One thing I really appreciate about Murder, She Wrote is that it was actually pretty progressive for the time. And in some ways progressive even by today's standards. I think a lot of other shows would have paired Jessica and Seth, but I like that they remained friends because I feel like friendships between grown men and women are rarely shown in entertainment.
She also didn't have children (though she did have a million nieces and nephews and cousins and sorority sisters), which I thought was a pretty bold choice. They alluded in one episode that maybe it wasn't her choice not to have children, but still; I'd be interested to know why she wasn't given children, especially since even today women who don't want/can't have children are judged.
And lastly, she was also pretty non-judgemental about other people's sex lives. Even when she found out her former student was a sex worker, she was taken aback, but she still had an open conversation with the madam, who let her know that not all sex workers come from broken homes and bad families. And of course there's classic If It's Thursday It Must Be Beverly, where Jessica has to talk to Beverly about her relationship with Amos' deputy because Amos and Seth are uncomfortable talking about sex with her.
And this has been my Ted Talk about Jessica Fletcher: Feminist Icon.