Khan

It has to take a lot -- and I do mean a lot! -- to get me to stop watching "Frasier."

Fischer/Levinson/Link didn't want J.B. Fletcher tied down with some adult son or daughter who would always question why she would routinely put herself in danger, so they gave her a nephew (and an "official" niece, played by Genie Francis) instead; but I think Fischer and his writers (Robert E. Swanson, Robert Van Scoyk, etc.) realized that even Grady wasn't necessary. Look, when I was growing up, not a Sunday night passed in our household without football and MSW, which was Mama Khan's favorite show back then. There was just no way around it, lol. True, but it was somewhat contradictory how she wasn't eager to get behind the wheel, yet was all set to ditch her old typewriter for a brand-new, then-state-of-the-art desktop computer. Either get completely with the times, Jess, or don't bother, lol.

Agree. One of the strangest episodes, if not THE strangest, was "Menace, Anyone?," which aired toward the end of the second (1985-86) season. That was the episode set at a tennis tournament, with guest stars Dennis Cole (ex-Lance, Y&R), Bryan Cranston, Linda Hamilton, Van Johnson, Kelli Maroney (ex-Kimberley, RH) and Doug McKeon (ex-Timmy, EON) and Betsy Russell ("Private School"). First of all, it was a particularly violent episode by MSW's standards, featuring a car explosion AND a grisly stabbing. Second, the chief investigator on the first murder (the car bomb), played by David Spielberg, gets whacked (the stabbing) halfway through the episode; and his partner, played by Barry Primus, has to take over, even though he's barely mentioned OR seen before then. Third, there's a rather turgid backstory about Linda Hamilton's character developing a split personality out of guilt over her sister's death...except, as it turns out, the sister is still very much alive (with hair that's as red as the herring she is). Fourth, when Jessica finally pieces together that the culprit in both murders is Betsy Russell's character, who was jealous that Bryan had moved on with Linda after breaking up with her, it's not Betsy who confesses to Jessica, but rather, her father (Johnson). His explanation: she's back home, sedated and ready to be shipped off to the insane asylum. My theory: either Betsy Russell was so awful in the few scenes she had leading up to the murders that Fischer and his team couldn't trust her to handle the climactic confession scene properly, or someone tipped them off about her porn career (yes, she had one), so they had to do some fast rewrites and/or reshoots (and break one of their own rules in the process) to get her out of there before Angela or anyone else found out. In turn, if reshoots had occurred, there's the possibility that Spielberg wasn't available, thereby necessitating the OTHER rule-break that resulted in his character's own murder. (If you watch the episode, and you see that sequence in particular, you'll see that the editing is downright ghastly, lol.)

IIRC, Peter S. Fischer and the show's other creators, Richard Levinson and William Link, also considered Doris Day.

Actually, there's a good explanation for why Jessica never drove a car. If she drove a car, you see, she'd never be able to pump people for information or clues that would help her get closer to solving the mystery. Well, that, too, lol.

Ah, "If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly." A personal favorite, if only for the scene in Seth's office with him, Jess, Amos Tupper and Seth's nurse/assistant, the titular "Beverly." It's possibly the funniest scene in MSW history. I tell you, there is nothing filthier OR funnier than hearing ever-adorable Dody Goodman utter the sentence "It was good, clean sex once a week!".

I still think there's something weird about a writer named Chris Van Etten writing at all for an actor named Chris Van Etten.

Sheree J. Wilson has a history of playing characters (on "Dallas," and later, on "Walker: Texas Ranger") who start off as interesting, then become bland once they're paired romantically with their male co-stars.

I think that's because NBC had firm leadership for most of that time. They seemed to know that the way to stay number-one was to keep growing new shows that could supplant the older ones as they faded.

Well, that certainly wasn't true for Marian Randall ("The Error of Her Ways"). Heffa literally went to her GRAVE insisting (no, more like shrieking) that she didn't kill her husband. And you know something? As many times as I've watched that episode, I'm still not convinced she was lying.

I think Jean Stapleton would have had a far loopier take on Jessica Fletcher, like some queasy combination of Miss Marple and Edith Bunker. Her Jessica wouldn't have been as sophisticated as Angela Lansbury's. Remember Lt. Artie Gelber, played by Herbert Edelman? IMO, it would have been FANTASTIC to see Edelman's "Golden Girls" co-star (and Angela's close friend) Bea Arthur play Gelber's frequently mentioned-yet-never seen wife, Bernice.

Well, sometimes they'd try to deny, or at least deflect or accuse someone else. ("I might have stabbed him, but Joe Don's the one who gave me the knife!") But, Jessica would always be like, "I'm sorry, but that is simply not true." Then, they'd just shrug, as if to say, "Well, [!@#$%^&*] it, I guess I'm goin' down then."

You know someone's messed up when Jill appears more concerned with Cane's well-being than she does with Phillip's.

By now, I think it's obvious: Josh Griffith doesn't know what the [!@#$%^&*] he's doing anymore. I'm all eyes!! Josh Griffith: "Thank GOD for whoever invented the cut-and-paste option!"

I still laugh about that plot twist. Ripley was SO obsessed with Amanda; yet, he couldn't tell the difference between her and a white girl, lol.

It's always sad to think how "Moonlighting" went from such amazing highs to such amazing lows. AFAIC, that series was GOLD. Bruce and Cybill were both too stupid to realize it.

And we really don't know how poor Frank died, do we? MSW had its' requisite share of clunker episodes, but I think the ones featuring Grady have to be among the clunkiest. First of all, you had, as Grady, Michael Horton (no relation to the DAYS character), a milquetoast actor with the charisma of egg salad. Second, his shows were all variations on the same plot: Jessica visits Grady; Grady tells Jessica he has a new job; Jessica meets everyone at said new job (including the newest bimbo that Grady is hard for, even though Aunt Jess KNOWS he doesn't have a PRAYER with her); Grady and Jess realize right away that his new job makes working at Walmart look like the smarter choice; one of Grady's co-workers is murdered; Grady is among the prime suspects (even though he just started working there and the investigators are going on the flimsiest of evidence). Then, when he DOES finally meet the woman he is fated to share his (boring) bed with for life, she's the drippiest, whiniest broad ever. (The fact that she's Horton's real-life wife doesn't make it any easier to accept Grady and Donna as a couple. In fact, that makes it worse.) My theory: Jessica stopped visiting Grady after awhile, because she decided that life was too short. The same expression I have on my face whenever I read the latest from certain posters on this board. (No, @Soapsuds, you're not one of them.)

Agree.

By that point, Beth Ehlers came across as too harsh and angry to work in any romantic pairing. She would have needed to display some warmth and vulnerability, and she just didn't have that anymore. I honestly would have loved to have seen Erica grapple (emotionally, as well as physically) with menopause, but that would have required admitting that she was getting older, lol.

So, once again, Trump and his ilk get away with [!@#$%^&*], not because they're innocent, but because the authorities don't want to do their damn jobs.

Didn't it all end with JT being diagnosed with a brain tumor?

Another favorite part: when Jessica has solved another mystery, she'll invariably ask someone if she could use their telephone. Obviously, MSW was on the air before cell phones were a thing; but just once, someone could've said, "What? You ain't got a quarter for the pay phone?" Conversely, here's my LEAST favorite part: every episode during the Corymore-produced years will end with a close-up Angela's smiling or laughing face. I get why they made the choice -- "all's well that ends well," and all that -- but when it happens at the end of EVERY episode, it begins to look really corny.

Fascinating analyses, @Franko. My favorite part of every episode is the head-shake that Angela/Jessica does whenever the culprit fully confesses to the murder. It's like she's saying, "Boy/girl, bye."

I truly hope this is how the "Genoa City Slasher" tale begins.