Barnaby Jones
To Catch a Dead Man
TV Flash files “To Catch a Dead Man” as hour 2 of 178 in the TV Flash guide — Barnaby Jones (1973–1980) on CBS, season 1, episode 2, aired 1973-02-04, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E02: listed hour 2 of 178 in the Barnaby Jones guide, hour 2 of 13 in season 1. It aired 1973-02-04 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Requiem for a Son” (S01E01). Next is “Sunday: Doomsday” (S01E03).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Successful attorney Phil Carlyle, 42, plans to run out on his wife Dorsey, 47 and away with his mistress Diane Stewart, 28, and decides to stage his own "death" as a cover. He persuades friend Mike Hartney, 35, to sail his cabin cruiser which he has time-bombed and spread with his personal identification papers; after the explosion, it is assumed "Phil Carlyle" is dead. Julie Barton, 25, hires Barnaby to find her missing lover, Mike, and Jones tracks down another of Mike's old girlfriends, Diane Stewart, who is living in isolation with "Fred Williams" (Phil Carlyle). When Jones intrudes on their idyll and seems to guess their ruse, Diane panícs and Phil strangles her, Barnaby visits their cabin and accuses "Fred Williams" of being Phil Carlyle. Phil confesses and is about to kill Baraaby, who cleverly foils him and turns him in to the police.
Viewer FAQ
Where does To Catch a Dead Man sit in the Barnaby Jones guide?
S01E02 is listed hour 2 of 178 — hour 2 of 13 in season 1, season 1 episode 2.
When did Barnaby Jones S01E02 air?
To Catch a Dead Man aired 1973-02-04 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need The Beverly Hillbillies first?
No. Ebsen's Clampett fame is the career footnote. This is a Quinn Martin PI hour with a home lab, not a rural-comedy reunion.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Buddy Ebsen clocks out of Jed Clampett overalls and into a PI trench with a home lab. An older lead in a youth-drunk decade, solving murders with patience instead of karate. Second-act star power: gray hair owning a Quinn Martin hour without pretending to be thirty.
Requiem for a Son names the origin as grief: a retired private investigator returns to the game after his son's murder, and Buddy Ebsen clocks out of Jed Clampett overalls into a Quinn Martin trench with a home lab. CBS's Barnaby Jones (1973–1980), from Edward Hume, ran eight seasons, 178 episodes of steady crime. Lee Meriwether's Betty Jones, Mark Shera's J.R., and John Carter's Lt. Biddle filled the office. Ebsen was in his sixties as a leading man — rare in a youth-obsessed decade — and often crossed over with…
Filed against
- Buddy Ebsen as Barnaby Jones
Buddy Ebsen’s Jed Clampett struck oil and moved The Beverly Hillbillies into a ratings weapon — 1960s catalog rube-versus-elites, then Barnaby Jones clocking out of overalls into a PI trench with a home lab. TV Flash files him as the…
- Lee Meriwether as Betty Jones
Lee Meriwether's Betty Jones kept Barnaby Jones in the lab and the living room — Buddy Ebsen clocking out of overalls into a PI trench, an older lead in a youth-drunk decade, murders solved with patience instead of karate. TV Flash files…
- Mark Shera as J.R. Jones
Mark Shera’s J.R. Jones partnered Buddy Ebsen’s second-act PI trench on Barnaby Jones — home lab, patience instead of karate — then hit S.W.A.T.’s helmet-and-van gloss. An older-lead Quinn Martin hour; disco-era tactical acronym…
- John Carter as Lt. John Biddle
John Carter’s Lt. John Biddle backed Barnaby Jones as Quinn Martin hour muscle — Buddy Ebsen clocking out of Jed Clampett overalls into a PI trench with a home lab. An older lead in a youth-drunk decade, murders solved with patience…