Crossed Up (1 Feb. 1987)

Grady nurses Jessica who must stay in bed with her bad back for weeks, bored to death. During a hurricane she overhears a crossed-up call from a raspy male voice about selling a Cabot Cove ... See full summary »

Director:

David Hemmings

Writers:

Peter S. Fischer (creator), Richard Levinson (creator),

Stars:

Angela Lansbury, Tom Bosley, Colleen Camp

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Angela Lansbury	...	Jessica Fletcher
Tom Bosley	...	Sheriff Amos Tupper
Colleen Camp	...	Dody Rogers
Tony Dow	...	Gordon Rogers
Stephanie Dunnam	...	Leslie Cameron
Michael Horton	...	Grady Fletcher
James Carroll Jordan	...	Adam Rogers
Gisele MacKenzie	...	Mona
Sandy McPeak	...	Morgan Rogers
William Windom	...	Dr. Seth Hazlitt
Henry Brandon	...	Abel Gorcey
James McIntire	...	Deputy Wells
Yolanda Nava	...	TV Announcer

Storyline

Grady nurses Jessica who must stay in bed with her bad back for weeks, bored to death. During a hurricane she overhears a crossed-up call from a raspy male voice about selling a Cabot Cove estate and killing an old male relative. Seth, Grady and Amos think she imagines the hired gun, but indeed that night widowed lumber millionaire Jedediah Rogers is found shot in his lavish estate where he lived alone with his sons Adam, Gordon and Morgan, who wanted him to leave the business and have no alibis, and orphaned granddaughter Leslie Cameron who was about to be made the sole heir instead. While Amos believes it's a mere burglary, Jessica joins the investigation by remote control Grady. Soon after once fired employee Abel Gorcey dies in a suspicious accident, a potential hired gun, and more danger lurks...

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Plot Keywords:

bed

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 February 1987 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 29, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

For Henry Brandon, who plays the killed character Abel Gorcey, this was the last TV part in his nearly half a century long career.

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Quotes

Sheriff Amos Tupper: He's got an arrest sheet as long as a chorus girl's legs.

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Connections

References My Mother the Car (1965)

User Reviews

"Sorry, Wrong Eavesdropper"

This episode marks one of the last appearances of Henry Brandon, who had acted in 170 film and television productions since 1932, and also one of the last acting roles for Gisele MacKenzie, famous vocalist of the 1950's.

Grady Fletcher (Michael Horton) returns to Cabot Cove to nurse his Aunt Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), who remains bedfast, after throwing out her back more than one week earlier. While Jessica appreciate her nephew's ministering to her needs, she expresses frustration with her limitations, as well as Grady's cooking from his recipe book of limited imagination. In other words, she is not a happy camper.

To compound matters, the weather service has announced that Hurricane Ida is heading toward coastal Maine, bringing intermittent high-speed winds and downpours interlaced with periods of calm. This explains the fierce weather as seen through the windows of local residences, while simultaneous outdoor scenes display a less hostile environment. These differences may, therefore, be perceived as non-goofs because we need to hear the outdoor conversations, and notice onlookers, while hair and makeup must behave in manageable fashion, as well.

Back in Jessica's room, she attempts to telephone the weather service, when the lines become crossed with a conversation between a raspy-voiced male and a scruffy-voiced one, they discussing plans for the murder of an elderly gentleman, which "must be taken care of tonight."

Jessica immediately dials Sheriff Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley), who cannot be reached, and so she checks with Operatore Letitia (uncredited Voice actress), who cooperates with efficiency to the best of the telephone company's capacity during a series of conversations between them.

Doctor Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) visits with Jessica to hand his reluctant patient a Medical Alert device, to summon him and/or emergency medical personnel in the event of catastrophe, while Grady returns to receive his Aunt's bidding to track down the Sheriff.

Abel Gorcey (Henry Brandon), a former employee of J.L. Rogers Lumberyard, who had been incarcerated for five years on theft charges, stops at Mona's Diner, but skips from the premises upon Mona's (Gisele MacKenzie) noticing Sheriff Tupper's arrival. In the process, he steers his van hastily, and in the process, nearly to run down Grady on bicycle, as he searches for Amos.

While Seth and Grady express confidence in Jessica's capacity, Amos chalks the matter to coincidence when they learn the next morning via TV Announcer's (Yolanda Nava) report that a murder has been committed on the Rogers' estate, to the north of Cabot Cove (within the jurisdiction of Sheriff Tupper).

As Amos and Deputy Wells (James McIntire) investigate the Rogers' estate, Jessica sends Grady to serve as her "eyes and ears" to search the premises for clues.

Grady, thereby, is reunited with Leslie Cameron (Stephanie Dunnam), whose mother, née Rogers, and father both perished when she was a child, thereafter reared by Grandfather Jedidiah Rogers, whose three sons continue to operate his Lumberyard empire.

An investigation by Amos and Jessica, vicariously through Grady, determines that Morgan Rogers (Sandy McPeak), Gordon Rogers (Tony Dow), Adam Rogers (James Carroll Jordan) and Gordon's wife, Dody Rogers (Colleen Camp) are named in Jedidiah's will, along with Leslie, who would solely inherit the estate if the new will were filed the next day, as recounted in Grandfather Rogers' missing diary.

And as communications continue to prove "Crossed Up," another body is discovered, to complicate the investigation.