Show93

The defendant, "Bob Lansing," seems friendly enough, but agreeing to share a motel room with a creepy stranger seems a bit of a stretch. (And one hopes there was a cot somewhere, because there appeared to be only one bed.) Submitted by francis, 3/19/12.

Walter Burke, whom we last spotted as Frankie Laine's diminutive flunky in TCOT Jaded Joker, has gone up in the world -- here as rural DA James Blackburn. Submitted by francis, 3/19/12

Murder weapons: You usually wouldn't think of a bookend as a murder weapon, but through 93 stories it was used three times (also in 46 & 55). That's the same number of times a fireplace poker was used (episodes 12, 44 and the second murder in 72...in #82 the victim was only stunned with the poker then killed with a decanter). Submitted by H. Mason 10/30/14

The view out the courtroom window is of a tree lined suburban street that has no relation to the exterior set. A surprisingly cigarette-free episode. It isn’t until the closing scene that Bob Lansing lights up the only cigarette in the show. DOD 09/09/19

Actually, Paul is smoking as he enters the room where Perry and Della are examining old newspapers. MsLinda 02/06/21

The Case of the Missing Mom: Why did no one try to find out who Bob's mother was? There is a between-the-lines presumption during Mason's questioning that Vivian dropped out of high school in 1936 because she was pregnant, and thus implying that little Bob would have been three in 1939 -- but did no one in the entire snoopy town realize that she had a child? Did Bob not care at all who his mother was? And who was "the Mexican woman" who took Bob to Salt Lake City? Submitted by catyron 11/30/2017.

In 1960 TV shows would not openly refer to middle class white women bearing illegitimate children, so this subject is treated obliquely here. After first establishing that Vivian knew Lin Aberdeen and that she had dropped out of high school three years before he robbed the bank and died, Perry abruptly drops this line of inquiry--with the Judge’s blessing. Then, when Perry next asks about her husband’s last words to her about Bob Lansing, she flies into an emotional rant which clearly expresses her own feelings: “He’s just like his father. He’s a lying, stealing, murdering, thieving…” Vivian has not been terribly upset by her husband’s death, which now makes it possible for her to finally marry Tom Quincy, so she must have some other reason for such strong feelings towards Lin Aberdeen and the young man who appears to be his son. Viewers are left to connect the dots. Submitted by ckbtao 4/30/2020

For the answer to these and other questions, tune in next week, same time, same channel. DOD 09/09/19