Original Air Date: November 10, 1976

Directed by: Phil Bondelli

Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this episode!

Synopsis: Kelly (Jaclyn Smith) is accidentally shot by an autistic boy named Skip (Dennis Dimster) who runs away, not realizing that killers are after him as a witness to another crime.

Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): Skip makes his way to a restaurant where his mother used to work. In the back alley he spots a tiny gray tabby kitten.

Skip picks up the kitten and they become fast friends.

Remembering a fairy tale which Kelly told him, Skip starts to collect items the Prince found for his Princess, including some flowers in the restaurant.

The next morning the restaurant owner Giovanni (Mike Robelo) is startled when Skip runs out of the restaurant. The kitten is a bit jostled as the boy runs across the street.

At the bus stop, Skip is picked up by a surfer girl (Carol Jones). She drives him and the kitten to Zuma Beach.

Finding a seashell, Skip adds it to his collection. But flashbacks to Kelly being hurt make him run away from the surfer girl, even though she is trying to help him.

Skip shows up at the home of his mother Gail (Lee Bryant) who abandoned him when she was unable to care for him properly. She gives him some food.

Gail wants to care for her son but he runs away again, stealing her wedding ring which is the last item he needs. He returns to the amusement park where the accident took place, hoping that somehow his gifts will help to bring Kelly back.

Climbing aboard the white merry-go-round horse, Skip is soon confronted by the criminals who tracked him down. As he climbs off the horse, he carefully sets the kitten aside. Amazingly, the kitten is not seen again or referred to, even when Skip goes to live with his mother. For all we know, the kitten is still wandering around the amusement park!

This episode was an almost exact remake of The Mod Squad episode “Cricket” and was penned by the same writer. It appears that in that version the boy was paired with a dog.

Final Mewsings: Using a kitten instead of a dog was a major script improvement.

Many thanks to Stevie Holcomb for letting us know about the kitten in this episode.

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