A Ransom in Diamonds

Season 6 was a surprisingly good season for being so late in the series run. There's a lot of good episodes but this isn't one! I think this is far worse than gang war!!!! Very predictable and very shaky storyline! Also the attempt at comedy is very lame! Not funny in the least.

This episode had a lot of plot twists and featured good acting from supporting guest stars. It was clearly a spin-off episode and the planned new series never developed. Kind of shame in that the banter between the two guest stars was enjoyable.

It was refreshing to see guest stars given a positive role as in most prior episodes they are either victims or criminals. What you see instead are two younger men struggling to find their way starting in a joint legal and private investigator partnership forged by their friendship in the Vietnam War.

In this regard, many have made the point that this concept pre-dated the Magnum PI plotline by several years. The comparison is valid. It also points to the frailties and hit and miss nature of Hollywood, where most TV pilots never see the light of day and remain interesting "what if" stories about stars that never were and characters that might have been popular.

In this episode, the two younger men form an eventual tacit partnership with the two Jones's, and it's a fun ride to watch unfold.

The reason for this special episode is producer Quinn Martin needed another show. THE FBI, STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO and CANNON were all off the air, and it just made sense to promote a new cop show via BARNABY JONES.

The ingredients were there, and with two excellent actors. Felton Perry (known for ROBOCOP and MAGNUM FORCE) plays an attorney called Alexander who teams with his former Vietman partner Sam Weisman to assist new client Mr. Christie (Dennis Patrick) whose wife has been kidnapped. It gets even more complicated with the kidnappers after diamonds. Jewelry and diamonds seemed to be a common denom in the series.

The guys don't do quite the job they're expected to do, mixing in a little dark comedy at times -- requring Barnaby and JR to jump in and rescue Mr. Christie's wife. Not a bad pilot episode, and there's some good action scenes, though it was not picked up by CBS or any other network. BARNABY JONES ratings were modest, so that could have also been a factor. Still interesting to watch, and with two very likable characters. Weisman later turned to directing, known for FAMILY TIES.

Gerald Sanford did the story, later writing for CHIPS. Once again, it proves you can't beat old pro Barnaby who always has some tricks up his sleeve. SEASON 6 EPISODE 16 remastered. CBS/Paramount dvd box set.

Apparently, "A Ransom in Diamonds" is a show that was intended as a platform for a spinoff series. This is exactly how "Barnaby Jones" began...as a spinoff from "Cannon". But unlike "Barnaby Jones", the spinoff series never materialized. I think this probably is for two reasons....the two leads in the proposed series weren't that interesting (at least as they were written) and the mystery didn't seem very mysterious and so I guessed the solution early in the show.

When the show begins, Mr. Christie (Dennis Patrick) has hired two incompetents (Felton Perry and Sam Weisman) to help him. It seems his wife was apparently kidnapped and he is using this private dick and his friend to handle the transfer of the diamonds Christie is using for the payoff. However, two scruffy looking guys rip off the loot on the way to the drop-off and now the kidnappers are demanding even more! Barnaby and Jedediah get involved when Christie's employer discovers that the diamonds used for the ransom belonged to the company...and Christie is in SERIOUS trouble.

As I watched the show, I found myself way ahead of the show in figuring out the crime. You wonder why they'd pick such a weak story in order to generate interest in a new series. It certainly hindered any chance at the spinoff. But what also hindered is that the 'heroes' seemed really dim and not particularly likeable....which is an even bigger problem. Overall a clear miss.

In this episode, Barnaby and J.R. investigate a jewel theft and find that it's linked to a kidnapping. They also find themselves working with two feisty newcomers to the sleuthing business, lawyer Alexander Street (Felton Perry) and investigator Stanley Donaldson (Sam Weisman). These two young men, who met while fighting in Vietnam, make a few rookie mistakes in the course of the story, generating some laughs, but they learn fast and their banter is fun. Given the prominence of these characters in the plot, and the detailed history that's revealed about them, it's clear that this episode was a backdoor pilot, a test run for a proposed TV series that never got made. Perhaps the concept of wisecracking buddies solving crimes and reminiscing about Vietnam was just slightly ahead of its time, or maybe the network bosses were slow to realize its potential. But Street and Donaldson were the forerunners of "Magnum" and related hits in the 1980s.