Did any of you guys watch the TV show, "Murder, She Wrote", starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer, J.B. Fletcher? I used to watch this show ALL the time, and I still catch re-runs of it on A&E from time to time.  They even made a series of fiction books derived from this TV show, I even read a few of them.



Erin :)

I'm somewhat ambivalent about "Murder, She Wrote".  At the time, I thought it was a great show and had some wonderful guest stars (including twice the actor who I salute to the left of your screen, Harley Venton -- who was once a suspect {in a 1992 episode, "Murder On Madison Avenue" -- this episode was also the episode that actress Valerie Harper, who I met in the Tampa Bay area later in the Fall of 1992, quoted to me as saying that I favored Harley Venton  8), which I always thought was very nice of her, although at the time I didn't thank her that well} and then as one of two victims {in a 1994 episode, "The Dying Game", where he actually gets shot by a stake through his heart!  :o  Or at least his character did.}) 

But my latter day problem with this show, came as I studied more about the show and some annoyances about it (don't get me wrong again the regular cast, including Lansbury were wonderful in it), but what I learned later was kind of disturbing and makes me really scratch my head  ???:

1.  Why was Jessica Fletcher never considered a suspect?  I know it's one time competition, "Friends" did a take off on this, when Monica (Jennifer Anniston) on that show asked the question, "I mean there is always a dead body around Jessica Fletcher, so why isn't she ever a suspect?"  ;D
 
2.  It was kind of mildly irritating to me at the time, when the show originally aired, but I have to admit it became even more so later after the show folded and this is it:  The outside scenes looked so fake.  I know they didn't go on location (to such places that Jessica would visit, such as NYC, Tokyo, Ireland, Texas, Maine, etc.) and maybe they didn't have the budget to do so (who knows? -- and don't even get me started how fake their Cabot Cove, ME sets looked -- you could tell even then that the show was shot on a sound stage), but shows both before and after have done a MUCH better job with the fake sets (this includes M*A*S*H -- looked more like Korea than "Murder," did with faking NYC),  and the current "Gilmore Girls" (their fake sets of CT look very convincing to me, if I was an actor in Hollywood right now, the top show I'd try to become a guest actor or actress would be the "Gilmore Girls" for how convincing their sets look).     

3.  Finally, some of the accents were not done well on this show, especially for the people in Cabot Cove and for some of the NYC guest actors (Venton was one of the few exceptions to this rule -- but then again the best guest actors and actresses who did wonderful accents were like Venton, got their start on soaps, in his case, "Guiding Light", and on Broadway, in the early 1980's that were filmed or performed in NYC).  It actually was quite annoying many times, even then.

Did any of you guys watch the TV show, "Murder, She Wrote", starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer, J.B. Fletcher? I used to watch this show ALL the time, and I still catch re-runs of it on A&E from time to time.  They even made a series of fiction books derived from this TV show, I even read a few of them.



Erin :)


Yes I did, Erin, and I used to enjoy it. But at a certain moment in time I realized that when you've seen one, you've seen them all. Why does she ALWAYS have to come up with the solution? That's SO annoying! Can't we have some unsolved murders here?




1. Why was Jessica Fletcher never considered a suspect? I know it's one time competition, "Friends" did a take off on this, when Monica (Jennifer Anniston) on that show asked the question, "I mean there is always a dead body around Jessica Fletcher, so why isn't she ever a suspect?" ;D


I vaguely remember at least one episiode where JB was considered a suspect (don't ask me for titles or seasons, because I have no idea).


2. It was kind of mildly irritating to me at the time, when the show originally aired, but I have to admit it became even more so later after the show folded and this is it: The outside scenes looked so fake. I know they didn't go on location (to such places that Jessica would visit, such as NYC, Tokyo, Ireland, Texas, Maine, etc.) and maybe they didn't have the budget to do so (who knows? -- and don't even get me started how fake their Cabot Cove, ME sets looked -- you could tell even then that the show was shot on a sound stage), but shows both before and after have done a MUCH better job with the fake sets (this includes M*A*S*H -- looked more like Korea than "Murder," did with faking NYC), and the current "Gilmore Girls" (their fake sets of CT look very convincing to me, if I was an actor in Hollywood right now, the top show I'd try to become a guest actor or actress would be the "Gilmore Girls" for how convincing their sets look).


I have no comments on that - you're absolutely right.


3. Finally, some of the accents were not done well on this show, especially for the people in Cabot Cove and for some of the NYC guest actors (Venton was one of the few exceptions to this rule -- but then again the best guest actors and actresses who did wonderful accents were like Venton, got their start on soaps, in his case, "Guiding Light", and on Broadway, in the early 1980's that were filmed or performed in NYC). It actually was quite annoying many times, even then.


Now that's something I would never notice, so I don't care much.

I remember watching this show, it was one of my favorites.

Wow, there were some very valid points brought up here! I will also add that the acting of a lot of the guest stars was done very horribly!! They were very monotone at times and did not portray very well, a person grieving, etc.


Also...who else here could not stand JB's nephew Grady and that blond haired girl he was with?? Those two were the most bumbling, and annoying individuals on the show! LOL!




Erin :)

Also...who else here could not stand JB's nephew Grady and that blond haired girl he was with?? Those two were the most bumbling, and annoying individuals on the show! LOL!




Erin :)


AMEN to that, I was always more happy when Grady and his girlfriend were NOT ON!!!!!!  I wish someone had killed them, even JB (incessant annoyance by Grady and his girlfriend would have certainly been a valid excuse for Jessica or any number of the other characters to get them off for the murder of Grady and his girlfiend  ;D!)

As far as the other guest actors and actresses, they did have a lot of hit and misses.  Although most, as I stated with Harley Venton, that had not been longterm in Hollywood (and spent a great deal of time in New York City -- as Venton did -- he actually had to go back to NYC to recharge his career -- he went back in 1989 - 90 to appear in a Broadway revival of W. Somerset Maugham's "The Circle" & also to appear in an off-Broadway show and make a documentary on the problems in Middle East where he played four deceased British statesmen, "Lifting The Fog:  Intrigue In The Middle East", until he hit his stride starting in 1991, guest starring in various TV shows in the 1990's {not only "Murder, She Wrote", but also "Star Trek:  The Next Generation" {twice}, "L.A. Law" {twice}, "Who's The Boss?", "Cybill", "Diagnosis Murder", "Ellen" {as her dentist}, "The Practice", "Law & Order" {he again went back to NYC}, etc.)  Of course there were exceptions to the rule of the NYC based actor or actress doing better than most longterm Hollywood actor or actress (the worst case of this is a totally unwatchable episode {IMHO} of the show -- near the end of it's run {it comes in-between the two episodes that Venton guested on}, in this episode the action takes place on an Amish community and two actors and actresses who have done much better on daytime soaps in NYC, Marsha Byrne {Lily on "As The World Turns"} and Hunt Block {appeared on "Guiding Light", "All My Children" & "As The World Turns", after this episode, actually he's the interesting phenomen of an actor raised and learned his craft out in Hollywood who needed and did go to NYC afterwards and actually did much better for himself}, but in this particular unwatchable episode {I only watched it once, couldn't watch it ever again}, Byrne and Block both are sooooooooo stiff that you want to throttle both of them!!!  Or at least I did.  Also the concept of the murder taking place on an Amish community just lent itself to Totally Boring episode and perhaps that is why CBS went ahead and pitted the show against "Friends" -- this episode alone showed that "Murder" was definitely in shark bate territory!  ;D )       

And I think that Amish episode was the only episode where the audience became the victims.  ;D

My major problem with it was if Jessica Fletcher was solving all these crimes, why would there be a need for a policeman to be around every freakin' episode?  ;D

My major problem with it was if Jessica Fletcher was solving all these crimes, why would there be a need for a policeman to be around every freakin' episode?  ;D


That is a good one.  ;D  I hadn't remembered that, but I thought the same thing, many times.  That policeman in Cabot Cove, specifically seemed so unnecessary!!!  :D  Just let JB do all the work.  8) 

Also for such a small town:  Didn't Cabot Cove have waaaaaaaaaay too many murders????  (I myself would have wanted to move away from there!!!!!!! ;D)

Also for such a small town: Didn't Cabot Cove have waaaaaaaaaay too many murders???? (I myself would have wanted to move away from there!!!!!!! ;D)



Good point.  I guess you would be safe as long as you stayed away from Jessica. ;)

I didn't watch it that much, Angela Lansbury annoys me.  I have no idea why, she just does.

Ya, it's funny how a murder mystery author seems to have the authority EVERYWHERE she goes, to go around and solve mysteries, doesn't it?  I mean, just because she writes the books doesn't/shouldn't give her the authority to act as a detective, etc...LOL! :D



Erin :)

Ya, it's funny how a murder mystery author seems to have the authority EVERYWHERE she goes, to go around and solve mysteries, doesn't it?  I mean, just because she writes the books doesn't/shouldn't give her the authority to act as a detective, etc...LOL! :D



Erin :)


Point well made!  ;D