Laurence Heath joins the "MSW" production team in Season Ten, as Screenwriter for 10 episodes and co-producer for the remainder of the series. "Time to Die" becomes his fourth script, this based in New York City amid a rash of graffiti defacing, with pigeon racing competitions, amateur band concerts and an inner-city school in which students write compositions about murder.
Graffiti artist Chris Garcia (Billy Gallo) strikes again, defacing edifices, as law enforcement officers arrive to herald his hasty departure onto a fire escape leading to the roof of his apartment building, upon which his late father has left Chris his stable of breeding pigeons.
When his mother, Maria Garcia (Marta DuBois), had married his step-father, Frank Garcia (Robert Beltran), Chris had received a new surname, but Maria often must intervene between loan-shark Frank and Chris, who do not get on well even though Frank doesn't know that it is Chris who defaces his buildings.
Alida Alvarez (Gladys Jimenez) convinces Chris Garcia to sign up for a writing course at the mission-house of Saint Julian's Church, for which noted Mystery author Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) serves as instructor.
Jessica expresses delight with Alida and Chris' assignments and now presents them, along with the rest of her class, to essay five family member characters who discover that a sixth has bilked them of the family fortune.
Manny Castillo (Gregg Thomsen), meanwhile, objects to Alida's attention to Chris and her participating in writing courses because Alida belongs to their five-member band "Full Moon," along with Tammy Fisher (Bridgid Coulter) as its lead singers.
Mario Fernandez (Rudy Ramos) hosts "Full Moon" at his nightclub, "Koffee Kafe," to perform an "anti-graffiti" benefit concert, to rid the neighborhood of the menacing artist.
Principal Barbara Fisher (Janet MacLachlan) attends the concert, which features her daughter, Tammy, along with Barbara's dear old college friend Jessica, who joins Alida's brother, Detective Sergeant Laughton (Stan Shaw), in its audience, which also includes Maria, Chris and Frank Garcia, who donates four infra-red detection cameras to film buildings at night, to attempt to detect the identity of the graffiti artist.
Within hearing distance of Maria and Chris, Frank makes an unrequited pass at Alida, who shuns his advances, but later is coerced into accompanying him, when Frank drives into the streets and knocks Barbara to the pavement as Jessica escorts her to a taxicab, while Chris witnesses the incident while defacing another building with graffiti.
Joe Mancuso (Ronald G. Joseph) operates a pigeon shoppe and organizes racing events at "Montauk Pigeon Racing Club," with clocking devices to time each pigeon's performance. Frank Garcia and Mario Fernandez challenge each other with a $10,000 wager to the owner whose pigeon finishes first.
Detective Boyd (Rick Dano) joins Jessica and Detective Sergeant Laughton in the graffiti investigation as evidence seems to point a guilty finger in Chris' direction. But when the three investigators ask Maria to lead the way to her son's hiding places, Maria stumbles across a body, thus turning the focus into a murder investigation, for it has become "Time to Die."
This episode marks the most recent appearance to date by Gregg Thomsen, as well as the second of two "MSW" guest roles each for Janet MacLachlan and Robert Beltran, the first of three for Rick Dano, and the third of three "MSW's" for Stan Shaw.
Graffiti artist Chris Garcia (Billy Gallo) strikes again, defacing edifices, as law enforcement officers arrive to herald his hasty departure onto a fire escape leading to the roof of his apartment building, upon which his late father has left Chris his stable of breeding pigeons.
When his mother, Maria Garcia (Marta DuBois), had married his step-father, Frank Garcia (Robert Beltran), Chris had received a new surname, but Maria often must intervene between loan-shark Frank and Chris, who do not get on well even though Frank doesn't know that it is Chris who defaces his buildings.
Alida Alvarez (Gladys Jimenez) convinces Chris Garcia to sign up for a writing course at the mission-house of Saint Julian's Church, for which noted Mystery author Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) serves as instructor.
Jessica expresses delight with Alida and Chris' assignments and now presents them, along with the rest of her class, to essay five family member characters who discover that a sixth has bilked them of the family fortune.
Manny Castillo (Gregg Thomsen), meanwhile, objects to Alida's attention to Chris and her participating in writing courses because Alida belongs to their five-member band "Full Moon," along with Tammy Fisher (Bridgid Coulter) as its lead singers.
Mario Fernandez (Rudy Ramos) hosts "Full Moon" at his nightclub, "Koffee Kafe," to perform an "anti-graffiti" benefit concert, to rid the neighborhood of the menacing artist.
Principal Barbara Fisher (Janet MacLachlan) attends the concert, which features her daughter, Tammy, along with Barbara's dear old college friend Jessica, who joins Alida's brother, Detective Sergeant Laughton (Stan Shaw), in its audience, which also includes Maria, Chris and Frank Garcia, who donates four infra-red detection cameras to film buildings at night, to attempt to detect the identity of the graffiti artist.
Within hearing distance of Maria and Chris, Frank makes an unrequited pass at Alida, who shuns his advances, but later is coerced into accompanying him, when Frank drives into the streets and knocks Barbara to the pavement as Jessica escorts her to a taxicab, while Chris witnesses the incident while defacing another building with graffiti.
Joe Mancuso (Ronald G. Joseph) operates a pigeon shoppe and organizes racing events at "Montauk Pigeon Racing Club," with clocking devices to time each pigeon's performance. Frank Garcia and Mario Fernandez challenge each other with a $10,000 wager to the owner whose pigeon finishes first.
Detective Boyd (Rick Dano) joins Jessica and Detective Sergeant Laughton in the graffiti investigation as evidence seems to point a guilty finger in Chris' direction. But when the three investigators ask Maria to lead the way to her son's hiding places, Maria stumbles across a body, thus turning the focus into a murder investigation, for it has become "Time to Die."
This episode marks the most recent appearance to date by Gregg Thomsen, as well as the second of two "MSW" guest roles each for Janet MacLachlan and Robert Beltran, the first of three for Rick Dano, and the third of three "MSW's" for Stan Shaw.