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Marcy Howard (Suzanne Somers), television news broadcaster under severe pressure from the new owner of her station to increase timeliness of her reporting, gives heed to an anonymous telephonic message advising her of a significant but unknown event that will be occurring the same evening at a local nightclub that will purportedly be of interest to her viewers, and she discovers more than one would wish to face. When Marcy enters the club, the "Blue Mood", she is aghast at what is before her: six freshly slain bodies, mowed down by automatic weapon fire but she is, as a result, first upon the scene of breaking news, to the keen delight of her employer, although since the killer is still at large, she is expected to follow up the story with revelations that will maintain the station's high ratings. Marcy, along with her closest co-worker, played by Ed Begley, Jr., decide to investigate the case independent of police by not telling detectives, supervised by her former husband, of the mysterious telephone tip but after she is physically attacked twice and additionally learns of her current husband's hidden past, it is apparent that a search for the suspect might very well lead the killer directly to her. From its opening action, the film is manipulative with ongoing efforts at creating suspense, the cameras and scoring being exercised in banal fashion when what is actually needed is a more developed as well as coherent scenario. The work is hamstrung by storyline predictability, with a favoured pleasure of audiences: discovering "who done it" barely at issue, while a television pedigree is obvious throughout, particularly with post-production editing. Somers, who also produces here, gives a strong performance, as does Michael Nouri as her spouse, each demonstrating skillful timing as does Scott Bryce who earns the acting laurels with his intense turn as a ravening media boss. Filming locations are in Los Angeles, including the northeast City districts of Eagle Rock and Highland Park, and there is an adequate budget, principally reflected in top-notch production design by Paul Peters, very well-detailed but unfortunately lacking communion with a foolish script teeming with bromides.

Television news anchor, an ex-alcoholic on her second marriage, is asked by her boss to step up her game and go back to investigative reporting; she's skeptical until she receives a life-or-death phone tip which leads her to an L.A. bar full of dead bodies. It never ceases to amaze me what a polished actress Suzanne Somers is; she's comfortable on camera and is capable of creating a dramatic character strong enough to help you forget she's a former sitcom star. The fact that Somers cannot get quality roles shouldn't be held against her (it's the nature of the business), but she herself co-executive produced this TV-movie for ABC (alongside her husband, Alan Hamel) and it's a flimsy crime-thriller which wastes her efforts. Cheap production, false scares, sloppy editing, clumsy exposition and an unconvincing news-station milieu helps to sink "Exclusive", though Somers still manages to deliver a performance. Think what she could do in a decent movie!

EXCLUSIVE stars the impossibly stunning Suzanne Somers as TV reporter, Marcy Singer, whose new, idiot boss, Chandler (Scott Bryce), wants big results from her next story, insinuating that it could be her last chance.

Thankfully, Marcy has the undying support of her perfect husband, Reed (Michael Nouri), and her understanding co-worker, Allen (Ed Begley Jr.).

As luck would have it, Marcy quickly finds herself in the middle of a huge murder mystery, and as she digs deeper, she starts to believe that something very peculiar is going on.

Then, Marcy becomes the target of a masked madman, ultimately leading to the horrible truth.

Ms. Somers is quite good in her Nancy Drew-like role. It helps to dispel her bubbleheaded image, left over from her THREE'S COMPANY days. The made-for-TV movie itself is entertaining with a decent, though not all that surprising, finale.

Worth a viewing or two, especially for fans of Ms. Somers, since she's in every scene!...