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(More customer reviews)Murder, She Wrote was created with the CBS Sunday night prime audience of older viewers in mind; An audience that CBS had reveled in for countless years due to 60 Minutes. Well, I was not one of those older viewers.
I was 14 when I started watching Murder, She Wrote in 1984. Having grown up with shows like Columbo, Matlock, Remington Steele, Hart to Hart, Charlie's Angels, (the short-lived) Ellery Queen, and many others, I was very intrigued by this new show. I didn't know who Angela Lansbury was or how the show would be structured. All I knew was that I would get to play detective along with the lead, and that was all I needed to hear. Created & written by the same team (Peter Fischer, Richard Levinson, and William Link) who'd created shows like Columbo, a deviously clever made-for-TV movie called 'Rehearsal for Murder' (which I had just seen the summer before MSW premiered), plus a whole slew of other shows to their credit, I knew MSW was bound to be a hit. And a hit it was.
Filled with more celebrity guests than Oscar night, the show played fair with its audience, giving them the clues they needed to solve the crime(s) before the final 10 minutes of the show. The flashbacks, helping to remind you what you may have missed, were an especially nice touch. The writing was sharp, the storylines fun & original, and the production was first rate. Of course, none of this would've mattered if the lead wasn't someone we liked. Cue: Angela Lansbury.
Originally, the part of J.B. Fletcher was supposed to go to Jean Stapleton; Edith Bunker from All in the Family. But Stapleton didn't want to do another series, so she turned the part down. Lansbury was the studio's 2nd choice. A veteran of stage and screen, Lansbury was the perfect fit for the role of J.B. Fletcher, a retired High School English teacher turned writer by her somewhat na?ve but absolutely adorable nephew, Grady, who turns in Fletcher's manuscript she wrote to fill the lonely times following her husband Frank's death to a New York publisher. After becoming an immediate success, Fletcher is whisked off to her publisher's mansion where a costume party leads to the ultimate death of 2 of the stars of that evening's show. Using common sense, some logic, and perseverance, J.B. solves the crime in the final 15 minutes and her fate is sealed. She becomes the writer everyone adores who seems to find a murder (or two, or three...) to solve no matter where she goes.
Lansbury's charm was subtle but immediately contagious & recognizable. She played Fletcher perfectly. J.B. was no-nonsense but never derogatory. She was practical, but not a stick-in-the-mud. She was fun but she knew her limits. She was fallible, compassionate, funny, smart, susceptible to deceit, and an all-around nice person. In other words, she portrayed someone who could exist. Someone we could root and care for. Sure, there are countless many who couldn't believe the show's characters would even invite J.B. to an event given that there always seemed to be death following close behind her. But, hey. This was television. And that was the whole premise of the show: A mystery writer turned murder solver. There had to be some suspension of disbelief. And in the end, it was great television; watching what most criminals thought was a helpless old busybody foiling their crimes in a cool & calm style.
What most people may not know is that MSW was not a runaway hit during its 1st season that it eventually turned into. The 1st season ratings were okay, but nothing stellar, and there was a time when it looked like MSW might not return for a 2nd season. It was only during the first season's reruns that the show began to find its audience and pick up steam. And by the time Season 2 started, the show was primed for broadcast. After it did, there was no stopping it.
Never let it be said that Sunday nights during the mid to late 80's or early 90's were boring. For 11 seasons Murder, She Wrote ate up the ratings on Sunday nights following 60 Minutes. Unfortunately, its 12th season pitted it against Friends on Thursday nights when the then head of CBS, who didn't know what to do with the show after so many [successful] years, wanted to bury it for good. And good he did. Murder, She Wrote just couldn't survive the onslaught of Friends. The show was cancelled after the 12th season, with the aptly entitled final episode `Death by Demographics'. Lansbury did go on to appear in 4 Murder, She Wrote 2-hour TV "movies" over the next 6 years, (South by Southwest, A Story to Die For, The Last Free Man, and The Celtic Riddle). None of them included members from the show (like Seth, Mort, or Grady), but they did help fill the void felt when Murder left the air in 1996.
Now the show seems to be finally making its way to DVD soon. However, there are rumors on Universal Studios' website that the disks will be compiled in a `Best Of...' format. I really hope that isn't the case, as I'll probably not purchase it if they are. While Murder, She Wrote (like any other show) certainly had its share of dud episodes, they still lent credence to why this was one of the most successful shows of all time, even if CBS executives decided to murder it instead of nurturing it.
Let's just hope that Universal Studios gives its audience what it wants: The show, on DVD in order of broadcast, just like any other show. J.B., Angela Lansbury, and their fans deserve some sweet justice after all these years...
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Murder, She Wrote - The Complete First Season (1984)MURDER SHE WROTE:COMPLETE FIRST SEASO - DVD Movie
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