Tue 21 Dec 2010
Reviewed by Michael Shonk: TUCKER’S WITCH “The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon”
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[14] Comments
The Good Witch of Laurel Canyon. Premiere episode (of 12) for the CBS TV series Tucker’s Witch, 6 October 1982. Cast: Rick Tucker: Tim Matheson; Amanda Tucker: Catherine Hicks; Ellen Hobbes: Barbara Barrie; Marcia: Alfre Woodard; Lt. Fisk: Bill Morey. Guest cast: Danny: Ted Danson; Babs: Alexa Hamilton. Created and written by William Bast and Paul Huston. Director: Peter H. Hunt.
Husband and wife PI’s Rick and Amanda Tucker hunt for the person who is strangling married women in high-rise elevators. Want to guess how it ends?
The gimmick for this series is an odd one. Amanda is a witch. However this is no PI Bewitched. Amanda is trying to learn to control her special powers, special powers that is public knowledge.
The acting, especially Catherine Hicks, is the only thing going for this series, and some would claim the occasional cheesecake views of Hicks is the only reason to watch.
Before the opening credits we watch the killer in action. What follows is not some Columbo-like mystery, but instead a cliche-filled, lazily written romantic comedy mystery that fails in nearly every way possible.
Need to find a clue? Let the witch have a hunch about something and you have your clue or if she is wrong you have your comedy.
Feature a Los Angeles police department that accepts hunches from an unreliable witch, as well as does not notice all the victims were members of the same video dating service. A video dating service that gives all its members a pointless charm for no reason other than the writers need a clue for their witch to find.
Nearly every TV mystery cliche is in this one episode. Rick does not want to talk about the case because he wants to go on vacation (no signs they are packed to go anywhere). Seconds later they get a call that a client wants to hire them for this mystery. Rick tries to convince the paying client to drop case. Flighty sweet Amanda’s Mother who lives with them.
Wacky neighbors. Understanding stupid cop friend. Woman overhears them discuss the murders in first person and misunderstands. PIs break the law stealing personal property to find out who did it. They are so obvious about it the killer finds out. Killer tries to kill Rick in a car by cutting the brake line. Spend screen time watching the “out of control” car run over things.
Killer decides to make Amanda the next victim. Rick rushes to her rescue (though Amanda does hold her own vs the killer). Episode ends with cute bit where the loose ends are summed up during adorable characterization action.
You know you are watching bad 80’s network TV when the smartest character is Dickens, Amanda’s cat who uses the phone answering machine to let Rick know Amanda is with the killer. Top that, Lassie!
Reviewed from YouTube videos: Part One.
December 21st, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Steve, thanks for adding the link to You Tube’s Part One. The complete episode is in five parts and another episode, Big Mouth, is available to check out (in four parts) for the curious and the brave.
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:12 am
If you want to see something more than a little harder edged you need to catch Matheson’s guest turns as the psycopathic “Larry” on BURN NOTICE.
He’s scary.
December 22nd, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Michael
I know you warned us, but I when I found someone selling the complete set of TUCKER’S WITCH, all 12 episodes for $9.99, postpaid, I jumped at the chance. I’m a sucker, I guess, for obscure and short-run mystery and detective shows like this one — even though I must have turned my nose up on it something fierce when it was on, since I sure don’t remember it.
Jeff
I’m still watching the second season of BURN NOTICE on DVD, so I haven’t caught up with Mathieson on that show. I remember him in tons of other shows, though seldom as a regular. He’s been around since forever, or so I thought, unless I was mixing him up with someone else. So off to IMDB I went to check it out.
I was right. His first appearance on TV was in 1961. When he was 14.
— Steve
December 22nd, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Fun Follow-up Facts:
– Catherine Hicks and Tim Matheson weren’t the original choices for the leads in this series.
In the “original” original pilot – which bore the “Good Witch Of Laurel Canyon” title – Rick was played by Canadian actor Art Hindle.
Playing Amanda was a young British actress (by way of Canada) – Kim Cattrall.
If you thought Hicks was hot (even when she played a preacher’s wife in SEVENTH HEAVEN), you should have seen Cattrall when she was just starting out.
– To the best of my knowledge, this first pilot never was shown. I also don’t know whether it found its way onto YouTube or any other secondary site.
If anyone knows otherwise, please let us know.
December 22nd, 2010 at 2:35 pm
You are right about Kim Cattrall. I saw PORKY’S recently and she plays a gym teacher named Honeywell who howls like a dog when she is in the throes of passion.
December 22nd, 2010 at 3:07 pm
imdb.com mentions the “unaired pilot” with Hindle and Cattrall.
I also remember Crow from Mystery Science 3k having a crush on Kim Cattrall (I think there was even a love song for her).
Cattrall’s looks fit movies better and Hicks is a perfect TV beauty. In the old days before people would hit you over the head for saying such things, there was a casting saying. “The audience wants to f*ck movie stars and marry TV stars.”
I have told a couple of people I know about this review and everyone thinks the premise of a PI witch is a great one.
Steve, you need to do your review of the entire classic series. Any more nude scenes in the hot tub as the peeping tom neighbor watches?
Oh, the reason no one remembers this show was it aired opposite of ABC’ Dynasty and NBC’ Quincy. It lasted only a few episodes then was pulled off the air, and the rest of the series was shown during the spring and summer.
December 22nd, 2010 at 7:42 pm
My first memory of Kim Cattrall is when she was the villainous brunette in those John Jakes books that were turned into a TV mini-series around the time of the Bicentennial. Was the first one called The Bastard? The book was at least. The TV show probably got a title change. Can’t remember. Andrew Stevens was in it, too. He quickly bowed out of acting when his looks started to fade – I think he turned to producing. Kim, on the other hand, only got better with age.
John
December 22nd, 2010 at 9:03 pm
J.F., the TV mini series was called “The Bastard” and was syndicated by Universal in 1978. The first credit IMDb has for Kim Cattrall is a 1975 TV movie called “Rosebud”. Palestinian terrorists kidnap five rich girls.
Her latest was of course Sex and the City 2. and a British TV series called “Any Human Heart”. She was in two episodes. The series followed a novelist from his days in 1920’s Paris to 1950’s New York.
September 19th, 2016 at 12:05 am
Funny I only just noticed this ..
Rosebud was a theatrical movie, one of the final ones directed by Otto Preminger.
If you ever saw it, you’d know why.
Rosebud‘s other “distinction” was the screen acting debut/swan song of former NYC mayor John V. Lindsay (see “if you ever saw it …” above).
May 5th, 2019 at 3:09 am
Tucker’s Witch is available for viewing on the Roku, via The Archive app, for free. I watched the show when it aired originally and have reacquainted myself with it now that I’m streaming.
May 5th, 2019 at 11:31 pm
My guess is you liked it the first time. Do you still like it?
May 24th, 2019 at 10:24 am
Just caught it on Amazon. It’s cute. I kinda like it. It’s part of amazon prime so it’s free to watch. I wouldn’t mind seeing another attempt at the material today.
March 25th, 2021 at 5:27 am
I like the show. It’s clean, no innuendos. I enjoy the interplay with the husband and wife. I also get a kick out of some of the fashions and how the cars looked back when this was filmed. All and all, fun show.
March 25th, 2021 at 9:37 am
I don’t know if you can still find it there, but I saw the entire series was available last month on Amazon Prime.