Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones was a former private eye who temporarily came out of retirement to track down the killer of his son Hal, who had taken over the family business. After bringing Hal's murderer to justice (with the assistance of fellow CBS gumshoe Frank Cannon), Jones decided retirement just wasn't his bag after all, and rehung his shingle with the assistance of daughter-in-law Betty, who ran the office and Barnaby's personal crime laboratory, and (later) young distant cousin Jedidiah, who did the cases' legwork.
- 1973-1980
- 8 seasons
- CBS
- Suspense, Drama
- TV-PG
Barnaby Jones was a former private eye who temporarily came out of retirement to track down the killer of his son Hal, who had taken over the family business. After bringing Hal's murderer to justice (with the assistance of fellow CBS gumshoe Frank Cannon), Jones decided retirement just wasn't his bag after all, and rehung his shingle with the assistance of daughter-in-law Betty, who ran the office and Barnaby's personal crime laboratory, and (later) young distant cousin Jedidiah, who did the cases' legwork.
Season 8 Episode Guide
22 Episodes 1979 - 1980
Episode 1
Man on Fire
Thu, Sep 20, 1979 60 mins
Barnaby grudgingly begins to suspect that an arson investigator that he has trusted for years is involved in setting fires and then ruling them as accidental in order to get a cut of the insurance money.
Episode 2
Nightmare in Hawaii: Part 1
Thu, Sep 27, 1979 60 mins
J.R. flies to Maui to visit a friend and is quickly arrested for stabbing a man to death. A crime he didn't commit. Barnaby and Betty fly out to help him and discover his friend's family is involved in marijuana harvesting.
Episode 3
Nightmare in Hawaii: Part 2
Thu, Sep 27, 1979 60 mins
J.R. gets into deeper trouble when he escapes from jail, gets blamed for the shooting death of his friend, and then gets seriously injured in a booby-trapped marijuana field. Barnaby risks his own life in order to save him.
Episode 4
A Desperate Pursuit
Thu, Oct 11, 1979 60 mins
After a boxer promoter falls from his penthouse balcony, Betty is the sole witness to the crime. Betty is then stalked by a mysterious blonde woman who wants her to lie about the crime. Barnaby and J.R now must investigate what is going on and who the mysterious blonde woman is.
Episode 5
Design for Madness
Thu, Oct 18, 1979 60 mins
After spending a year in a sanitarium Barnaby's niece is suspected of shooting and killing the family lawyer during a blackout episode. Barnaby suspects someone is giving her powerful hypnotic drugs to manipulate her behavior.
Episode 6
Girl on the Road
Thu, Oct 25, 1979 60 mins
J.R's ex-girlfriend asks him to try to convince her sister to get her act together and get away from the drug scene. At the same time a rock star's manager thinks her sister may have witnessed a murder committed by his star at a party.
Episode 7
Indoctrination in Evil
Thu, Nov 1, 1979 60 mins
Betty goes undercover to help Barnaby, J.R. search for a missing young girl. They soon find out that what they've stumbled onto it is a white slavery racket.
Episode 8
Homecoming for a Dead Man
Thu, Nov 8, 1979 60 mins
While attending a sporting event Barnaby thinks he's spotted a man who robbed over $500,000 in gold from the gold exchange nearly 10 years ago. He's also believed to have died in a plane crash over the ocean while making off with the loot.
Episode 9
False Witness
Thu, Nov 29, 1979 60 mins
A friend and fellow Community Counseling Center instructor of Betty's is raped. Much to her dismay, Betty feels her friend has wrongly identified her attacker and she refuses to reconsider. Barnaby and J.R. help to find the real rapist.
Episode 10
School of Terror
Thu, Dec 20, 1979 60 mins
A counselor at a Fresh Start program for kids with drug problems dies in an accident after allegedly getting high on drugs. J.R. goes undercover as his replacement to find out who has been smuggling those drugs into their school.
Episode 11
Cry for Vengeance
Thu, Dec 27, 1979 60 mins
An ex-cop and friend of Barnaby looks to even the score when his son is killed by a gang leader. Barnaby gets involved and learns that the gang is actually being used as muscle by a crooked businessman who wants the ex-cop out of the way.
Episode 12
Run to Death
Thu, Jan 3, 1980 60 mins
Larry Collins, a friend of Betty and a heart attack survivor, tragically passes away during a walk. His widow hires Betty to investigate his death, suspecting foul play. Betty uncovers that Larry was murdered after discovering embezzlement within his company. The culprit is Anita Parks, who is subsequently blackmailed by another employee, Albert Krueger, into a relationship/partnership under the threat of exposing her crimes. In a turn of events, Anita kills Albert and frames Larry's widow for the murder. However, Betty, along with JR and Barnaby, gathers evidence against Anita and devises a clever plan to trap her after she attempts to eliminate Betty in the safety deposit vault.
Episode 13
The Price of Anger
Thu, Jan 10, 1980 60 mins
J.R.'s friend is wrongly accused of assaulting a man who later dies. Making matters worse, he ran from the scene of the crime making him look guilty. J.R. does every thing he possibly can to help his friend clear himself.
Episode 14
The Killing Point
Thu, Jan 17, 1980 60 mins
Barnaby is conned into helping another private investigator find a missing girl. But he's not honest with Barnaby about all that is involved with her disappearance or that he's tried to extort money from the people that are looking for her.
Episode 15
Focus on Fear
Thu, Jan 31, 1980 60 mins
J.R, poses as a photographer to find out why a man broke into the real photographers studio and was desperate enough to throw acid on her to get away with the negatives from her last photo shoot.
Episode 16
Murder in the Key of C
Thu, Feb 7, 1980 60 mins
Barney Jones steps into the music industry when rising star Connie Hollister enlists his help to locate her manager, Billy Smith. Unbeknownst to Connie, Billy was accidentally killed by Singleton and Devine after he declined to sign a contract that would allow them to steal Connie's song. Devine feels guilty and is eager to report the crime to the authorities, but Singleton is indifferent and outright refuses to let him. In a tragic turn of events, Singleton murders Devine when he attempts to contact the police. Now, Barnaby must act quickly to protect Connie from becoming yet another victim of Singleton's ruthless actions, as well as safeguard her song from being misappropriated by him.
Episode 17
Killer Without a Name
Thu, Feb 14, 1980 60 mins
Betty meets a man on a cruise that she's interested in, but when she returns she discovers a murdered man in his motel room who's carrying his identification in his wallet. Barnaby gets involved to unravel the mystery behind the man.
Episode 18
Death Is the Punchline
Thu, Feb 21, 1980 60 mins
The prime suspect in the beating death of a nightclub owner is a stand-up comic who was fired the night of the murder. J.R. investigates on behalf of the comedian, who professes his innocence-and he also happens to be his good friend.
Episode 19
The Final Victim
Thu, Mar 6, 1980 60 mins
A hooker who saw a prominent judge pick-up a young girl in North Hollywood the night she died has blackmail in mind. Barnaby tries to clear the girls name because it looked like she was a working girl, and she wasn't.
Episode 20
The Silent Accuser
Thu, Mar 13, 1980 60 mins
A promiscuous teacher at a school deep in the mountains is stabbed to death with a pair of scissors. Betty, an old friend of the victim, goes up to investigate. The victim was so disliked because of her ways that Betty reaches a stone wall. Betty realizes that the dead teacher was mentoring an autistic young girl, who never speaks. Evidence from the dead teacher's final walk leads Betty to believe the girl was with her and witnessed the murder. The unseen killer knows it too, and is a crazed maniac who chases the girl out into traffic. Betty calls Barnaby and J.R. for help while trying to see if the child will somehow break through and say something about the crime. Journalist Carolyn See and actress Jackie Joseph wrote the script (their only screenwriting venture, other than an episode of "Family"). Carolyn See described the making of the Barnaby Jones episode in a TV Guide article the week the show aired.
Episode 21
Deadline for Murder
Thu, Mar 27, 1980 60 mins
A writer for a publishing company is killed after he uncovers evidence that implicates the niece of the owners in criminal activities. Barnaby and J.R. investigate after they learn their names were used to dupe the writer before he died.
Episode 22
The Killin' Cousin
Thu, Apr 3, 1980 60 mins
When Barnaby and Jedediah go out of town a relative of Betty's calls her to ask for help. It seems he suspects that his father who supposedly died in an accident, was actually murdered. Betty agrees to meet him but when she arrives she finds him dead of an apparent suicide. But the police tell her, it appears that he was murdered. In the meantime, the Tarkington Detective Agency is called by the insurance company who had a policy on her cousin to investigate. Now the head of the Agency William Tarkington IV, who is a pompous twit thinks Betty killed him when clearly she didn't. But he pursues that avenue and Betty also tries to find out what happened and she discovers other relatives who died mysteriously. When Tarkington learns of this he investigates and discovers that Betty has an aging aunt who is rich and that someone is trying to make sure that they alone get the aunt's money. And he changes his mind about Betty when someone tries to kill her.