Let every Hart to Hart prepare Him room! And television and nature sing! Hart to Hart is a mystery television show featuring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as the titular crime-solving power couple."'Tis the Season to Be Murdered" is the fifth episode of the program's second season. It originally aired on December 16, 1980. In this episode, the Harts must go undercover in order to unravel a toy-thief-slash-murderer's hokey holiday hullabaloo. Listen to your favorite partridges in a pear tree ...
Dec 13, 2021•52 min•Ep. 62
No, no, not that Friday the 13th! Friday the 13th: The Series was a fantasy horror television series about cousins named Ryan and Micki who inherited an antique shop filled with demonic, jinxed items. Together with their friend Jack, they've got to track down all the infernal inventory that's out in the world wreaking havoc and claiming lives. The episode "Tales of the Undead" is the tenth installment of the first season, and it aired on January 30, 1988. In this episode, a menacing medieval cha...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 61
More like Doomtown, am I right? Boomtown was an earnest police drama set in Los Angeles that aired in the early 2000s. With Band of Brothers alumnus Graham Yost at the helm, the show initially attempted to employ an innovative non-linear approach to storytelling. Then network executives swooped in during the second season, and changed it into a flavorless police procedural. Season two premiered on September 26, 2003. The show quickly got yanked from the air, until NBC dumped four episodes in lat...
Nov 29, 2021•59 min•Ep. 60
In this show, the only end zone you’ll find yourself caring about is the end credits. “The Mystery of the Solid Gold Kicker” aired May 22, 1977, as the fourteenth episode of the first season of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. This episode featured Pamela Sue Martin as Nancy Drew, along with William Schallert, Jean Rasey, Michael Pataki, Martin Kove, Terry Kiser, and Jillian Kesner. Oh, and abrasive sports journalist Howard Cosell as himself and TV's Mark Harmon as the titular gold kicker. I...
Nov 22, 2021•55 min•Ep. 59
The FBI Story ? More like The Boring Story: Special Agent Jimmy Stewart Harangues Drowsy Quantico Recruits . The FBI Story is a 1959 film from director Mervyn LeRoy starring James Stewart, Vera Miles, Murray Hamilton, Larry Pennell, Nick Adams, Diane Jergens, Jean Willes, Joyce Taylor, and Victor Millan. Oh, and let's not forget, this film introduces a sharp newcomer named J. Edgar Hoover, as himself! To be fair, Hoover should also get a producer credit, given that he had a lot of editorial cont...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 58
If you've ever wondered what it'd be like to see the Little Rascals go up against two vicious murderers ... then seek psychiatric help immediately! Mystery to Me returns this week with a double-feature of two short films from the Our Gang series— alias The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals. Both shorts play with the detective genre. One is your average silly Our Gang fare. The other has actual death and an extended shoot-out scene. Hide and Shriek is a short film that was released on June 18...
Nov 08, 2021•51 min•Ep. 57
So ... about Last Night in Soho ... Last Night in Soho is a psychological thriller from director Edgar Wright, released on October 29, 2021 in the United Kingdom. The film stars Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Diana Rigg, Terence Stamp, Michael Ajao, Rita Tushingham, Margaret Nolan, and Synnøve Karlsen. McKenzie plays Eloise, a fragile, daydream-believing fashionista from Cornwall who's overwhelmed by the intensity and bustle of London after she's accepted into a competitive fash...
Nov 01, 2021•58 min•Ep. 56
Happy Halloween! To celebrate the spookiest day of the year, we watched two films centered around everyone's favorite crime-fighting, ghost-unmasking canine: Scooby Dooby Doo! Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf is an animated television film that came out on November 13, 1988. In this picture, Scooby Doo's best friend Shaggy Rogers is forcibly transformed into a werewolf so he can drive in Dracula's nonsensical "Monster Road Rally." A twelve-hour long, tedious car race ensues. This flick is ...
Oct 31, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 55
Slip into your rainbow hoodies and let's get to sleuthing! Only Murders in the Building is a mystery-comedy series on Hulu that premiered on August 31, 2021 and wrapped up its first season on October 19, 2021. It stars series co-creator Steve Martin, along with Martin Short and Selena Gomez. There's also plenty of celebrity cameos sprinkles throughout its 10 episodes. The series is the brainchild Martin and John Hoffman, and follows the wacky adventures of a trio of amateur true crime podcasters...
Oct 25, 2021•52 min•Ep. 54
So you're telling me ... radio killed the British war effort star? Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror is a 1942 wartime mystery from director John Rawlins. The story is based somewhat on "His Last Bow" by Arthur Conan Doyle, a 1917 Sherlock Holmes story hyping World War I. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce star as Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. They're tasked with tracking down an evil podcaster Nazi saboteur announcing his nefarious deeds on the radio. It's basically Lord Haw-Haw, but b...
Oct 18, 2021•51 min•Ep. 53
You have the right to rock out in the middle of your police procedural. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a television critic's review. You have a right to composer Randy Newman. If you cannot afford memorable songs, just stuff your episodes with boring tunes. Cop Rock is the unholy union of a police procedural and a musical, from the twisted mind of Steven Bocho, the creator behind Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Doogie Howser, M.D. , and NYPD Blue. Basically, it's a cop show wh...
Oct 11, 2021•40 min•Ep. 52
Caution! This review has a license to spoil. If you haven’t seen the latest James Bond film yet, hold off on listening, as we’ll be talking about major plot points and the ending in-depth. No Time to Die is the twenty-fifth film in the James Bond series. Directed by Cary Fukunaga, it stars Daniel Craig as the famed spy, along with Léa Seydoux, Rami Malek, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Lashana Lynch, Jeffrey Wright, Christoph Waltz, Rory Kinnear, Ralph Fiennes, Billy Magnussen, Ana de Armas, and Da...
Oct 08, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 51
Adam-12 is a police procedural from the mind of Dragnet creator Jack Webb. The series stars Martin Milner as seasoned LAPD officer Pete Malloy and Kent McCord as the promising rookie Jim Reed. This particular episode — "Log 174: Loan Sharks" — takes a bite out of the issue of organized crime employing violent debt collection methods. It's the first episode of the show's third season, and aired on September 19, 1970. Arthur Hunnicutt, Tim Rooney, William Boyett, and Kenneth Tobey also appear in t...
Oct 04, 2021•45 min•Ep. 50
SVU is back! Airing on September 23, 2021, "And the Empire Strikes Back" and "Never Turn Your Back on Them" make up the two-part premiere for the twenty-third season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Mariska Hargitay stars as the just, empathetic Captain Olivia Benson, with Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, Jamie Gray Hyder, and Demore Barnes rounding out the cast. This confusingly-plotted two-parter follows the SVU team as they pursue a sleazy, entitled Congressman who splits his t...
Sep 27, 2021•54 min•Ep. 49
It was the best of Grimes, it was the worst of Grimes. Perry Mason was a popular legal drama-mystery series centered around the exploits of its titular character, an ingenious criminal defense lawyer played by Raymond Burr. Author Erle Stanley Gardner initially dreamed up the character, who has inspired movies, radio serials, a CBS show, and a recent HBO series. "The Case of the Dead Ringer" was the twenty-sixth episode of the long-running series' ninth season. The genesis of this storyline is t...
Sep 20, 2021•42 min•Ep. 48
Barney Miller rang in its seventh season with a few assorted homicides. The long-running police sitcom starred Hal Linden as the titular captain, along with Max Gail, Ron Glass, James Gregory, and Steve Landesburg. In "Homicide: Part One" and "Homicide: Part Two" — episodes that ran on October 30 and November 6 of 1980 — the entire station gets overhauled into the NYPD's new homicide bureau. And these detectives are not happy about the switch from mediating lighthearted community spats to huntin...
Sep 13, 2021•37 min•Ep. 47
Arg, matey, contrary to what the title suggests, this ain't a pirate flick! Tell No Tales is a 1939 mystery film from director Leslie Fenton, starring Melvyn Douglas, Louise Platt, Gene Lockhart, and Douglass Dumbrille. Douglas plays Michael Cassidy, the civic-minded editor of The Evening Guardian newspaper. When a competitor threatens to shut down his beloved paper forever, Cassidy sets out to solve the mystery of a recent, high-profile kidnap-murder. He ends up chasing his tail for a while, en...
Sep 06, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 46
Gather round, ace Boomtown-booms! Boomtown was a police drama set in Los Angeles that premiered on September 29, 2002. Created by Band of Brothers alumnus Graham Yost, the show employs an innovative non-linear approach to storytelling. Episodes are divided between the perspective of Donnie Wahlberg's LAPD Detective Joel Stevens, Mykelti Williamson's LAPD Detective Bobby "Fearless" Smith, Neal McDonough's Assistant District Attorney David McNorris, Gary Basaraba's LAPD Officer Ray Hechler, Jason ...
Aug 30, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 45
The great detective takes on the Great White North! The Scarlet Claw is a 1944 Sherlock Holmes picture in the series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. Once again, Roy William Neill is back to direct. Holmes and Watson find themselves in Canada for a paranormal convention. But things take a darker turn when one of the occult expert's wife is found murdered, her throat slashed by a claw. When Holmes receives a letter from the dead one, he decides to travel to the small Northern town to dedu...
Aug 23, 2021•59 min•Ep. 44
Airing on May 8, 1952, "The Big September Man" is the eleventh episode of Dragnet's first season. And this isn't the jolly, strange colorized Dragnet that you may be used to. This is a drab, black-and-white, barely-out-of-radio program! Starring creator Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday, this episode also features Barney Phillips, Stacy Harris, George Sawaya, Eddie Firestone, and Jonathan Hole. In this episode, Friday catches a case of brutal homicide. A young woman has been beaten to death with ...
Aug 16, 2021•36 min•Ep. 43
"Fire Island" is the twenty-third episode of Naked City's first season. Directed by Disney veteran Norman Tokar, this procedural first aired on March 3, 1959, and stars John McIntire, James Franciscus, Henry Hull, Harry Bellaver, George Maharis, Michael Conrad, and Guy Raymond. Tensions smolder as a gang of moonshiners hunker down for the winter in a little Fire Island shack. But the sociopath of the bunch is about to spark a calamity for the criminals. Meanwhile, the Naked City detectives bundl...
Aug 09, 2021•29 min•Ep. 42
Won't you take me to Freaktown? Boomtown was a short-lived police drama set in Los Angeles that came out in 2002 to critical acclaim. It's artsy claim-to-fame was its non-linear approach to storytelling, with episodes featuring different points of view, including the perspectives of detectives, patrol cops, lawyers, reporters, paramedics, victims, and criminals. Airing on November 3, 2002, "The Freak" is a pivotal episode of this series. This episode focuses on Mykelti Williamson's Detective Bob...
Aug 02, 2021•50 min•Ep. 41
Good morning, angels! Airing September 22, 1976, "Hellride" is the first episode of the heavenly seventies TV staple Charlie's Angels. Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, and Kate Jackson star as a trio of beautiful badasses who ditch a sexist police department to join the Townsend Agency and get to work solving real cases. The outfit is run by the eponymous, mysterious, and faceless Charlie, and also staffed by David Doyle's Bosley. In this episode, the Angels must face off against some devilish race...
Jul 26, 2021•45 min•Ep. 40
Murder on the Orient Express is a 1974 film conducted — er, directed — by Sidney Lumet, featuring a first-class-car-load of stars, including Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, Anthony Perkins, Jacqueline Bisset, Michael York, and Wendy Hiller. The flick is a highly faithful adaptation of Agatha Christie's famous 1934 classic. Albert Finney stars as Hercule Poirot, a mustachioed detective settling in for a leisurely train ride on the Orient Express. But f...
Jul 19, 2021•48 min•Ep. 39
Blondes at Work is a 1938 film directed by Frank McDonald, featuring Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, and Tom Kennedy. It's the fourth film in the Torchy Blane series. In this installment, journalist Torchy Blane must get to work on a tough story without the assistance of her fiancé and favorite source, Steve McBride. But the intrepid fair-haired reporter has a few tricks up her sleeves when it comes to cracking the case of a murdered retailer. And all of them involve banter and ghastly breeches ...
Jul 12, 2021•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 38
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for two newlyweds to buy National Treasure at Half Price Books and watch it after their honeymoon, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare their opinions of said film and the feelings which impel them to view it on or around the Fourth of July. Remember when dumb conspiracy theories were fun and revolved around Masonic scavenger hunts instead of celebrities drinking blood? National Treasure remembers. ...
Jul 05, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 37
This episode will leave your sanity on the ropes! "The Lady on Thursday at Ten" aired on January 1, 1978. Show star Pamela Sue Martin rang in the year with her last ever appearance on The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, with John Karlen, Nicholas Hammond, Tony Burton, and Simon Oakland also featuring in the show. Nancy Drew's efforts to escape from New York take a tragic turn when she seemingly runs over a man in one of Manhattan's dark alleyways. Police officers at the scene assure her that th...
Jun 28, 2021•1 hr 46 min•Ep. 36
Finally, a plucky reporter who's not afraid to say, "Damn the journalistic ethics, full speed ahead!" The Adventurous Blonde is a 1937 film directed by Frank McDonald, featuring Glenda Farrell, Barton MacLane, and Tom Kennedy. It's the third film in the Torchy Blane series. Farrell stars as Blane, a glamorous, golden-haired gal with a gift for gab and getting scoops through her guy, Detective MacBride. But the rest of the fourth estate isn't too happy with her success. A group of mischievous jou...
Jun 21, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 35
Joe Friday of the LAPD redefines intelligence by targeting the dumbest terrorist alive. "Intelligence: DR-34" is the twenty-seventh episode of the third season of Dragnet — also known as Dragnet 1969. This episode aired on April ,17 1969, and starred show creator Jack Webb as the stalwart Sergeant Joe Friday. An awkward night school reunion takes a disturbing turn for Friday when a Scotch-swilling militiaman approaches him with a request. This right-wing nut-job wants LA's finest to illicitly se...
Jun 14, 2021•39 min•Ep. 34
Time to glide straight over entertainment and fun, and land far away, in the desolate fields of disappointment. "The Mystery of the Diamond Triangle" is the fourth episode of the first season of the The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. In this 1977 installment, Pamela Sue Martin plays famed sleuth Nancy Drew. Nancy is out to obtain the "Diamond Triangle," a coveted award bestowed on glider pilots. While soaring above her hometown of River Heights one day, she spots a car wreck on a road that's b...
Jun 07, 2021•47 min•Ep. 33
