*Special thanks again to our friend Maureen for inspiring this episode!
*Hart to Hart aired on ABC for 5 seasons and 110 episodes (1979-1984), then 8 TV movies on NBC and The Family Channel (1993-1996).
*Here is the video playlist for this episode! Click below to see promos, interviews, commercials, music, and more!
And remember, you can always visit our official YouTube page for all of our past podcasts and episode-specific playlists for each one!
*FX aired the show from its launch in 1994 until removing it in 1998.
*The episode with the Cary Grant impersonation is "Harts and Palms," a third-season effort in which they go to Hawaii.
*Switch aired on CBS from 1975-1978 and co-starred Robert Wagner and Eddie Albert. The Glen A. Larson program was accused of ripping off The Rockford Files by none other than James Garner.
*It Takes a Thief also starred Wagner and was on ABC for 3 seasons, 1968-1970. Not only was it inspired by the Cary Grant/Alfred Hitchcock To Catch a Thief, but Wagner asked Grant for advice on how to play the lead role.
*Lionel Stander's casting in Hart to hart was a return to the States after being blacklisted and spending many years overseas.
*Aaron Spelling's book is A Prime-Time Life.
*At the time Hart to Hart debuted, Cary Grant was 75, Wagner was 49, and Powers was just about to turn 37. (Since we mention her on the pod, Bette Davis was 71.)
*The episode "What Murder?" was the second episode of the second season, premiering Tuesday, November 18, 1980, on ABC at 10:00 P.M. EST.
*The 1980 Jukebox Awards were taped November 2 in Chicago and aired on NBC November 18. We have a few clips in this week's video playlist.
*The Trial of Billy Jack was the third film in the series, opening in 1974 at number one despite negative reviews.
*Dick Powell, whose house was used for exterior shots of the Hart compound, was a singer and actor who became a mogul and hired a young Aaron Spelling!
*Magic Johnson played center for the Lakers in Game 5 of the 1980 NBA Finals, scoring 42 in a 123-107 win over the Sixers on May 16.
*The episode with Jonathan's exact double is Season 3 Episode 5, "Murder Up Their Sleeve." Stefanie Powers' "rare dual role" episode is much better--Season 2 Episode 3, "This Lady Is Murder."
*"Cruise at Your Own Risk" is the 22nd episode of Season 1.
*One thing we didn't get to in a packed episode: The villain's wife/doctor, the one with the "stash" of pills, is played by Susan Nimoy, the widow of Leonard.
*Tom Mankewicz's memoir, My Life as a Mankewicz, is available where books are sold and also as an ebook! He developed Sidney Sheldon's old concept and turned it into Hart to Hart for Spelling and Goldberg, then got his first chance to direct with the pilot. Maybe in his book, unlike Spelling, he writes for more than a few pages about the show!
(Note: We are aware of the circumstances surrounding Natalie Wood's tragic death, but we chose not to get into it on the podcast. Wagner was named a person of interest in 2018, but it is an "open, unsolved case," according to investigators. After the retirement of the detective who classified Wagner as such, it appears safe to say the 93-year-old Wagner will not be charged.)
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