Dedicated to all us John McGiver fans, and Hitch obviously was one of them. Also, Hitchcock's old pal, Norman Lloyd, directed this episode and later served as executive producer. You probably could call this a macabre family show.
McGiver is spot on as a depressed local undertaker, leading a fairly uneventful life -- until fabulously wealthy businessman Howard Smith drops dead. McGiver (playing Mr. Motherwell) sees a substantial windfall from his death, an expensive funeral with all the trimmings that will bring in a tidy profit and future business. He has a point.
In typical Hitch fantasy fashion, the old geezer wakes up (temporarily, of course), to remind the doting mortician about the value of dollar, the CHEAPER the funeral the better. Actually, when you think about it, this could have also been a TWILIGHT ZONE episode, it's that outrageous.
Both leads pull this off beautifully. Howard Smith, a veteran of many classic movies and tv shows, compliments John McGiver and they make a morbid team, probably what Hitch was looking for.
Popular actress and game show panelist Peggy Cass has a smaller role as McGiver's wife, but also very effective, sort of her husband's sounding board.
Lessons learned: when you're dead your dead. And wait for the neat ending. Hitch has a super gag closing you do not want to miss. Inspired by a short story from Garson Kanin and written by Richard Berg, who later became a top tv producer.
SEASON 4 EPISODE 13 remastered Universal dvd box set. 5 dvds. Released 2008.