SPOILERS! I just watched the last two episodes of season five: The Checkmate Caper (ep 35) and Never To Have Loved (ep 36).There is just so much to say about both episodes!

You get the sense from The Checkmate Caper that it was the last hurrah for the series everyone had known for the previous four seasons. All the regular cast was there, a rarity. Efrem Zimbalist as Stuart Bailey. Roger Smith as Jeff Spencer. Edd Byrnes as Kookie. Louis Quinn as Roscoe. Jacqueline Beer as Suzanne. Robert Logan as J.R. Even Byron Keith as Lt. Gilmore. Nancy Kulp was an interesting guest star since she was just completing her first season on The Beverly Hillbillies. It was also the last episode with William T. Orr as Executive Producer.

A lot of changes took place between The Checkmate Caper and Never To Have Loved. Jack Webb of Dragnet fame was the new Executive Producer, and would continue to be for the entirety of the next and final season six, only 20 episodes long. William Conrad (Cannon and Jake and the Fatman) was both the Producer and Director on the episode, and would continue his collaboration with Jack Webb into season six.

Stuart Bailey and Kookie were the only two regulars in Never To Have Loved. Jeff Spencer and Roscoe were mentioned in dialog, as “being tied up in New York for the next seven to ten days.” J.R. was referenced as being away from his parking duties at Dino’s, getting his physical for the Army. Suzanne and Lt. Gilmore weren’t even mentioned! Sgt. Steve Ripley (actor Bill Zuckert) took Gilmore’s place.

More interesting guest stars: Jerome Cowan (as a Hollywood agent) was the assistant district attorney who tried to prove there was no Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street. Philip Abbott (as an attorney) would go on to co-star with Efrem Zimbalist in The FBI tv series, two years later.

The plot of Never To Have Loved was very similar to the last Perry Mason episode The Final Fadeout (aired three years later). Both featured elements centered around the filming of a motion picture and a court room scene trying to prove who loaded live ammunition into a prop firearm, which ended in a murder!