Murder, She Wrote - General Discussion

[GHScorpiosRule]

On 3/27/2018 at 7:30 PM, GHScorpiosRule said:

OOH! Then it's in my dvr queue!!!!

BOO!!! My dvr decided to stop recording the episodes on Cozi so I missed it! I’ll have to wait until it rolls around on Hallmark Movie Mysteries or WGN.

But I stand corrected regarding Patrick Cassidy. He appeared in season 10’ “Roadkill,” as a country singer/truck driver. 

So that leaves only David and Ryan who didn’t appear. 

Edited March 31, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[VCRTracking]

Whoa. Watching an episode where Jessica finds out her late husband may have had an illegitimate son with a nurse while he was serving in Korea!

ETA: Whew! Turns out he didn't have an affair. He was faithful and the woman who claimed it only told her because she was desperate to have Jessica help her son who was accused of murder!

What an emotional roller coaster this episode was!

Also Paul Gleeson from Trading Places, The Breakfast Club and Die Hard is in this and he's NOT playing a jerk!

Edited May 14, 2018 by VCRTracking

[OnceSane]

On 5/13/2018 at 1:35 PM, VCRTracking said:

the woman who claimed it only told her because she was desperate to have Jessica help her son who was accused of murder!

IDC how good a friend she was to my husband or vice versa. Chick would've been popped in the face hard for that lie before I put one pinky toe outta line to keep helping her.

[VCRTracking]

1 minute ago, OnceSane said:

IDC how good a friend she was to my husband or vice versa. Chick would've been popped in the face hard for that lie before I put one pinky toe outta line to keep helping her.

Yeah, Jessica was way forgiving at the end! I would have been "Biiiiitch....!"

[Padma]

On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2018 at 1:35 PM, VCRTracking said:

Whoa. Watching an episode where Jessica finds out her late husband may have had an illegitimate son with a nurse while he was serving in Korea!

ETA: Whew! Turns out he didn't have an affair. He was faithful and the woman who claimed it only told her because she was desperate to have Jessica help her son who was accused of murder!

What an emotional roller coaster this episode was!

Also Paul Gleeson from Trading Places, The Breakfast Club and Die Hard is in this and he's NOT playing a jerk!

I liked that one and thought it was very creative, letting us see how Jessica dealt with a pretty strong case that Frank had cheated on her in Korea. Lots of good acting in that--giving him the benefit of the doubt until she couldn't, her pain, her dignity and kindness to the "other woman" and how, no matter what, she always wants to do the right thing. (Glad it didn't turn out true--and she was very gracious.  I'm of the "Bitch, please!" school.)

I like the Dixie Damsel mystery too--a crewman found shot to death inside when, at long last, they found Frank's plane. I liked how he wasn't the captain (Dale Robertson brought a lot of personality to the part), and it was easy to imagine him and Jessica as a nice young couple.  And I like that he sold real estate and she was an English teacher, like the average couple next door instead of the world famous writer she became for most of the show. I always like it when they bring in their backstory.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Okay, I need to clarify my earlier post about Season One’s “Livers abs Other Killers.” I missed the first five minutes. Andrew Stevens’ David was SO GUILTY of killing the woman in the opening. And he would have killed Jessica too! I had posted how that look of his at the end, that went from smiling to menacing indicated he could have been guilty, and how it was a a shame that the show didn’t revisit his character like it did with others.  Turns out it wasn’t needed, because the show made it clear, at least to me, that he was guilty.

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries  is running a fan favorite marathon this weekend, and I’m surprised that so far, none have been any Cabot Cove episodes. I did see one, but I thought that ALL of the Cabot Cove episodes would be fan favorites!???

Edited May 26, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[Jaded]

I meant to post this a couple of weekends ago. I got kind of excited when watching during that time because HMM aired a few episodes in a row from the late 80's that I hadn't seen. 

[Jaded]

I'm watching this episode of Hunter from 1984 on the Heroes & Icons channel where William Windom (Seth) is a police commissioner suspected of having his wife murdered in a car explosion.

[Padma]

They must have liked Windom a lot to have him appear first as Sam, one of the guilty, then return as a regular. Same for the man who played Mort. They're both two of my favorites--such good actors--so I'm glad they did that. (To me, the change from Amos to Mort and the handyman--Claude?--to Seth was an improvement both times.)

I like that Andrew Stevens one, too.  Again, the acting, because he's perfect in that part--including the creepy subtle change at the end. It's interesting how Jessica deals with people she doesn't trust. Her scenes with him, including the close, were some of AL's best.  Good guy, bad guy, she's always the one who sells it and keeps your interest even when the writing is weak.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Windom didn’t join the show as Seth until the second season; Claude Akin’s character was only in three or so episodes in the first season and then he was gone. He quit, due to, as discussed up thread, him wanting co-billing, when this was always going to be Angela’s show.

I actually prefer Tom Bosley’s Amos over Ron Masak’s Mort. For a New York cop, he was really stupid and quick to jump the gun to charge people of murder.

But Cabot Cove sure had a lot of residents who were murderers!????????

Ooh! The episode where Angela was on a jury! I loved how Vicki Lawrence guest starred! I always wished Carol Burnett had also appeared!

[Jaded]

I'm sitting through "From Russia With Blood" on HMM to catch the few glimpses of Adrian Zmed's character. Anthony Geary is in it too but I'm pretty meh when it comes to him. The episode coming on after it is "The Sins of Castle Cove". I think I remember reading some others enjoy that one too.

[Henrique]

Hi,

I'm trying to discover what's the name of the episode (number and season) when Jessica travels to Rio de Janeiro.

I remember she's with the concierge (or something like that) of an hotel, they enter in a room and discover someone dead.

Anyone can help?

Thank you.  

[Schnickelfritz]

3 hours ago, Henrique said:

Hi,

I'm trying to discover what's the name of the episode (number and season) when Jessica travels to Rio de Janeiro.

I remember she's with the concierge (or something like that) of an hotel, they enter in a room and discover someone dead.

Anyone can help?

Thank you.  

I (arguably light on MSW facts) don't remember a Rio episode. Someone should be along soon with the answers you seek.

Could the episode you are looking for be Widow, Weep for Me? It was Season 2 Episode 1. It took place in Brittany Bay, Jamaica though. Jessica went to the island masquerading as Marguerite Canfield and it is the first appearance of Michael Haggerty. There are other episodes featuring hotels and some featuring exotic locales.

Like I said, someone with more connected brain cells will show soon. Good luck!

[GHScorpiosRule]

No there is a Rio episode. Probably with Michael Haggwrty since nearly all of the European and foreign country episodes featured him. Plus they all took place in the later seasons.

[biakbiak]

52 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

No there is a Rio episode. Probably with Michael Haggwrty since nearly all of the European and foreign country episodes featured him. Plus they all took place in the later seasons.

I don’t remember a Rio one but it didn’t have Michael Hagerty. The actor was in 7 episodes. He was in three of the Foreign episodes Athens, Sicily which didn’t feature Jessica, and the Caribbean one mentioned above. His other four eps where in the US two in D.C., one in SF with Grady and one in SF with his estranged daughter.

[GHScorpiosRule]

28 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

I don’t remember a Rio one but it didn’t have Michael Hagerty. The actor was in 7 episodes. He was in three of the Foreign episodes Athens, Sicily which didn’t feature Jessica, and the Caribbean one mentioned above. His other four eps where in the US two in D.C., one in SF with Grady and one in SF with his estranged daughter.

Ah, thanks. I know there's a Rio one, because I didn't want to watch it and deleted it when the first scene stated that it was Rio. 

[VCRTracking]

Watching this classic 1993 episode now:

God bless whoever in the writers room who came up with this after probably watching The Lawnmower Man for this immortal image!

That it has pre Hercules/Christian movies Kevin Sorbo as a game designer is a bonus!

Edited June 8, 2018 by VCRTracking

[Maverick]

Jesus.  It looks like Jessica stumbled onto the Star Trek holodeck set by mistake.   

[VCRTracking]

Wow, this episode "Murder at a Discount" has George Segal, pre-ER Julianna Marguiles, Morgan Fairchild and Sam Anderson(aka "Mr. Gorpley" from Perfect Strangers, "Principal DeWitt from Growing Pains, "Holland Manners" from Angel, and "Bernard" from Lost!) Also Herb Edelman, Dorothy's ex Stan Zbornak from Golden Girls is back as NYPD Lt. Artie Gelber.

Also, George Segal's character's name is "Dave Novaro" but everytime I hear it I think of the guy from Jane's Addiction!

Edited June 11, 2018 by VCRTracking

[VCRTracking]

These 90s episodes. So....many.....dudes....with....floppy hair!

[Irate Panda]

On 6/28/2015 at 2:57 PM, GaT said:

This show is on late night on the Hallmark Channel, so if I have nothing else to watch, I put it on. Last night they showed the 2 part episode "Mirror, Mirror" & I LMAO when this conversation happened:

Sheriff Mort Metzger: Mrs Fletcher! Can I see you for a minute? [pause] I said, do me a favor, please, and tell me what goes on in this town!
Jessica Fletcher: I'm sorry, but...
Sheriff Mort Metzger: I've been here one year, this is my fifth murder. What is this, the death capitol of Maine? On a per capita basis this place makes the south Bronx look like Sunny Brooke farms!
Jessica Fletcher: But I assure you Sheriff...
Sheriff Mort Metzger: I mean, is that why Tupper quit? He couldn't take it anymore? Somebody really should've warned me, Mrs. Fletcher. Now, perfect strangers are coming to Cabot Cove to die! I mean look at this guy! You don't know him, I don't know him. He has no ID, we don't know the first thing about this guy.

 

I always thought it was funny that nobody ever mentioned the high death count in Cabot Cove, I'm glad someone finally said something LOL

Three years later and this is still my favorite post!!

[Salzmank]

Anyone interested in listing his or her favorite episodes? I’m not a huge Murder, She Wrote fan, but I always like Angela Lansbury, and a few of the episodes are really very good. I appreciate clever plotting and good dialogue and characterization, along with a healthy sense of humor. In no particular order, then… 

“The Grand Old Lady” (S6:E3)—maybe not a “real” MSW (it’s a bookend episode for Jess), but great nonetheless. Superb ‘40s atmosphere and a lovely use of the Queen Mary, along with an absolutely crackerjack mystery. The script was retooled (with few changes) from Levinson and Link’s previous (cancelled) Ellery Queen, and it would have been one of the best EQ episodes of them all.

“We’re Off to Kill the Wizard” (1:7)—really fun little locked-room mystery, with a disappointing murderer but a good method and some neat clues. From the early days of the show when the writers took plotting and cluing seriously. 

“Murder Takes the Bus” (1:18)—also borrowed from the cancelled second season of EQ, and clever and atmospheric, with a good group of suspects. Reminds me a bit of The Twilight Zone’s “Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?” 

“Trial by Error” (2:13)—cleverest plot of the show’s entire run. Jessica as forewoman of jury, parody of Twelve Angry Men, yet the plot gets über-complex (yet understandable) and the solution is the complete opposite of what we were led to believe. Really, surprisingly brilliant.

“Snow White, Blood Red” (5:4)—good Ten Little Indians-esque atmosphere, suspects trapped in snowbound ski lodge, MSW’s take on a slasher film!

“Night of the Tarantula” (6:7)—more atmospherics, here in a gloriously pulpy story with secret passageways and voodoo curses. I’m a sucker for this stuff! ;) 

“Unwilling Witness” (12:11)—genuinely surprising murderer, tripped up by a good, solid clue (only one, unfortunately). Fun court-scenes.

“Witness for the Defense” (4:3)—even more fun court scenes. Plot not great, but the episode achieves brilliance in Patrick McGoohan’s snappy and hilarious interactions with Jessica. Also: that is the least convincing “Canada” I have ever seen. Honestly, palm trees?!

How about you?

Edited August 3, 2018 by Salzmank

[Schnickelfritz]

Well, here are some of mine - fair warning that I have taste for silliness and that this list would be entirely different if done tomorrow.

"My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean" (S 1 Ep15) -Jessica plays drunk

"Weave a Tangled Web" (s5 e10) Have you seen Augie? I'm lookin' to make a bet

"Mr Penroy's Vacation" (s5 e3) -Shades of Arsenic and Old Lace

"Who Killed JB Fletcher?" (s7 e14) Great trip down memory lane with Betty Garrett, Margaret O'Brien, Terry Moore, Jane Withers and Max Baer

"Mirror Mirror on the Wall" (s5 e21 and 22) Jean Simmons!

"Murder in F-Sharp" (s7 e10) Ricardo Montalban at his best

"Prediction: Murder" (s5 e8) David Birney at his suave and swarmy best

"Who Threw the Barbitals in Mrs. Fletcher's Chowder?" (s4 e 12) The trouble with in-laws

"Witness for the Defense" (s4 e3)  Patrick McGoohan!

Sins of Cabot Cove (s5 e 17) Peyton Place had nothing on Cabot Cove

 

Actually, it would probably be much easier to list episodes I avoid like the plague rather than trying to narrow down my favorites.

[Salzmank]

Thanks for the reply, @Schnickelfritz! Inspired by your post, I’m going to throw in a few brief comments about my choices as well… 

[peachybean]

I love almost all of the Cabot Cove episodes and Cabot Cove adjacent episodes (A Lady in the Lake in the 2nd season wasn’t actually set in CC but had Amos and Seth in it). 

All time favorites for comfort viewing are If It’s Thursday, It Must Be Beverly from season 4 (so many naughty jokes!) and Keep the Home Fries Burning from season 2. Favorite non-CC episode is Curse of the Danaav from season 4.

My Jonny Lies Over the Ocean is a great one for the silliness. I have a gif of Jessica flirting with Ramon saved on my phone waiting for the right opportunity  

I really wish the show was streaming somewhere. I’d buy a subscription just for that. 

[LakeGal]

I just did a re-watch of season one.  I was trying to keep track of Jessica's relatives we are introduced to in the first season.  We meet nephew Grady in the very first episode The Murder of Sherlock Holmes.  I really like the pilot episode.  It also introduces us to Preston Giles who does return later in the series.

In Birds of a Feather we meet her niece Victoria and future hubby Howard.

Cousin Abby is introduced in It's a Dog's Life. 

In We're off to See the Wizard we meet her niece and family in Kansas.  

Jessica's brother Marshall (Dr Fletcher) and her niece Pamela are in My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean.

We also find out she had an uncle Cyrus that is dead in Sudden Death.

There are numerous old friends and work related people in the other episodes.  Jessica really knew a lot of people.  

In the final episode of the first season Funeral at Fifty Mile we meet Seth playing a different character.  I am so glad they replaced Ethan with Seth in this series.  I really didn't care for Claude Akins in the show.   

[biakbiak]

On 8/10/2018 at 10:10 AM, LakeGal said:

Marshall (Dr Fletcher)

Dr. McGill which is Jessica’s maiden name.

[MerBearHou]

Murder She Wrote is my late night comfort watching.  I strongly prefer the episodes in Cabot Cove because I love the setting and the townspeople.

But what I really came here to say is that I think Jessica and Seth might be in my top 3 of all-time favorite tv couples (even if they’re never confirmed as a couple).  I just adore their friendship, how Seth clearly cherishes Jessica, how she glosses right past his Seth-gruffness (I think he is funny and adorable), how they sometimes look at each other with “that look”.  

[Davey1]

I'll add my own two  cents here. I didn't like most of the Cabot Cove episodes because they remind me too much of Mayberry....I thought Tom Bosley was great in Father Dowling, but couldn't stand him in Cabot Cove. I like Ron Masak much more.  I don't like the substitute episodes in Seasons 6 and 7 with Fletcher's pals such as Harry McGraw or Dennis Stanton. I thought Grady Fletcher could have been developed better as a character. I wish characters who are relatives of Jessica would be identified in her "family tree." So-and-so is a niece, but it's unknown how. Then there is the question of how Jessica Fletcher has the time to write so many books when she is so busy solving crimes....!!

[Maverick]

 I was looking forward to endless stream of "A [fill in the blank] Christmas" movies finally drying up tomorrow and getting back late night airing of MSW.  But a check of my cable guide tells me Hallmark is keep the saccharin spigot open full bore until Sunday.  Seriously?  Are people really watching these sappy movies two weeks after Christmas?  

[Kitty Redstone]

I was just complaining about the same thing to my husband.  It's ridiculous and stupid that two networks go 24/7 Christmas movies for three months of the year (two weeks in July plus these last two+ months).  I've been watching ME-TV with Perry Mason, Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock but nothing takes the comforting place of MSW.

[Jaded]

WGN America shows MSW too of course it's only in the morning.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I think Cozi also airs it.

[Kitty Redstone]

Thank you, Jaded and GHScorpiosRule.  I've been watching (when I remember!) on WGN in the mornings.  Unfortunately we don't get Cozi anymore. 

[MerBearHou]

It just made me smile and like a warm blanket was over me when the MSW music started back up this week. MSW is my late night, before bed, comfort show and I missed seeing it during the holiday movie break!!

[VCRTracking]

A video essay by a MSW fan "That Time Murder She Wrote went off the rails" about the season 5 episode "Something Borrowed, Something Blue":

[peacheslatour]

Lol, thanks for that! Hilarious, I just subscribed.

[MerBearStare]

That video was hilarious, VCRTracking! I remember making a joke about that episode because they show a close up of the meat thermometer when the cook put it in the drawer, which I called Chekhov's meat thermometer.

As much as I love Murder, She Wrote - and got all 264 episodes on DVD for Christmas because I was salty about Hallmark Movies and Mysteries only showing Christmas movies for two months - the show really had an odd tone, which was especially on display in the wedding episode. In other episodes it's less obvious, but it's like these characters just lost a daughter/son/mother/father/sister/brother/wife/husband/friend to murder and then by the end of the episode they're back to normal. But I'm probably overthinking it...

[GHScorpiosRule]

Well technically, not all 264 feature Jessica-there were a handful that weren’t. Sure, she opened the show, but only to set up the episode. Unless the narrator excluded them?😂😂

[Schnickelfritz]

16 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

A video essay by a MSW fan "That Time Murder She Wrote went off the rails" about the season 5 episode "Something Borrowed, Something Blue":

Thanks for sharing! Let's face it, the worst (or goofiest) episode of "Murder She Wrote" is still better than 99% of the other shows out there. That's why we revisit Cabot Cove and its environs (And her version of New York) so often!

[Jaded]

The first five seasons of MSW are coming to Amazon Prime in April. Not sure if it's been available through Prime previously at any point or not.

[dttruman]

Am watching the episode "Murder-- According to Maggie". I heard a tidbit about the plot and wonder if anybody heard something about it. The character "Bert Rodgers" played by Tim Thomerson is based on a real actor for a cop show. This Bert Rodgers is an uptight ego maniac and I wonder if anyone knows who he is suppose to be?

[ljenkins782]

On 5/26/2018 at 8:20 PM, Jaded said:

I'm watching this episode of Hunter from 1984 on the Heroes & Icons channel where William Windom (Seth) is a police commissioner suspected of having his wife murdered in a car explosion.

Speaking of Hunter, this episode (Murder He Wrote) kinda pisses me off. It's a rather unflattering parody of MSW. Some of it is funny and addresses some of the sillier points of the show (like Jessica being welcomed into pretty much any investigation, no questions asked), but the overall tone of the episode is a bit mean-spirited.

It's also weird that this Hunter episode aired in 1988, but it almost exactly matches the plot of MSW episode Test of Wills, which didn't air until 1989. 

Quote

They must have liked Windom a lot to have him appear first as Sam, one of the guilty, then return as a regular. Same for the man who played Mort. They're both two of my favorites--such good actors--so I'm glad they did that. (To me, the change from Amos to Mort and the handyman--Claude?--to Seth was an improvement both times.)

I liked Amos and Mort equally, but since more of my favorite episodes are early ones with Amos, he has the slightest edge. 

But Seth vs Ethan is Seth all the way. I couldn't stand the Ethan character and I'm glad Claude Akins' ego couldn't take being second fiddle for very long so we didn't have to deal with that character for more than a few episodes. 

[Jaded]

[krankydoodle]

On 2/24/2019 at 5:06 PM, VCRTracking said:

A video essay by a MSW fan "That Time Murder She Wrote went off the rails"

Thanks so much for introducing me to this YouTuber! It looks like she's started doing more of these MSW videos since the first ones were so popular and I was so excited to see a new one posted yesterday. That's how I get my MSW fix since it's not streaming on any of the services I'm subscribed to. I'm hoping the Escape channel or H&I starts showing it one of these days.

[catalogrrr]

A channel in Canada airs this in the evenings 5 days a week. I just record it and watch whenever I feel a little nostalgic. The cell phones and computers always make me laugh. They're airing the shows that are set in NYC and the ones that are filmed either in Hawaii or Europe. I think I love the ones filmed in NYC the best. I saw one recently with Michael E. Knight from All My Children and it just made me smile so much.

[VCRTracking]

 J. Michael Straczynski(creator of Babylon 5) and MSM co-executive producer and writer for seasons 8 and 9:

[VCRTracking]

Watched season 2's "Reflections of the Mind" with Ben Murphy, Wings Hauser, Esther Rolle, Martin Milner and Ann Blyth today. If you've seen the episode and know Blyth's most famous role, you have to appreciate how clever her casting is.

[xander874]

I'm rewatching the show again on Amazon this time (add the rest of the seasons!!!) and am really paying more attention to the emotional scenes. I think a lot of people dismiss MSW as a cheesy murder mystery, but there are some really good heartfelt scenes. I especially loved the reminiscing jailhouse scene with Jackie Cooper (Frank's brother) and the heartbreak on Jessica's face when her friend John Astin turned out to be the killer. You could just see the love and sadness when she talked about Frank. It's a shame Angela Lansbury didn't get an Emmy for this show - she could turn out some great performances.

Unpopular opinion coming but I actually like the NY years. I felt that by Season 6 or so, the show was a little meh (but still 1000% better than most stuff) and that the move revitalized it a bit. The first few episodes of Season 8 are a bit painful as she adjusts to life in the Big Apple, but after that I thought it was quite enjoyable. A bit more procedural than older episodes but still good.

I never did see the movies. Are they any good and worth the effort of tracking down? 

[MerBearStare]

5 hours ago, xander874 said:

I think a lot of people dismiss MSW as a cheesy murder mystery, but there are some really good heartfelt scenes.

One of my favorite episodes (it may actually be my favorite) is the season 4 episode When Thieves Fall Out. A man who was wrongly convicted of murder and spent 20 years in prison comes to Cabot Cove because he thinks the real murderer is there. He torments the group of people who he thinks is responsible and it turns out the murderer is Jessica's friend, the high school football coach. She also gets pretty sanctimonious with the wrongly convicted man about the way he went about finding the real killer, but he asks her to think about how she would feel if she wrongly spent 20 years in prison. The episode ends on a pretty ambiguous note and, really, Jessica is in the wrong, which doesn't happen a lot.

I also really enjoy the season one episode Lovers and Other Killers, where Jessica gets a male administrative assistant who is accused of murder, but you never actually find out whether he killed the old woman he was dating/using for money. I guess I just love an ambiguous ending here and there.

Edited August 1, 2019 by MerBearStare