This episode is in my top ten favorite Steele episodes, mainly for its uniqueness and clever plot. Steele and Laura are hired by a man whose life is imitating art - with dangerous results. Events depicted in a graphic art/comic strip seem to happen to their client in real life. The way the writers demonstrate these events sets this episode apart. We are also treated to some scenes at the mansion that looks like it's from a horror movie, and a couple plot twists.
2 Reviews
When Art Fails to Imitate Life
foxwhowood5 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Nice idea: murder in the comic strip world. The problem is that the central gimmick of this episode is completely bogus. The script is built around the eternal misconception that what a strip artist draws today will appear in the newspaper tomorrow.
It just ain't true! Newspaper strip art was produced from six to eight weeks in advance of publication to provide time to process the art, turn it into a form newspapers could print from (mats or proof sheets), and mail the result to subscribing papers. Shorter lead times were possible (usually when an artist was way behind on a deadline) but getting late material to the papers on time required expensive express shipping which came out of the creators' pay. Even then we're talking a couple of weeks between shipping the strip and its seeing publication.
It's just a TV show, I know, but when you set a mystery in a specialized industry you should at least get the basic facts straight. This would give the scriptwriter a real challenge: to work the two-month time lag into the crime, and come up with a clever way for Steele and Laura to use it to their advantage in solving the mystery.
It just ain't true! Newspaper strip art was produced from six to eight weeks in advance of publication to provide time to process the art, turn it into a form newspapers could print from (mats or proof sheets), and mail the result to subscribing papers. Shorter lead times were possible (usually when an artist was way behind on a deadline) but getting late material to the papers on time required expensive express shipping which came out of the creators' pay. Even then we're talking a couple of weeks between shipping the strip and its seeing publication.
It's just a TV show, I know, but when you set a mystery in a specialized industry you should at least get the basic facts straight. This would give the scriptwriter a real challenge: to work the two-month time lag into the crime, and come up with a clever way for Steele and Laura to use it to their advantage in solving the mystery.
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