I Know It's Not Really a P.I. Show, But...

Dr. Mark Sloan
Created by Dean Hargrove

Widower DR. MARK SLOAN is a teaching physician who keeps butting his nose into active police investigations, while working as a consultant to the local department in several TV movies and the subsequent TV series Diagnosis: Murder in the 1990s and beyond. Okay, the show has almost nothing to do with private eyes, film noir or hard-boiled fiction, being a lighthearted piece of coziness, a sort of a Murder, He Prescribed, with a scary similiarity to Matlock.

Very typical of TV mysteries in the mid to late-90's, actually. Elderly, barely credible, almost forgotten TV stars playing prying, snooping elderly, barely credible amateur wannabe detectives. At least Barnaby Jones was a pro. However, there are two pretty good reasons for including at least a passing reference to this show on this site:.

• .Dr. Mark Sloan was originally introduced as a character in the P.I. show Jake and the Fatman.
  .
• Eternal TV eye Joe Mannix (played by Mike Connors) returned to television after over twenty years in an DIAGNOSIS: MURDER episode in which Joe and his old friend Dr. Mark Sloan solve a 25-year-old murder case. The episode featured several clips from a 1973 episode of MANNIX and Pernell Roberts and Beverly Garland reprising their guest-starring roles from the original show. It was a smart, witty and fitting tribute to the ultimate 1960's private eye show.

Evidently, you can't kill this thing with a stick. It continues to be immensely (and inexplicably) popular with everyone from grannies to my five-year old niece (who plans on marrying Jesse). Now that the show has finally ended its long run, Penguin/Putnam/NAL has announced a new series of original Diagnosis: Murder books by our pal Lee Goldberg, one of the writers for the series and a man who knows how to write a solid tie-in.. The first, The Silent Partner, came out in September 2003, and Janet Evanovich called it "a whodunit thrill ride... a high-octane mystery that moves like a bullet train."

TELEVISION

• DIAGNOSIS OF MURDER
  (CBS)
  Made for Television Movie
  Premiere: January 5, 1992
  Starring: Dick Van Dyke as DR. MARK SLOAN
  .
• THE HOUSE ON SYCAMORE STREET
  (1992, CBS)
  Made for Television Movie
  Premiere: May 1, 1992
  Starring: Dick Van Dyke as DR. MARK SLOAN
  .
• A TWIST OF THE KNIFE
  (1993, CBS)
  Made for Television Movie
  Premiere: February 13, 1993
  Starring: Dick Van Dyke as DR. MARK SLOAN
  .
• DIAGNOSIS MURDER
  (1993-2001, CBS)
  Series
  60 minute episodes
  Writers: Lee Goldberg & William Rabkin
  Executive Producers: Fred Silverman, Dean Hargrove, Dick Van Dyke, Tom Chehak, Lee Goldberg
  Produced by The Fred Silverman Company and Dean Hargrove Productions, in association with Viacom Productions, Inc.
  Starring: Dick Van Dyke as DR. MARK SLOAN
  with Victoria Rowell, Barry Van Dyke, Michael Tucci, Charlie Schlatter
  .
• TOWN WITHOUT PITY
  (2002, CBS)
  Made for Television Movie
  Premiere: February 6, 2002
  Starring: Dick Van Dyke as DR. MARK SLOAN
  .
• WITHOUT WARNING
  (2002, CBS)
  Premiere: April 26, 2002
  Starring: Dick Van Dyke as DR. MARK SLOAN

NOVELS

• The Silent Partner (2003, by Lee Goldberg). Buy this book
• The Death Merchant (2004, by Lee Goldberg). Buy this book
• The Shooting Script (2004, by Lee Goldberg). Buy this book
• The Waking Nightmare (2005, by Lee Goldberg). Buy this book
• The Past Tense (2005, by Lee Goldberg). Buy this book
• The Dead Letter (2006, by Lee Goldberg). Buy this book
• The Double Life (2006, by Lee Goldberg). Buy this book
• The Last Word (2007, by Lee Goldberg).. Buy this book

RELATED LINKS

• DiagnosisMurder.co.uk
  Voted the best Diagnosis Murder website on the internet, offering the most services, information, downloads and more all for free to Diagnosis Murder fans. Web master Oliver Waters must be very proud.
  .
• Lee Goldberg: Adventures in Television

Regretfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.