The 1973 episode, Matt's Love Story (1973), forms the basis of this story. In that episode, Matt loses his memory after he is shot and is taken care of by Michael Learned character. They fall in love and have a relationship until Matt gets his memory back. Clips from that episode were woven into this one to present the plot element that Matt had a daughter he never knew about from that affair. Michael Learned again played Mike Yardner in both episodes.
The reason Michael Learned was brought back was that Amanda Blake had died the year before at the age of sixty from A.I.D.S. related complications, having apparently contracted the disease from her fourth husband, who had preceded her in death.
This episode is set 21 years after the 1973 episode its a sequel for; actually, in real time its more like 16 years and 6 months.