SCARECROW AND MRS. KING SEASON 4
The final season of a good spy/comedy show with Kate Jackson(Charlie's Angels)
& Bruce Boxleitner(Babylon 5, Tron)!! I think what killed this show is the lack of
humor in this last season!! This was much more serious than the previous three
seasons!! That, and Dr. Smyth I believed killed the show!!
EPISODE 1: STEMWINDER: PART 1(Sept. 19, 1986):
As our two favorite spies are getting closer, the agency
is involved with "War Games" that are being conducted by
us and them!! During the whole scenario, Lee and Amanda
are to play lovers who are having problems just so Lee
can meet up with a Russian agent to get some info!! And he
gets set up for a frame job!! A
EPISODE 2: STEMWINDER: PART 2(Sept. 26, 1986):
Continued from last episode, Lee and Amanda are on the run from the
agency as well as trying to find the real culprits behind the frame-up!!
These first two episodes are a lot more serious than the previous 3
years!! A
EPISODE 3: UNFINISHED BUSINESS(Oct. 3, 1986):
We find out a little about Lee's parents here!! They were apparently
also agents who were killed and framed by their killer for treason!!
Welp, he's back and he's out after a king, and of course Lee and Amanda
get into the middle of it, even though he tries to keep Amanda out of it!!
Although a little choppy, this is an excellent episode!! A+
EPISODE # 4: NO THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES(Oct. 10, 1986):
A Russian man has been "recruited" by the KGB for an assignment
in the US! While going to a meeting the car that he and his "handler"
are in has an accident and he ends up alone with a conscience that
says he doesn't want to do what they're asking him, and he goes to
Amanda to try to defect!! A-
EPISODE # 5: IT'S IN THE WATER(Oct. 17, 1986):
A conservation group pull a stunt and turns all the water in DC green!!
It happens to have a dude that Amanda knows, and she becomes involved,
as does the agency!! And so do some really bad dudes from other countries!
Guest starring Patti Yasutake(Star Trek: TNG[I believe her scene was cut, as
she is NOT in the episode!!]) & Ken Swofford(Murder She Wrote, Ellery Queen)!! A
EPISODE # 6: NIGHT CRAWLER(Oct. 31, 1986):
Amanda gets kidnapped and tortured to get information about Lee's
contacts!! A
EPISODE # 7: BILLY'S LOST WEEKEND(Nov. 7, 1986):
Billy has had one Hell of a weekend! Sadly, he can't remember any of
it, and this stops everything at the agency til he can piece it all together!!
This guest stars Nancy Culp(Beverly Hillbillies, The Parent Trap[1961],
Moon Pilot, The Bob Cummings Show)!! A
EPISODE # 8: PHOTO FINISH(Nov. 14, 1986):
Amanda's doing a security check on a company making a top secret
device when she suddenly gets called on the carpet and suspended for
a photo that showed up on an old school newspaper showing her in a
protest march!!
Guest starring here is Richard Herd(T.J. Hooker, Star Trek: TNG epsidoes
'Birthright" Parts 1 & 2, Star Trek: VOY - 4 episodes as Tom Paris' father
Admiral Paris, Seaquest 2032, V)! A
EPISODE # 9: THE MAN WHO DIED TWICE(Nov. 21, 1986):
A friend of Lee's who was a double agent from Vietnam asks for a meeting
with Lee, pulls a gun and starts shooting! Lee is forced to shoot back, making
his car explode and all that's left is a very burned, dead body!! Lee's in trouble,
the city's in trouble from the Chinese delegation in Washington, and the
man's son is being held hostage and is in grave danger!! A
EPISODE # 10: NEED TO KNOW(Dec. 5, 1986):
And another friend of Lee's is a reporter on a big story about someone
trying to destroy the country's stock of tritanium(?) that's important to the
defense of the US!! A
EPISODE # 11: SANTA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG(Dec. 19, 1986):
And another friend of Lee's(!) who had been working at a toy developing
company got fired along with most everyone else when it was taken over
by an over zealous dude who's making everything but toys!! A
EPISODE # 12: ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY(Jan. 2, 1987):
This time it's about a friend of Amanda's mom, Francine!! And he's got
a really big gambling problem, and THAT gets him into big trouble with
some gangster type dudes!!! A taste of The Sting here!!
Guest starring James Noble(Benson)!
Some continuity problems here: at the end of the episode, Lee shows
up at Amanda's house and gives her mom some flowers, then says
"you must be Philip"!! Well, two episodes back, Lee was at their house
and knew everyone!!! A
EPISODE # 13: PROMISES TO KEEP(Jan. 9, 1987):
This gets T.P. involved in a drug bust, but on the wrong side of the whole
thing!! And of course the story goes a lot deeper than that!!
Guest starring J. Michael Flynn(Star Trek: TNG episode "The Hunted",
4 episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise)!! A
EPISODE 14: RUMORS OF MY DEATH(Jan. 23, 1987):
Are greatly exagerated!! That's what Lee says when a decomposed body
is found at a construction site with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist,
and Lee's name on it!!
Guest starring Robin Curtis(Saavik in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)!!! A
EPISODE 15: BAD TIMING(Feb. 6, 1987):
The Russians target Lee for contamination of a very toxic ailment!
They figure that he will infect all the top notch agents!! This ends up
requiring Lee and Billy to break into the Russian embassy!!!
Guest starring here is Mark Alaimo(4 episodes of Star Trek: TNG,
Star Trek: DS9[as Gul Dukat], Total Recall, Tango And Cash), Harry
Townes(Star Trek: TOS episode "The Return Of The Archons", 5 episodes
of Perry Mason) & Jack Colvin(The Incredible Hulk)!! A
EPISODE 16: DO YOU TAKE THIS SPY?(Feb. 13, 1987):
I'm thinking that I don't really have to say what this one's about, but
for those who only watch this one episode I'll go ahead!!A dude breaks
out of a Turkish prison, who of course is an old aquaintance of Lee's, and
he's chosen to find out why he chose to come to America, as he's known
for stealing anything of value, and has gone to stealing state secrets!!
Oh, and Lee and Amanda are suppose to get married!!
Guest starring Nana Visitor(Star Trek: DS9)!! A
EPISODE 17: MISSION OF GOLD(Feb. 20, 1987):
A really short honeymoon here!! A dude in a gold scam opens fire on
Lee's uncle and a friend of his, and Amanda ends up collateral damage
as she gets shot and ends up in the hospital in critical condition!! It's all
about gold that was stolen and a way to dump it without being suspicious!!
Guest starring here is Henry Jones(Mrs. Columbo, Phyllis, Vertigo, Butch
Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Dick Tracy, Skin Game, Support Your Local
Gunfighter)!! A
EPISODE # 18: ONE FLEW EAST(Feb. 27, 1987):
A man who's suspicious of all things nuclear and makes his views known
to anyone who'll listen is kidnapped by another group of very right wing
people who want him to shut up!! The problem becomes known to the
agency when his daughter blames the agency of kidnapping him!! Side
story here is that Lee is having trouble connecting with one of Amanda's
sons!! A
EPISODE # 19: ALL THAT GLITTERS(May 7, 1987):
A soldier in the Granada war loots a safe after an attack!! The earrings
that were part of the loot wind up at a presidential party thrown for a
woman, who ends up with one of them, given to her by an anonymous
person!! Also taken at the time was some classified documents that are
now up for auction!! A
EPISODE # 20: SUITABLE FOR FRAMING(May 14, 1987):
In this, Francine is set up with a scam from the Russians called Trojan Horse!!
This also gets Lee into trouble!! A
EPISODE # 21: A MATTER OF CHOICE(May 21, 1987):
Lee is feeling responsible for the deaths of a couple of contacts when
a dude he put behind bars kills them!! He's running himself ragged trying
to catch him!! His search takes him to someone that Francine has just
reconnected with after being missing for 5 years!! This puts a lot of strain
between Lee and Francine!!
Strangely, Kate Jackson has gone almost totally missing in the last few
episodes!! A
EPISODE # 22: THE KHRUSHCHEV LIST(May 28, 1987):
The founder of the agency helps his girlfriend escape from Russia!!
This puts just about everyone in the world out after him and her!!
Guest starring Barbara Bain(Space: 1999, Mission: Impossible),
Howard Duff(Felony Squad, Flamingo Road, Police Story, Dante, Mr.
Adams & Eve) & Al Ruscio(The Phantom[1996], The Godfather Pt. III)!
It appears to me that they didn't know that the series was cancelled,
as again Kate Jackson is almost non-existent!!! Even though Kate was
very ill from cancer, the show was cancelled before she found out,
so that wasn't the reason!! A
From a reviewer at IMDb.com:
The cable network TVLand recently had a promotion weekend
that Scarecrow and Mrs. King was part of. I was so excited to
see a few episodes, but it made me wish that the series was on
DVD even more!
Scarecrow and Mrs. King was a great series about an unsuspecting
housewife who gets pulled into undercover spy work with a reluctant
and then fully accepting spy. It's a little hokey, but great overall. Kate
Jackson plays single mom, Amanda King and Bruce Boxleitner plays
spy, Lee Stetson. The show was really all-inclusive, action, romance
and comedy all in one.
The sexual tension in the 1st two seasons is a little like the dynamic
between Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepard in Moonlighting.- jedriscoll