I brought this up some time ago, but I just saw DEAD WEIGHT again, and I can't help thinking that the man who's alerted by the woman screaming at about 55:00 is Fred Draper. About the only reasons I make a big deal of it are that that would make it his first episode (before LADY IN WAITING) and because it would be pretty fitting for the first one with Val Avery to also have him (even if it's very, very briefly). What does anyone here who owns the episode think about the man in the cap at about 55:00?

I'll have to check the DVD but while perusing IMDB.com I found this bit of interesting trivia:

Suzanne Pleshette, who had been friends 'with Pete Falk (I)' since she was 14 years old said that he had behaved very badly during the making of this show. In fact, she didn't talk to him afterwards for a year. She also said that guest star Eddie Albert told Falk, "I always wanted to meet you, I always wanted to work with you, but you're a real [anal sphincter]."

That is an interesting tidbit. I wonder what went wrong?

Apparently it was because of the tension surrounding Peter Falk's battle with the network to direct at least one Season 1 episode. He had admirable thick skin, and regardless of what was done or said "Dead Weight" is one of the best episodes of the entire series.