Dr. Seth Hazlitt outside of Cabot Cove

William Windom’s contributions to Murder, She Wrote spanned a total of 53 (out of 265) episodes, giving him the distinction of making the most appearances on the show (after Angela Lansbury, of course). While he is best known for his role as Dr. Seth Hazlitt, his first appearance on the show was actually to portray Attorney Sam Breen in the Season 1 finale “Funeral at Fifty-Mile”.) However, starting in Season 2, he was brought on board as a series regular to act as Jessica Fletcher’s Cabot Cove sidekick.

At the time, this role acted as a replacement for Cabot Cove fisherman Ethan Cragg, who was introduced as Jessica’s sidekick at the beginning of Season 1. When Claude Akins left the show after the first eight episodes, purportedly due to being unsatisfied with the size of his role not being as big as he had initially thought it would be, producers brought William Windom on board. Thus, the character of Dr. Seth Hazlitt was introduced, starting with the first Cabot Cove episode of Season 2 “Joshua Peabody Died Here…Possibly”. However, unlike Ethan Cragg, who was only ever seen in Cabot Cove, producers ensured that Seth Hazlitt would make occasional appearances even in episodes set outside Jessica’s home town.

Thus, outside of Cabot Cove, Seth Hazlitt was seen with Jessica in the following episodes (and settings):

Season 2 “Murder Digs Deep” — In the eleventh episode of Season 2, Jessica joins Seth at an archaeological site that he had invited her to.
Season 4 “Curse of the Daanav“ — In the fourteenth episode of Season 4, Jessica accompanies Seth on a visit to his estranged brother.
Season 7 “Family Doctor“ — In the eleventh episode of Season 7, Jessica and Seth take a trip to Boston, where Seth gets kidnapped by the mob while the two of them are having dinner at a seafood restaurant.
Season 8 “Bite the Big Apple“ — In the first episode of Season 8, Seth follows Jessica to New York City to ensure she’s properly settled into her new apartment. This episode starts in Cabot Cove with a farewell party for Jessica, which is attended by Seth Hazlitt and Eve Simpson while other Cabot Cove regulars (such as Sheriff Mort Metzger) are notably absent.
Season 11 “The Scent of Murder” — In the twelfth episode of Season 11, Jessica accompanies Seth on a visit to his cousin.

As we can gather from the brief summary of these episodes above, it’s not simply the case that Seth is tagging along with Jessica on these cases. Rather, it is Jessica who is tagging along with Seth, who is the instigator of these adventures.

One additional episode of note is Season 10’s “A Virtual Murder“. This episode also includes a brief scene in which Jessica confers with Dr. Seth Hazlitt prior to leaving Cabot Cove and solving a mystery in Silicon Valley. This is similar to what was done with Ethan Cragg in Season 1: for example in “Hooray for Homicide” Ethan Cragg is seen chatting with Jessica in Cabot Cove before she leaves for her trip to Hollywood.

Cabot Cove episodes without Seth Hazlitt

Once starting his regular role on Murder, She Wrote, William Windom appeared in approximately 5 episodes per season — roughly corresponding to the number of Cabot Cove episodes there were. Nonetheless, many fans have noted the absence of Dr. Seth Hazlitt in several Cabot Cove episodes.

By considering William Windom’s career trajectory as well as his appearances in the non-Cabot Cove episodes listed above, we can make a few interesting conclusions about why the character of Seth Hazlitt was at times inexplicably missing.

Below is a summary of the Cabot Cove episodes and the likely reasons for Windom’s absence:

Season 3 “Obituary for a Dead Anchor”: It is unclear to my why William Windom was absent from this episode (my only guess is he may have been busy with other projects), but given the plot progression of Cabot Cove episodes in this season it’s clear that his absence was pre-planned. Specifically, we see Seth introduce Jessica to Doctor Wylie in Episode 6 “Dead Man’s Gold”. Subsequently, in “Obituary for a Dead Anchor” (Episode 9 and the subsequent Cabot Cove episode), Doc Wylie takes over Seth’s practice while he apparently “had a sudden yen to visit his sister in South Carolina”.
Season 4 “When Thieves Fall Out“: While it is unclear why William Windom was absent from the very first Cabot Cove episode of Season 4, it is notable that this absence was made up for by his appearance in the non-Cabot Cove episode “Curse of the Daanav”. Thus, his total number of appearances this season was still equal to the total number of Cabot Cove episodes. Unlike in the previous season, Doc Hazlitt’s absence from Cabot Cove in this episode was not explained — instead, the body at the crime scene is instead inspected by a Doc Matthews, who was never mentioned on the show any other time.
Season 7 Cabot Cove episodes: In 1990, William Windom had decided to star in a new sitcom based on the 1989 film ‘Parenthood’. As a result, Dr. Seth Hazlitt was missing from all the Cabot Cove episodes this season and was temporarily replaced by Ben Devlin, the Cabot Cove Gazette editor, as Jessica’s sidekick. The in-universe explanation for Dr. Hazlitt’s absence (given in “Deadly Misunderstanding“) was that he went to visit his daughter who is expecting a baby — an interesting explanation given the premise of ‘Parenthood’. Windom’s new sitcom was ultimately unsuccessful and was cancelled after just 12 episodes, thus freeing him up to return to Murder, She Wrote. While Doc Hazlitt would not make any appearances in Cabot Cove this season, producers did make sure to bring Windom back for at least one episode this season — hence we find him and Jessica in Boston in the episode “Family Doctor“.
Season 11 “School for Murder”: Similar to the situation that occurred in Season 4, Season 11 also had Seth Hazlitt inexplicably missing from one Cabot Cove episode (i.e. “School for Murder”), but then also included an extra episode in which Jessica joins Seth on a trip outside of Cabot Cove (i.e. “The Scent of Murder”. Thus, the total number of episodes that William Windom appeared in was still equal to the number of Cabot Cove episodes that season.

What do we learn about Seth Hazlitt?

It’s because of these extra episodes featuring Seth, as well as the episodes in which he was absent, that we learn more details about the character’s history and family background. For instance, in S4 “Curse of the Daanav“, we briefly meet his brother; and in S11 “Scent of Murder”, we meet his cousin. From the episodes in which he’s absent, we learn that he has a sister (S3 “Obituary for a Dead Anchor”), and a daughter named Margie who had a baby (S7 “Deadly Misunderstanding“). We can also gather from these episodes that his family is originally from South Carolina, as it is mentioned that both his sister and his cousin live there.

In addition to these episodes, we hear him mention his wife Ruth a few times throughout the show (most notably in S4 “Curse of the Daanav“), and we also meet his niece who is visiting Cabot Cove in S12 “What You Don’t Know Can Kill You”.

With that said, I wanted to end by asking fans of the show: What is your favorite thing about Dr Seth Hazlitt? And are there any other things that we learn about his character throughout the show that I haven’t mentioned in the post above? If so, let me know in the comments!