Headless Horseman (January 4, 1987)

What begins as a humorous deception ends in a murder investigation; now, Jessica must clear Dorian’s name after his elaborate lies make him the perfect suspect for Nate Findley’s death.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Dorian Beecher, who is behind all of this, is played by Thom Bray, who was in Prince of Darkness and The Prowler.

Brady kid Barry Williams plays the victim, Nate Findley.

Sarah Dupont is played by Karlene Crockett, who was in Eyes of Fire. 

Bobbie is Judy Landers, who was in Dr. Alien and so many other movies. Her sister, Audrey, was in two episodes of the show.

Sheriff Sam Rankin, the law around here, is Doug McClure from The Land That Time Forgot. 

Hope Lange plays Charlotte Newcastle. She was Bronson’s wife in Death Wish. 

Dentist Penn Doc Walker is played by Charles Siebert.

Dorn Van Stotter is Guy Stockwell from It’s Alive. 

Fritz Weaver from Creepshow is Edwin Dupont.

In smaller roles, Brandon Douglas plays Todd Carrier, Donald Thompson is Robert, Adam Ferries is Brendan, Sanford Clark is a man, Gary Pagett is a deputy, Tom Ohmer is a cop, John England is another guy, Bill Baker is a young blonde guy in a car, and Forry Smith is a man. 

What happens?

After that beginning, with Dorian being accused of murder, he then gets harassed by a figure dressed like the Headless Horseman. He thinks it’s Nate Findley who wants to steal his girlfriend, Sarah. But no, it’s just a kid at first, then Doc Walker, who has stolen Nick’s horse. 

But Doc, well, poor Doc has been going through it too. Nate killed his fiancée, Gretchen, and then basically told Doc that he did it. 

Lots of death for such a new small town.

Who did it?

Doc Walker isn’t your typical villain. He’s a sympathetic figure driven by grief, which makes the episode’s ending hit much harder.

By the end of this, Nate is dead, the groundskeeper is under arrest for embezzlement, the dentist is under arrest for murder, Gretchen is also dead, and Sarah has broken up with Dorian. Dorian is not guilty, at least.

The fact that Nate killed Gretchen before the episode even started suggests that this quiet town has been harboring a monster for a long time. Jessica doesn’t just solve a murder; she lances a boil that has been festering in the community.

Who made it?

This was directed by Walter Grauman and written by R. Barker Price, who also wrote David Schmoeller’s Catacombs.

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?

No! Come on!

Was it any good?

I liked it. I really liked it.

Any trivia?

McClure, Lange, Crockett, Siebert and Weaver have all been in multiple episodes of this show.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Jessica Fletcher: You’re up for a murder charge. Murder! Twenty years to life. Maybe more!

What’s next?

While on a flight to London, a wealthy woman’s chauffeur dies suddenly, and when the priceless necklace he was carrying turns up missing, it becomes a case of murder.

Lew Feldman (Joe Bova) is on the phone, being a Hollywood agent, when Mr. Smith (Lenny von Dohlen) appears in his office. He tells him that he wants to speak to Gil Hurn (David Margulies) and wants the agent to find him. Feldman says that Hurn is a big writer now and doesn’t want to revisit one of his failures. Smith offers a $35,000 gold bar to find Smith and discuss his one-season-canceled show, Max Paradise.

Smith wants Hurn to write and direct six more episodes of the show, including the ending. He’s willing to pay him $2 million to make it happen, but Hurn is unsure, since he thinks the show was corny. Smith claims that fans are yearning to see how the story ends. To do that, they have to find the star, Van Conway (Darren McGavin), who has given up on acting and, well, life. Smith promises him money, and if he takes the pills he’s brought, he will feel healthy again, as he once did before he started drinking. He even rebuilds the studio where the show was set, with no expense spared, to ensure that a show nobody watched can come back.

Even when Conway walks away, Smith won’t give up, even removing his fear and need to drink. When asked why he’s doing all of this, he replies that he’s Conway’s greatest fan. Conway is amazed by Smith’s belief in him and wonders who the millions of people Smith refers to are who would watch a black-and-white show in modern times. All Smith can say as he watches the show being filmed is that it’s mythic.

It’s never said where Smith is from, but Hurn and Conway decide he’s from space, a place that saw the show years after everyone else and always wondered how it ended. As the Max Paradise theme plays and the cameras roll in that reconstructed void, Hurn and Conway realize they aren’t just filming a cancelled show; they are providing the “ending” for an entire civilization’s mythology. They find their own purpose by becoming the wanderers they once portrayed.

Directed by Bill Travers (his only directing job; he played Senator Boutwell in The Lincoln Conspiracy) and written by Theodore Gershuny (who was married to Mary Woronov) from a story by Andrew Weiner, this is one of my favorite episodes of the entire series. Max Paradise was based on Coronet Blue, which ran for only 11 episodes on CBS in the summer of 1967. Created by Larry Cohen, it was about an amnesia-suffering man (Frank Converse) chased by killers who only knew two words, which were the title of the show. It never returned after those episodes, and the mystery was never resolved.

The murder of the leading lady’s understudy disrupts a play starring two previously married actors.

Season 3, Episode 10: Stage Struck (December 14, 1986)

Two of Jessica’s old friends bring her back to her old job at a theater. One of them faints on stage, and then her understudy dies.

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Shea Farrell is Larry Matthews.

Bob Hastings (Commissioner Gordon’s voice in the Batman cartoons) plays Eddie Bender.

Donald Most — come on, Donnie! — is T.J. Holt

Edward Mulhare may have been Rex Harrison’s understudy in My Fair Lady on Broadway. But we all know him from Knight Rider. Here, he plays Julian Lord.

Christopher Norris (Eat My Dust) as Pru Mattson.

Dan O’Herlihy (Conal Cochran and The Old Man!) is Alexander Preston.

Eleanor Parker plays Maggie Tarrow.

John Pleshette is Nicky Saperstein.

John Schuck from McMillan and Wife is Chief Merton P. Drock.

Ann Turkel (Humanoids from the Deep) as Barbara Bennington.

Smaller roles include Richard Hoyt-Miller, Annie Gagen, and Jeffrey Lippa as reporters; Weldon Bleiler as a doctor; and Fritz Ford as an onlooker.

What happens?

Julian Lord and Maggie Tarrow are essentially the Lunt and Fontanne of Jessica’s past, a legendary acting duo who were once married and still share a spark, though it’s heavily smothered by egos and secrets. They invite Jessica to the Applewood Playhouse for a revival of The Night of the Phoenix, but the production is cursed from the jump.

Maggie’s health is failing, and her understudy, Barbara Bennington, isn’t just waiting in the wings. She’s actively sharpening her claws. But when Maggie faints and Barbara gets her big break, she doesn’t just break a leg. She drops dead mid-scene after drinking from a prop decanter.

In the middle of all this, the cop in charge — Chief Drock — tries to sound like Hercule Poirot.

While he’s being a weirdo, Jessica realizes that the poison in the prop wine was meant for the leading lady, but the real target was always the person holding the secret.

Who did it?

When JB confronts Julian backstage, she learns that the blackmail was over the fact that he and Maggie had conceived a child and given it up for adoption. Julian admits to Jessica that he poisoned the wine specifically to kill Barbara and keep their secret buried. To make the accident look like it was meant for Maggie and deflect suspicion from himself, he had previously played with Maggie’s vitamins to make her faint, ensuring Barbara would be the one on stage to drink the lethal dose.

Who made it?

This was directed by John Astin, who was Harry Pierce in other episodes, and written by Philip Gerson.

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?

No! Ugh.

Was it any good?

It’s a decent one.

Any trivia?

This episode reveals how Jessica met her husband Frank. Their romance blossomed in the theatre community, proving that Jessica has always had a flair for the dramatic, even if she prefers the technical side of the stage.

Edward Mulhare and Ann Turkel were also on Knight Rider. 

Give me a reasonable quote:

Jessica Fletcher: Oh, certainly not. No, but I was Applewood’s second-best set painter. And in case you haven’t guessed, there were only two.

What’s next?

Jessica comes to the aid of Dorian Beecher, a shy poet who is the prime suspect when his bully is found dead.

Three Pittsburgh-centric episodes in a row, starting with Tom Savini directing, then John Harrison and now Michael Gornick behind the camera. The director of Creepshow 2, as well as episodes of this show and Monsters, also has the pedigree of being written by George Romero.

Luther Mandrake (Jerrt Stiller) is the kind of burned-out shock jock that horror movies are made about. He starts off mid-rant, late for his show, The Devil’s Advocate, and angry that the cops dared to question him after someone was found dead in his car. Mandrake has the midnight to 4 AM shift, the Art Bell time, the middle of the darkness when only crazy people are listening and even weirder people are calling in. 

Mandrake hasn’t had it easy: his mother died in a plane crash, his father died in a picket line, his wife is in a coma, and his son just died, the victim of a drunk driver. One of his callers — from Pittsburgh — reacts by calling him the devil, all as Mandrake begins to turn into a wolf. Before too long, callers from across time appear, complaining about President Wilson and World War II. That’s because — shudder — he’s become the devil’s advocate for real, broadcasting from hell, as he’d already killed himself in his car, and that’s the body the police found.

Still’s son, Ben, did his own version of this on his Fox show, presenting “Low Budget Tales of Horror.” Jerry would dress as a wolf again in the Monsters episode “One Wolf’s Family.” That brings the Pittsburgh connection full circle, because that one was directed by Jon Thomas, who worked as a sound mixer on many Romero projects.

When an obnoxious out-of-town TV personality is murdered, it’s up to Jessica to figure out the killer.

Season 3, Episode 9: Obituary for a Dead Anchor (December 7, 1986)

Jessica agrees to a television interview for an old friend but is surprised when a different reporter arrives after a boat explosion kills her old buddy. Or does it?

Who’s in it, outside of Angela Lansbury?

Sheriff Amos Tupper is Tom Bosley, but you knew that.

Abby Dalton. Mother Speed in Roller Blade Warriors: Taken By Force is Judith. Her husband, Kevin, is played by Chad Everett from The Intruder Within.

Robert Hogan is Dr. Wylie Graham.

Robert Lipton plays Richard Abbott.

Paula Roman is actress Kathleen Lloyd (The Car).

Mayor Sam Booth is Richard Paul.

Robert Pine, Sgt. Joseph Getraer from CHiPs is Doug Helman.

Rex Robbins is George Fish.

Mark Stevens is Nick Brody.

Smaller roles include James Lemp as Gerald Foster (AKA Erik Stern; he was in The Love Butcher), Frank Annese as Ronald Ross, Patti Karr as Clara Polsby and Paul Ryan as a commentator.

What happens?

Jessica expects to do an interview with TV reporter Paula Roman, but ends up with a much rougher interviewer, Kevin Keats. Soon after the segment, his boat blows up, and reporters come to Cabbot Cove, all looking for a killer.

As you’d expect from an episode of this show, everyone hated Keats. For example, he cheated on his wife, and she wished that he lived long enough for her to divorce him. And Jessica is dealing with a lot of gruff from the mayor, who is concerned that she’s making the town look bad by doing the interview, which he wanted her to do in the first place.

Sheriff Tupper almost solves the case, and when he asks Jessica if he’s right, she agrees. He’s kind of shocked.

Who did it?

Nick Brody, a laid-off newsman, is angry about the way TV is changing for the worse.

Who made it?

This was directed by Walter Grauman and written by Robert Van Scoyk, the show’s story editor, from a story by Bob Shayne.

Does Jessica dress up and act stupid? Does she get some?

I mean, she did make Tupper feel pretty good when he was right about the case. Maybe.

Was it any good?

A decent episode. After the Magnum episode, we needed a little calm down.

Any trivia?

Richard Paul’s first appearance as Cabot Cove’s do-nothing mayor, Sam Booth.

In this episode, we learn that the B in J.B. Fletcher is for Beatrice. Her full name is Jessica Beatrice MacGill Fletcher

When Jessica first meets Nick Brody, a painting of a ship like the movie Mutiny is behind him. That movie starred Angela Lansbury and Mark Stevens, who are playing the characters on this show.

Give me a reasonable quote:

Jessica Fletcher: But what did killing Mr. Helman solve for you? He was only following the network’s orders.

Nick Brody: Without Helman, I had a better-than-even chance of staying with the show. I had more experience than any of them. To hell with the audience research. So I wasn’t young, vicious or even pretty, but I was the one who could talk sense to them. I’m a newsman. I’m not a performer. I tried to tell Doug that. But whatever he started out believing, in the end, he bought the idea that the wrapping paper, the wrapping paper, was more important than the package. If you don’t mind, I’d like to finish this rewrite while we’re waiting for the sheriff. Just dial nine for an outside line.

What’s next?

The murder of the leading lady’s understudy disrupts a play starring two previously married actors. John Astin directs this one.

Directed and written by John Harrison (First Assistant Director on Creepshow and Day of the Dead — not to mention his stunning turn as the villain of Effects), this episode is all about composer Pete Bancroft (Michael Warren, Hill Street Blues), who is burned out on playing the piano, out of ideas and seemingly discourages his daughter Justine (Lisa Bonet) from following in his footsteps. But then Wilson Farber (Philip Roth) offers him an electric piano out of the blue. It’s powered by thought, not by playing, and seems to turn his ideas into hit songs. But you know what they say: if an offer is too good to be true, well…the keyboard acts as a psychic parasite, feeding on Justine’s youthful vibrance. And this is after Pete ignored her talent! Now, he wonders how he can escape this Faustian deal.

At its core, the story explores the commodification of art. Pete Bancroft isn’t just a tired musician; he’s a man experiencing the soul-crushing weight of professional expectation. When Wilson Farber presents the thought-powered keyboard, it represents the ultimate shortcut of output without the labor of practice or the pain of composition. Keep in mind, this was made decades before AI.

Speaking of music, Harrison also composed the score, with cues very similar to those in Day of the Dead.