About this season
Jake and the Fatman is a television crime drama starring William Conrad as prosecutor J. L. "Fatman" McCabe and Joe Penny as investigator Jake Styles. The series ran on CBS for five seasons from 1987 to 1992. Diagnosis: Murder was a spin-off of this series.
Episodes (23)
1. Happy Days Are Here Again
Aired 26 September 1987 • 60 min
Senator candidate Kyle Williams' lover is killed after she threatens to reveal their affair. His speechwriter admits to him that he was the murderer, but threatens to frame him unless he cooperates.
2. Fatal Attraction (1)
Aired 29 September 1987 • 60 min
Carson Warfield is having an affair with his stepmother, and together they kill his father and frame a thief who used to work for them. When things don't add up McCabe gets suspicious, and starts nosing around.
3. Fatal Attraction (2)
Aired 29 September 1987 • 60 min
Carson Warfield is having an affair with his stepmother, and together they kill his father and frame a thief who used to work for them. When things don't add up McCabe gets suspicious, and starts nosing around.
4. Laura
Aired 6 October 1987 • 60 min
Jake's former partner is killed by his fiancée in an alley. She blames the murder on a Latin kid she saw stealing a VCR just before she pulled the trigger.
5. The Man That Got Away
Aired 13 October 1987 • 60 min
A wealthy lawyer kills his ex-wife's new man and frames her for the murder. She is arrested, and he takes the job of being her lawyer.
6. Love for Sale
Aired 20 October 1987 • 60 min
A call girl discovers that her pimp uses her to smuggle drugs. She contacts McCabe, but is killed just as they meet.
7. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Aired 27 October 1987 • 60 min
For some time David Thompson has gone out and killed bums, so that the police believe a serial killer is loose. Then when he lures his brother to an alley and kills him the same way, he won't be a suspect.
8. Body and Soul
Aired 3 November 1987 • 60 min
""Mad"" Marvin Michaels, the owner of an electronics store, is killed, and ex-con Bradford Long is the main suspect. McCabe assigns the case to the cop Karen Stetson, whose father was killed by Long.
9. The Man I Love
Aired 10 November 1987 • 60 min
Glen Latimer pushes his newly married rich wife Nancy of their boat, but she survives and is brought to a hospital. She is unsure if it was just an accident, so Jake goes befriends Glen posing as Nancy's brother.
10. Love Me Or Leave Me
Aired 17 November 1987 • 60 min
Ed Galvin escapes while he is being transported to prison, after threatening the life of McCabe and Andy Harmon (the cop who arrested him) during his trial.
11. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes
Aired 1 December 1987 • 60 min
A burglar kills a woman and blinds her nurse before fleeing. The police catch him, but have to let him go because the nurse can't identify him. When she is scheduled for an operation that could restore her eyesight, they fear he'll try to kill her.
12. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Aired 8 December 1987 • 60 min
One of the deputy DAs finally gets her first murder case when a man she was investigating for skipping alimony payments turns up dead.
13. After You've Gone
10.0Aired 5 January 1988 • 60 min
Jake spots the hit man Sagittarius at the airport and follows him, but he spots Jake and is fatally wounded in the following gunfight. Jake takes his place to try to find out who the target was.
14. It Had to Be You
10.0Aired 12 January 1988 • 60 min
Leslie Randall, a former PR manager for McCabe is raped. The rapist, a psychiatrist, frames one of his patients with an anonymous tip to the police.
15. But Not for Me
10.0Aired 19 January 1988 • 60 min
A known mob man is killed in the home of star reporter Candace Morgan. She says he was shot through the window while she was interviewing him, but McCabe gets suspicious when there is one too many bullets.
16. What Is This Thing Called Love?
10.0Aired 26 January 1988 • 60 min
A man takes a courtroom hostage - with Derek and McCabe in it.
17. Lady, Be Good
10.0Aired 2 February 1988 • 60 min
A friend of McCabe is murdered just as he is about to fake his own death so his wife can collect a 4.5 million-dollar life insurance.
18. I'll Be Seeing You
10.0Aired 16 February 1988 • 60 min
A small time crook comes to McCabe offering to testify against the crime boss O'Rourke, after laying low for ten years. McCabe is suspicious, but is more than willing to go along with anything that can get O'Rourke behind bars.
19. Babyface
10.0Aired 23 February 1988 • 60 min
The daughter of the wealthy Amos Banning arranges her own kidnapping, and murders her accomplice once she has the ransom.
20. Blues in the Night
Aired 16 March 1988 • 60 min
Jennifer Wilding gets a surprise when her identical twin sister turns up wanting to resume their previous partnership - one steals jewelry and the other provides an alibi.
21. How Long Has This Thing Been Going On?
Aired 23 March 1988 • 60 min
A friend of Jake, Matthew Hammond, is having an affair with a rich lady. They decide to marry, but when she asks her husband for a divorce, he kills her and frames Hammond.
22. I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans
Aired 30 March 1988 • 60 min
A former cop who is now a crime writer commits a clever murder so that he can write a book about it that is likely to become a best seller.
23. Rhapsody in Blue
10.0Aired 6 April 1988 • 60 min
Ned Covington and his wife plan to kill his boss, Phil Duncan, when he is passed over for promotion, but they kill another employee by mistake. Realizing this they try to frame Duncan for the murder.