Diagnosis: Murder is an American action-comedy-mystery-medical crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son Steve, a homicide detective played by Van Dyke's real-life son Barry. It began as a spinoff of Jake and the Fatman. Dr. Mark Sloan first appeared in episode 4.19, "It Never Enter My Mind"). The series evolved into a series consisting of three television films and then became a weekly television series which debuted on CBS October 29, 1993. Joyce Burditt, the creator of the spin-off series, wrote the episode in Jake and the Fatman.
It struggled to start and almost was cancelled after the second season. However, it was renewed in the third season as a replacement midseason series and continued to be renewed regularly thereafter. The show aired 178 episodes in its eight seasons on CBS in the United States. Two more TV movies were aired following the cancellation of the series on May 11, 2001. CBS Television Distribution currently distributes the show.
Jake and the Fatman featured Dr. Mark Sloan as a widower without any sons. Cynthia Gibb plays Dr. Amanda Bentley in the TV movies, and Victoria Rowell plays her in the TV series. Stephen Caffrey was Dr. Jack Parker in these movies. Scott Baio played the role of Dr. Jack Stewart (first two seasons).
Vancouver, British Columbia was the location of the first two TV movies, while Denver, Colorado was used for the third. The 8 first episodes of the series were shot in Denver. After that, the show moved quickly and without explanation to Los Angeles. Reruns of the series have been shown on Freeform, formerly ABC Family and previously CBN Satellite Service, Ion Television (formerly PAX-TV), Hallmark Channel and CBS Action.