Barnaby Jones (TV Series) Blood Relations (1975) User Reviews

Identity theft...kept within the family.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 20 July 2021]

When the story begins, a young lady is meeting with a private eye she hired. However, as he's crossing the road, a car deliberately swerves and kills the dick! As a result, Barnaby Jones takes over the case and investigates the hit and run.

The trail is an odd one. It seems that his new client was adopted and is looking for her biological mother. But at the same time, the birth mother's sister and her boyfriend are looking for her, as apparently there's some inheritance and the birth mother knows nothing about this. The evil sister (Eileen Brennan) creates a ruse to make her sister run away, and then the evil sis pretends to be her sister. As a result, when Barnaby finds the birth mother, it's actually her evil sister who wants to convince the lady that she's her mother!

The plot is highly unusual. What confused me a bit was the financial angle. While the evil sister and her boyfriend talked about money, no one else did that I recall and I'm not even positive that there was any inheritance. Odd...but an otherwise enjoyable show with a satisfying ending.

BEWARE OF SMILING RELATIVES!

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 5 January 2024]

Dick Nelson, who went on to write for TJ HOOKER and FALCON CREST, wrote this super episode, special thanks to Eileen Brennan's over the top performance. A must see.

It's all about a multi million dollar inheritance, due twentysomething Kelly (played by Trish Stewart), who was adopted. Her actual mother has apparently disappeared(?), and enter her most deviously clever sister, Anita Wilson (played to the top by Eileen Brennan), who claims SHE is her real biological mother, and entitled to all the money! Truly, human nature at its very, very worst!

Does not get any better than this, and with a sterling cast to make it all work. Brennan, best known for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, a few years earlier, is spot on as one cunning lady. She steals the show here. Originally, Brennan was a comedian, but she made her mark in many dramatic parts, such as this one.

Trish Stewart, a former airline stewardness, and in an early role, is very good as the young woman caught up with some sininster folks. Stewart turned up in similar roles throughout her career, later appearing in soap operas.

Popular character actress Mitzi Hoag plays Mary.

A good, old fashioned mystery you do not want to miss, perhaps the best episode written by Dick Nelson, who did nine for the series.

Look for the Franklin Canyon (Beverly Hills) ranger station/cabin, which was used quite a bit on MANNIX. If that place could talk, also used in the old HIGHWAY PATROL tv series.

SEASON 4 EPISODE 11 remastered CBS dvd box set.

Writers are Still Using the Barnaby Jones Checklist

[WYAdams · 1/10 · 28 August 2022]

Somehow the writers managed to turn a hunt for a woman's natural mother into a show with the formulaic two murders and a shootout. The only box they didn't check off was the ubiquitous milk plug. There's nothing new here except that the attempted murder at the end which Barnaby miraculously showed up just in time to stop with one of his miraculous shoulder shots didn't invo!ve a cover up.

It is difficult to tell one show from another except for minor details used to set the stage for the two murders and final shootout. If you have seen one episode, you have effectively seen them all, that is why I don't think it is necessary to give a spoiler warning.