About "How to Dial a Murder", I've always tought that it was referred to Hitchcock movie "Dial M for Murder" because the killer loves cinema rather than the telephone scenes.

Great topic, Bryce! I do like the ones you mentioned. Another name I've a fondness for is "Candidate for Crime," but then it's my favorite episode, so I am probably biased.

For my vote against, and while I realize it's an homage, I have never liked the title "Sex and the Married Detective" for some reason that I cannot adequately explain. Maybe it's just that it's wordy and awkward. In that same vein are "Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health" and "Bye-Bye...". Really wordy ones that don't exactly roll off the tongue. :)

I agree with you, Grant. It seems as though they could have come up with a more poetic title, especially since the murderer himself is a poet! Also, that same writer (Howard Burk, I believe?) had come up with a title so rich in meaning before, with "By Dawn's Early Light".

I'd never thought about that, Lorenzo! Thanks for the insight; I can certainly appreciate that title better now.

Wendy, I couldn't agree more about those unwieldy titles. Particularly "The Bye Bye etc"; I mean, how do the words "bye bye" and "sky high" even relate to the story?! Of course, I guess one could imagine that "sky high" is perhaps referring to the heightened theatrics in the episode?

Bryce, I'm not especially defending the longest title, but to break it down, I believe I'd parse the middle phrase as "sky high IQ" -- so what is very high, is the IQ of the victim. Also of the killer and the witnesses, but it's the victim that presumably we are saying "bye-bye" to. So the title may be silly or unneccessary, but it's not totally nonsensical.

Thanks for that insight, Ted! In all the years I've been reading or hearing that title, I never connected "bye bye", "sky high", and "IQ" in that way, but now that you mention it, it makes perfect sense. I'd also like to reiterate my appreciation for Lorenzo's suggestion about a possible meaning for "How to Dial a Murder"; that's another connection I had never made, but again, it now seems an obvious reference.

"Ransom for a Dead Man" is an excellent title. "Butterfly in Shades of Grey" is very hard to understand.

"Ransom etc" is a great title, David, I agree. It's one of the few that's intriguing all by itself, with the seemingly irrationality it suggests. I think that's a really good quality for a title to have; sort of suggesting something vague and mysterious, then having it understood only after seeing what the episode's actually about.