MURDER, SHE WROTE

'''Murder, She Wrote''' is a popular, long-running television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons, from 1984 to 1996.

Contents

History

Origin

Premise

End

Cast

Regular cast

Recurring cast

Guest stars

Episodes

Television films

Awards and nominations

Emmy Awards

Golden Globes

Murder, She Wrote Novels

Novels by Donald Bain

Novels by J. B. Fletcher

DVD releases

Season releases

Other releases

International

References

External links

History

Origin

Debuting September 30, 1984, ''Murder, She Wrote'', TV's longest-running mystery series, might never have come about had producers Richard Levinson and William Link enjoyed success with their 1975 TV weekly ''Ellery Queen''. The series folded after a single season, but Levinson and Link were still committed to the concept of a best-selling murder-mystery novelist who solved real murders when not at the typewriter. By changing the gender of their protagonist from male to female, and transforming the character from a good-looking, absentminded young pedant to a middle-aged, down-to-earth widow, the producers were able to parlay their "mystery writer/amateur detective" premise into a 12-year hit for CBS.

Premise

The show revolved around the day-to-day life of a retired English teacher who, after being widowed in her early fifties, became a very successful mystery writer. Despite fame and fortune, Jessica remained a resident of Cabot Cove, a cozy coastal town in Maine, and maintained her links with all of her old friends, never letting her success go to her head. Exterior shots of Cabot Cove were filmed in Mendocino, California.
Her one eccentricity was an insatiable curiosity, especially whenever murder reared its ugly head — which it did with great regularity. Critics found it ridiculous how murders seemed to follow Jessica wherever she went. The mystery term "Cabot Cove Syndrome" was eventually coined to describe the constant appearance of dead bodies in remote locations.
In most episodes, Jessica would somehow become entangled in a murder investigation. The police were almost always willing to arrest the most likely suspect, but Jessica invariably felt that the so-called guilty party wasn't. Carefully and methodically piecing the clues together and asking questions that no one else had thought of, she always managed to trap the guilty party — who, given the series' "special guest star" policy, was often played by a famous film or TV personality.
Jessica's relationship with law enforcement officials varied from place to place. Both the sheriffs of Cabot Cove had resigned themselves to having her meddle in their cases. However, most detectives and police officers didn't want her anywhere near their crime scenes, until her accurate deductions convinced them to listen to her. Some were fans of her books and were glad to assist her investigation. With time, she made friends in many police departments across the USA, as well as a British police officer attached to Scotland Yard.
In 1991, newly appointed executive producer David Moessinger and producer J. Michael Straczynski were brought aboard in an effort to shore up ratings. They moved Jessica to New York, and revitalized the show, bringing it back into the top ten from the mid-thirties where it had fallen. It was Straczynski who made her an instructor in writing and criminology, and is widely held to have most emphasized her role as a working writer, with all the deadlines and problems involved in that profession.

End

A Sunday-evening tradition for over a decade, CBS decided to move ''Murder, She Wrote'' from its winning slot to Thursdays during its twelfth and final season. This was due to a restructuring plan to attract a younger audience to Sunday night. The news was much to the dismay of Angela as CBS were apparently willing to let the show flounder and die due to its age and high production costs. ''Murder, She Wrote'' was forced to compete with NBC's extremely popular ''Friends''. Ratings plummeted and in March of 1996 CBS announced that the twelfth season of ''Murder, She Wrote'' would definitely be its last. However, the final four episodes were allowed to reoccupy Sunday nights and, not surprisingly, ratings improved. The show ended its twelve year run quietly with an episode titled ''Death by Demographics''. Jessica’s farewell appears as a voiced-over letter at the very end of the episode. ''Death by Demographics'' ranked 16th in the ratings and was the most watched CBS program for that week. After the final episode aired, fans could take heart in the fact that Lansbury would sporadically reprise the character of Jessica Fletcher in a handful of feature-length ''Murder, She Wrote'' specials.

Cast

Regular cast

★ 'Angela Lansbury' as 'Jessica Fletcher' (1984–1996). The show was originally conceived as a vehicle for Jean Stapleton, who had just finished a nine-year run on ''All in the Family''; when Stapleton decided she didn't want to commit to another television series, the role was offered to Lansbury. Doris Day was offered the part afterwards, and also declined. The character was loosely based on Miss Marple, one of Agatha Christie's many sleuths.

★ 'Tom Bosley' as 'Sheriff Amos Tupper' (1984–1988), Cabot Cove's sheriff at the start of the series. Tupper later retires and goes to live with his sister.

★ 'William Windom' as 'Dr. Seth Hazlitt' (1985–1996), the local doctor of Cabot Cove and one of Jessica's best friends.

★ 'Ron Masak' as 'Sheriff Mort Metzger' (1989–1996), a former NYPD officer who takes Tupper's place as sheriff in the mistaken belief that he would be living in a more peaceful place.

Recurring cast

★ 'Michael Horton' as 'Grady Fletcher' (1984–1995), Jessica's not-so-lucky favorite nephew, who (through no fault of his own) always seems to get in trouble with the law. After many romantic disasters, he gets married later in the series. In real life, Horton is married to actress Debbie Zipp, who played Grady's eventual wife, Donna Mayberry. The two had been married for many years before working together on ''Murder, She Wrote''.

★ 'Jerry Orbach' as 'Harry McGraw' (1985–1991), an old-school private investigator who becomes friends with Jessica. Orbach was popular enough to garner his own, short-lived spinoff series in 1987, ''The Law & Harry McGraw''.

★ 'Len Cariou' as 'Michael Hagarty' (1985–1992), a British MI6 agent of Irish origin, who would appear when Jessica least expected him to drag her into a dangerous case. Cariou was reteamed with Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street''.

★ 'Keith Michell' as 'Dennis Stanton' (1988–1993), a former jewel thief turned insurance claims investigator, who always solves his cases using unusual methods, and sends a copy of the story to his friend Jessica afterwards.

Guest stars

Main articles: List of Murder, She Wrote guest stars

Many famous or soon-to-be-famous actors have had guest spots on ''Murder, She Wrote'':

★ Rene Auberjonois (''Mourning Among the Wisterias'', 1988)

★ Adrienne Barbeau (''Jessica Behind Bars'', 1985; ''The Bottom Line is Murder'', 1987)

★ Robert Beltran (''Double Jeopardy'', 1993; ''Time to Die'', 1994)

★ Sonny Bono (''Just Another Fish Story'', 1988)

★ James Caviezel (''Flim Flam'', 1995)

★ George Clooney (''No Laughing Murder'', 1987)

★ Courteney Cox (''Death Stalks the Big Top'', 1986)

★ Marcia Cross (''Ever After'', 1992)

★ Linda Kelsey (''Capitol Offense'', 1985; ''Jessica Behind Bars'', 1985; ''Track of a Soldier'', 1996)

★ Gerald McRaney (''A Quaking In Aspen'', 1995)

★ Kate Mulgrew (''The Corpse Flew First Class'', 1987; ''Ever After'', 1992; ''The Dying Game'', 1994)

★ Megan Mullally (''Coal Miner's Slaughter'', 1988)

★ Leslie Nielsen (''My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean'', 1985; ''Dead Man's Gold'', 1986)

★ Cynthia Nixon (''Threshold of Fear'', 1993)

★ David Ogden Stiers (''Corned Beef & Carnage'', 1986; ''An Egg To Die For'', 1994; ''Death By Demographics'', 1996)

★ Adrian Paul (''Danse Diabolique'', 1992)

★ Joaquin Phoenix (''We're Off to Kill the Wizard'', 1984)

★ Summer Phoenix (''We're Off to Kill the Wizard'', 1984)

★ Lynn Redgrave (''It's a Dog's Life'', 1984)

★ Tom Selleck (''Magnum On Ice'', 1986)

★ Billy Zane (''A Very Good Year for Murder'', 1988)

Episodes

Main articles: List of Murder, She Wrote episodes


For several years, the show was the longest-running mystery show on television. In total, there were 264 weekly episodes including the feature length pilot episode, ''The Murder of Sherlock Holmes''. Angela Lansbury is the only actress to appear in all of the episodes and TV films.
Many of the episodes took place in either Jessica's hometown of Cabot Cove or New York, where she later moved, but her travels promoting books or visiting relatives and friends (of which she seemed to have an endless supply) led to cases throughout the world. A 1986 crossover episode with ''Magnum, P.I.'' took place in Hawaii, which began in the ''Magnum, P.I.'' episode "Novel Connection" and concluded in the ''Murder, She Wrote'' episode "Magnum On Ice".
Beginning in season six, Lansbury cut back her appearances. A handful of episodes purported to be stories "written" by Jessica, or submitted to her by friends. She would introduce each episode, but generally disappear until the end, to wrap up the story. Other sleuths, such as reformed jewel thief Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell), retired spy Michael Hagarty (Len Cariou), and down-at-the-heels private eye Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach), took center stage. Viewers, however, didn't like Jessica's frequent absences, and the "replacement detective" policy was eventually dropped.

Season	Ep #	Season Premiere	Season Finale
Season One	22	September 30 1984	April 21 1985
Season Two	22	September 29 1985	May 18 1986
Season Three	22	September 28 1986	May 10 1987
Season Four	22	September 20 1987	May 8 1988
Season Five	22	October 23 1988	May 21 1989
Season Six	22	September 24 1989	May 20 1990
Season Seven	22	September 16 1990	May 12 1991
Season Eight	22	September 15 1991	May 17 1992
Season Nine	22	September 20 1992	May 16 1993
Season Ten	21	September 12 1993	May 22 1994
Season Eleven	21	September 25 1994	May 14 1995
Season Twelve	24	September 21 1995	May 19 1996

Television films

★ '', aired November 21997. Jessica is warned away by an FBI agent while following clues to Agua Verde where a woman who left her purse apparently lives.

★ '', aired May 182000. Jessica Fletcher puts her sleuthing skills to work at a writer's conference after a Russian author is found dead.

★ '', aired May 22001. Jessica Fletcher uncovers a shocking link between her family history and the death of a slave in the 1860s.

★ '', aired May 92003. Jessica travels to Ireland, where she attends the reading of an old acquaintance's will. The will contains the clues to finding a secret treasure, one that will require an already strained family to work together in order to solve the mystery. It was based on ''The Celtic Riddle'' by Lyn Hamilton.
In a recent episode ^[1] of the ABC daytime talk show ''The View'', Lansbury announced that she hopes to make another ''Murder, She Wrote'' television film in the near future, if her son, Anthony Shaw, can find a suitable story.^[2]

Awards and nominations

''Murder, She Wrote'' received numerous Emmy Award nominations. Angela Lansbury herself holds the record for the most Emmy nominations for outstanding lead actress in a drama series, with 12, one for each season. She never won, which is also a record. The show won only twice, for costume design in 1986 and music composition in 1985.
Lansbury was more successful with the Golden Globe Awards, winning four times.

Emmy Awards

'Nominations'

★ Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (Angela Lansbury) (1985-1996)

Golden Globes

'Wins'

★ Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Drama (Angela Lansbury) (1985, 1987, 1990, 1992)

★ Best TV Series - Drama (1985, 1986)
'Nominations'

★ Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series - Drama (Angela Lansbury) (1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1995)

★ Best TV Series - Drama (1987-1990)

Murder, She Wrote Novels

Novels by Donald Bain

In keeping with the spirit of the TV show, the author credit for a series of official original novels, written by ''Coffee, Tea, or Me?'' writer Donald Bain, is shared with the fictitious "Jessica Fletcher".

★ ''Gin and Daggers'' (1st edition) (1989) ★ ''Manhattans and Murder'' (1994) ★ ''Rum and Razors'' (1995) ★ ''Brandy and Bullets'' (1995) ★ ''Martinis and Mayhem'' (1995) ★ ''A Deadly Judgment'' (1996) ★ ''A Palette for Murder'' (1996) ★ ''The Highland Fling Murders'' (1997) ★ ''Murder on the QE2'' (1997) ★ ''Murder in Moscow'' (1998) ★ ''A Little Yuletide Murder'' (1998) ★ ''Murder at the Powderhorn Ranch'' (1999) ★ ''Knock 'em Dead'' (1999) ★ ''Gin and Daggers'' (2nd edition) (2000) ★ ''Trick or Treachery'' (2000) ★ ''Blood on the Vine'' (2001)

★ ''Murder in a Minor Key'' (2001) ★ ''Provence - to Die for'' (2002) ★ ''You Bet Your Life'' (2002) ★ ''Majoring in Murder'' (2003) ★ ''Destination Murder'' (2003) ★ ''Dying to Retire'' (2004) ★ ''A Vote for Murder'' (2004) ★ ''The Maine Mutiny'' (2005) ★ ''Margaritas and Murder'' (2005) ★ ''A Question of Murder'' (2006) ★ ''Three Strikes and You're Dead'' (2006) ★ ''Coffee, Tea, or Murder'' (2007) ★ ''Panning For Murder'' (2007) ★ ''Murder on Parade'' (2008) ★ ''A Slaying in Savannah'' (2008)

Novels by J. B. Fletcher

During the series many novels that J. B. Fletcher wrote were mentioned. Her first novel, ''The Corpse Danced at Midnight'', was made into a film in one episode.

★ ''The Corpse Danced at Midnight'' ★ ''Dirge for a Dead Dachshund'' ★ ''A Faded Rose Beside Her'' ★ ''Murder on the Amazon'' ★ ''Lover's Revenge'' ★ ''The Umbrella Murders'' ★ ''Murder at the Inn'' ★ ''Murder at the Digs'' ★ ''Murder in a Minor Key'' ★ ''The Stain on the Stairs'' ★ ''The Mystery of the Mutilated Minion'' ★ ''The Belgrade Murders'' ★ ''Sanitarium of Death'' ★ ''Calvin Canterbury's Revenge'' ★ ''Murder at the Asylum'' ★ ''Murder Comes to Maine'' ★ ''Good-bye, Charlie'' ★ ''The Corpse That Wasn't There'' ★ ''Ashes, Ashes, Fall Down Dead'' ★ ''The Messengers of Midnight''

★ ''The Poison in My Heart'' ★ ''All the Murderers'' ★ ''Murder at the Ridge Top'' ★ ''The Corpse at Vespers'' ★ ''The Triple Crown Murders'' ★ ''The Crypt of Death'' ★ ''A Killing at Hastings Rock'' ★ ''The Uncaught'' ★ ''Murder in White'' ★ ''The Dead Must Sing'' ★ ''The Killer Called Collect'' ★ ''Stone Cold Dead'' ★ ''Endangered'' ★ ''The Launch Pad Murders'' ★ ''Runway to Murder'' ★ ''The Venomous Valentine'' ★ ''A Case of a Half of Murder'' ★ ''Yours Truly, Damian Sinclair'' ★ ''The Dead Man Sang'' ★ ''The Corpse Swam by Moonlight''

DVD releases

Season releases

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has released the first six seasons of ''Murder, She Wrote'' on DVD in Region 1, with season seven to be released in October 2007. Universal Playback have released the first four seasons in Region 2, with seasons five and six being released later this year. Seasons 8 through 12 are expected to be released soon. The Australian release of Murder, She Wrote (usually Region 4) can also be used on Regions 2 & 5.

Title	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	March 29 2005	August 29 2005	May 2 2007
	December 6 2005	May 1 2006	August 1 2007
	March 14 2006	July 31 2006	September 5 2007
	October 17 2006	March 24 2007	September 5 2007
	January 30 2007	July 23 2007	November 21 2007
	April 172007	September 10 2007	November 21 2007
	October 9 2007	TBA	TBA

Other releases

Title	Region 1	Region 2	Region 4
	N/A	November 20 2006	N/A
Seasons One, Two, Three, Four & Five	N/A	October 22 2007	N/A

International

''Murder, She Wrote'' has been broadcast in many countries around the world, and is repeated regularly in many of them.

Country	Channel(s)	Title	Translation	Language
Australia	Network Ten, TV1	'''Murder, She Wrote'''		English
Austria	ORF	'''Mord ist ihr Hobby'''	''Murder is Her Hobby''	German dubbed
Belgium	VTM	'''Murder, She Wrote'''		English, Dutch subtitles
Brasil	Universal Channel	'''Assassinato por Escrito'''	''Written Murder''	Portuguese dubbed
Canada	CBS, A&E	'''Murder, She Wrote'''		English
Canada: Quebec	TQS	'''Arabesque'''	''Arabesque''	French dubbed
Croatia	HRT	'''Ubojstvo, napisala je'''	''Murder, She Wrote''	English, Croatian subtitles
Czech Republic	TV Nova	'''To je vražda, napsala'''	''Murder, She Wrote''	Czech dubbed
Denmark	DR 2	'''Hun så et mord'''	''She Saw a Murder''	English, Danish subtitles
Finland	YLE TV1	'''Murhasta tuli totta'''	''Murder Became True''	English, Finnish subtitles
France	La Cinq	'''Arabesque'''	''Arabesque''	French dubbed
Germany	ARD, RTL, Super RTL	'''Immer, wenn sie Krimis schrieb''', '''Mord ist ihr Hobby'''	''Each Time When She Wrote a Crime Novel'', ''Murder is Her Hobby''	German dubbed
Greece	Star Channel	'''Η συγγραφέας ντετέκτιβ'''	''The Writer Detective''	English, Greek subtitles
Hungary	Viasat 3	'''Gyilkos sorok'''	''Crime Lines''	Hungarian dubbed
Ireland	RTÉ One	'''Murder, She Wrote'''		English
Italy	Rai Uno	'''La signora in giallo'''	''The Lady in Yellow''	Italian dubbed
Japan	NHK, Mystery Channel, LaLa TV, Chiba TV, Gunma TV	'''Jessica obasan no jikenbo'''	''Aunt Jessica's Case Files''	Japanese dubbed
Mexico	Universal Channel	'''La reportera del crimen'''	''The Crime Reporter''	Spanish dubbed
Netherlands	RTL 8	'''Murder, She Wrote'''		English, Dutch subtitles
Philippines	GMA Network, RJTV 29	'''Murder, She Wrote'''		English
Portugal	RTP 1	'''Crime, Disse Ela'''	''Crime, She Said''	English, Portuguese subtitles
Slovakia	Markíza	'''To je vražda, napísala'''	''Murder, She Wrote''	Slovak dubbed
Slovenia	Kanal A	'''Umor je napisala'''	''Murder, She Wrote''	English, Slovene subtitles
Spain	TVE, Calle 13	'''Se ha escrito un crimen'''	''A Crime has Been Written''	Spanish dubbed
Spain: Catalonia	TV3	'''S'ha escrit un crim'''	''A Crime has Been Written''	Catalan dubbed
Spain: Galicia	TVG	'''Escribeuse un crime'''	''A Crime has Been Written''	Galician dubbed
Sweden	TV3	'''Mord och inga visor'''	''Murder Without Melodies''	English, Swedish subtitles
Romania	Pro Cinema	'''Verdict: Crima'''	''Verdict: Murder''	English, Romanian subtitles
Turkey	Star TV	'''Cinayet Dosyasi'''	''Murder File''
United Kingdom	ITV, Granada Plus, BBC One, UKTV Gold, UKTV Drama	'''Murder, She Wrote'''		English
United States	CBS, USA Network, A&E, Biography Channel, Hallmark Channel	'''Murder, She Wrote'''		English

References

1. The View Recaps
2. ''Murder, She Wrote:'' Could Jessica Fletcher Return?

External links

★

★

★ ''Murder, She Wrote'' at AngelaLansbury.net

★ ''The definitive guide to Murder, She Wrote''

★ ''Murder, She Wrote website and episode guide''