Trivia / Diagnosis: Murder

• Acting for Two: More like Acting For Five, since "Inheritance of Death" has Dick Van Dyke playing Mark Sloan, millionaire Jonathan Nash, Nash's two sons, and Nash's daughter. He also portrays his own Identical Stranger in "Gangland".
  • In "Sleight-Of-Hand", Nick Chinlund plays both the murder victim, the hospital's janitor, and his twin brother, who's also his killer.
• California Doubling: The Earthonomy Headquarters building in "Dance of Danger" is The House of the Book performance hall and library building at the American Jewish University, Brandeis-Bardin Campus in Simi Valley, California. It's perhaps best known on TV as the Command Center from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers.
• Cast the Expert: In the episodes "Must Kill TV" and "Trash TV", the Sloans deal with overbearing TV producer Jackson Burley, who's played by legendary producer Stephen J. Cannell.
• Dawson Casting: Chuck Greer's Bratty Teenage Daughter Barbie in "Bringing Up Barbie" was played by 23-year-old Morgan Nagler.
• Descended Creator: Dick Van Dyke, a well-known computer enthusiast, did some special effects work for the series using his personal equipment.
• Directed by Cast Member: One episode is directed by Barry Van Dyke.
• Fake Nationality: "Murder in the Courthouse" features the Chinese actor James Hong playing Korean bombmaker Qwan Lok.
• Incestuous Casting: "Murder at the Telethon" casts siblings Dick and Joyce Van Patten. While their characters are divorced, their piano rendition of "Makin' Whoopee" is enough to cue the Brain Bleach.
• Real-Life Relative: Barry Van Dyke is Dick Van Dyke's son. Other members of the Van Dyke family appeared at various times during the show's run, including Dick's brother Jerry and daughter Stacy in one episode each as Dr. Mark's brother and daughter respectively. Barry's four children all appeared in multiple episodes, although not as Sloan family members: Carey as six different characters in as many episodes; Shane as four, the last of whom became a regular supporting role in the show's concluding months; Wes as three; and Taryn in three episodes. All four appeared together in two separate episodes, which therefore share the highest rating of 6.0 on the Van Dyke Scale...
  • As noted earlier on the page, Dick Van Patten and his sister Joyce play husband and wife in "Murder at the Telethon".
  • "Murder, Country Style" features Barbara Mandrell and her real-life daughter, Jaime Nicole Dudney, as mother and daughter characters.
• Reality Subtext: The home movie footage of Dr. Sloan and his son is Dick Van Dyke's actual home movies.

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