While fairly routine as an episode of BURKE'S LAW, the background of the killing here was interesting.
"WHO IV" stood for Mr. William Herbert Oliver IV, an elderly man who is the last member of a once illustrious "Vanderbilt" or "Astor" or "Rockefeller" family. He is to lead a pack of guests on a fox hunt, when his corpse is found in the stables of his estate with his head battered in. So enters Gene Barry as Amos Burke with his men. They soon find that in this case there is nobody really financially benefiting from the death of WHO IV. He had spent most of his extremely old money fortune already.
The interesting twist in the story was that the butler at the estate, Pepperill Twill (Reginald Gardiner) is a multi-millionaire who has kept a low profile by retaining his job as WHO IV's servant. In actuality the estate and WHO IV was used by Twill as part of the cover (in fact he was paying WHO IV a salary). It was an interesting switch.
And, oddly enough, a switch that would cross Gardiner's later career on television too. In a few years Gardiner was one of the regular cast members on that notorious comedy flop, THE PRUITTS OF SOUTHAMPTON, in which he was one of a rich family that was now destitute. Only the Federal Government (for reasons of prestige or economic security - it never made real sense) decided to cover the Pruitt's reality with a patina of still great wealth.
The use of the switch was okay in the episode of BURKE'S LAW (where it was just a minor theme). It did not work well supporting a whole series.
MINOR SPOILER:
I'll go this far - Gardiner is not the murderer.
"WHO IV" stood for Mr. William Herbert Oliver IV, an elderly man who is the last member of a once illustrious "Vanderbilt" or "Astor" or "Rockefeller" family. He is to lead a pack of guests on a fox hunt, when his corpse is found in the stables of his estate with his head battered in. So enters Gene Barry as Amos Burke with his men. They soon find that in this case there is nobody really financially benefiting from the death of WHO IV. He had spent most of his extremely old money fortune already.
The interesting twist in the story was that the butler at the estate, Pepperill Twill (Reginald Gardiner) is a multi-millionaire who has kept a low profile by retaining his job as WHO IV's servant. In actuality the estate and WHO IV was used by Twill as part of the cover (in fact he was paying WHO IV a salary). It was an interesting switch.
And, oddly enough, a switch that would cross Gardiner's later career on television too. In a few years Gardiner was one of the regular cast members on that notorious comedy flop, THE PRUITTS OF SOUTHAMPTON, in which he was one of a rich family that was now destitute. Only the Federal Government (for reasons of prestige or economic security - it never made real sense) decided to cover the Pruitt's reality with a patina of still great wealth.
The use of the switch was okay in the episode of BURKE'S LAW (where it was just a minor theme). It did not work well supporting a whole series.
MINOR SPOILER:
I'll go this far - Gardiner is not the murderer.