Murder, She Wrote

[Franko]

I'll start the thread by re-posting commentary I did on a pretty good episode, "The Body Politic," which aired as the season finale in 1988.

"Look, Kathleen, if you give me a good, juicy murder and a few suspects, my imagination will go swing into high gear, but, um, speechifying? I'm not sure that I could write on a soapbox."

The Body Politic, written by Donald Ross and directed by Anthony Shaw
-- Where are we? An unnamed capitol city in a state east of the Mississippi River that's preparing for its primary elections. Kathleen Lane (Shirley Jones) and Arthur Drelinger (Robert Fuller) are vying for a U.S. Senate seat. It's Kathleen's first campaign of national importance. She's had mayoral experience, apparently not in Cabot Cove. Drelinger is known enough to lead in the polls (and win a "Man of the Year" award on the night of the murder), but it's unclear if he's the incumbent. The candidates' party is not given, but based on the times (see below) and what little we know of Kathleen's platform (the environment, maternity leave and daycare for working mothers, (sorta) affirmative action), it's a safe bet that they're Democrats.
-- The victim? Bud Johnson (Peter Fox), Kathleen's campaign manager. Like Kathleen, Bud is married, but that hasn't stopped him from getting suspiciously close to her. With the gap between Kathleen and Drelinger narrowing, TV reporter Edmund Hall (George Grizzard) leads with photos of a compromising embrace between Bud and Kathleen. Soon after, Bud's body is found outside the Hotel Excalibur. He either jumped or was thrown from the terrace of Kathleen's penthouse suite. Bud also was wearing only Kathleen's robe.
-- "All right. I'll climb on board for a week's worth of 'My fellow Americans ...'" Jessica has known Kathleen for 17 years. Again, it's not clear if Kathleen was previously a Cabot Cove resident. Kathleen's top writer has quit, so Jessica, in town to stump for the candidate, reluctantly accepts getting involved in politics. What, no mention of the fact that Jessica previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives?

-- The suspects? Kathleen, who claims to have been coming from the home of the state party chairman. She was tricked into visiting; he wasn't there to talk about a possible endorsement. Hall and campaign operative Nan Wynn (Daphne Reid) are never seriously considered by Jessica and/or Lt. Gowans (Harrison Page). Both are flawed, though. Hall has given up on non-sensationalized political coverage. Nan, whose specialty is tracking polls, jumps ship for the Drelinger campaign. Kathleen figures that Drelinger has the most to gain from her dropping out of the race. Drelinger informs campaign manager C.W. Butterfield (James Sloyan) that he doesn't want to know if they were involved in the photos being publicized. C.W. swears that their hands are clean. Kathleen, who had narrowed the gap between her and Drelinger to seven points (or was it five?), is almost immediately again considered un-electable. She withdraws, but doesn't endorse Drelinger.

-- Hey, It's 1988! "Politic" includes elements from the then-recent downfall of Gary Hart's presidential run. The scenario gives Kathleen and Jessica the opportunity to criticize the media for building up and tearing down individuals, as well as focusing on scandals over issues. It's fun to watch Jessica put Hall in his place, but let's not forget that Murder, She Wrote was doing a ripped from the headlines episode, so it's not exactly above the fray, either. In addition to Hart, Donald Ross appears to have been inspired by Geraldine Ferraro.

-- Whodunnit? Jackson Lane (Eddie Albert), Kathleen's husband. He financed her campaign, pouring in (gasp!) $1 million. Jackson figured that his interests would benefit from Kathleen's political involvement. Instead, it led to re-examination of his business failings from taxes to implied mafia ties. Cosa nostra? In Cabot Cove? Also, yes, this is also all reminiscent of Trump. Anyway, once it became apparent to Jackson that he needed to keep those skeletons in the closet, he set out to sabotage Kathleen's campaign. He was responsible for the photos of her and Bud being taken and released. Kathleen and Bud's monkey business, by the way, was completely innocent. She was comforting him after her lost a ping pong game. And I'm sure Gary Hart and Donna Rice were imitating a child behaving when visiting Santa's Village at Jordan Marsh. Bud realized Jackson set up and furthered the photos scandal, so he had to go. Jackson fatally bludgeoned Bud with a hammer, stripped him, put him in Kathleen's robe and sent him over the terrace.

-- How did Jessica know? During Kathleen's press conference following Bud's death, when she vowed to stay in the race (and Jackson attacked Hall for making innuendos), Jackson claimed she was seven points behind Drelinger. That information came from Nan, who slipped it under the door of Kathleen's suite. Jessica saw the information on a table, not on the floor, as it would have been had no one been in the room. For that matter, if the information was on the floor when the cops arrived, it likely would have stayed on the floor as a possible relevant detail. As it turns out, Nan's information was false. The gap was actually as narrow as five points, but Jackson didn't know that when he made his slip of the tongue. There was also apparently only one poll taken regarding the senatorial race and it took time for information to be updated. 

-- Great Moments in Shilling: "Let me explain something to you. The political beat puts people to sleep. It's dry, it's boring. They want to see to see Dallas, Knots Landing."

-- Final thoughts: I hope that in addition to a divorce, Kathleen received either a lot of write-in votes this time around or an uncontested primary if she decided to run again. Aside from nearly promising that old war veterans could have maternity leave, she had a campaign where the fault didn't lie with the star. Also, it's fun to see Shirley Jones and Eddie Albert together again 33 years after Oklahoma! He makes a great villain.

 

"And now, I'm gonna step out of the goldfish bowl. And once again become Mrs. Jackson Lane. ... The devoted wife of a wonderful, loving husband."

*Jessica's anguished at the irony of Kathleen's words*

And more mini-review, then I'll stop self-promoting.

J.B. as in Jailbird, written by Robert E. Swanson and directed by Anthony Shaw

-- Where Are We? San Francisco, where internationally-known assassin The Cobra is preparing to strike. There's uncertainty about the identity of the Cobra and his or her associates. Could it be MI6 agent Michael Hagarty? Len Cariou is back, making this another reunion of Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett. What about Agent Travis (Maxwell Caulfield), who's awfully insistent to boss Lancaster (John Rhys-Davies) about Michael's possible guilt? And why should we think Travis has a credible idea? He's one of several morons assuming that Jessica has the motivation or inclination to have killed Bulgarian diplomat Ivanov (Joseph Ruskin). Jessica was twice in the wrong place at the wrong time. First at the airport, when she ran into Michael and accepted his offer of a ride. Second, when she was at the murder scene, outside a shady hotel. Michael had gone in to confront Ivanov, who freaked out and escaped. Jessica initially thinks Michael killed Ivanov. It was actually the work of The Cobra, who seeks to complete a mission, secure his or her payment and take care of any loose ends.

-- The victim? Jessica! Okay, so she wasn't killed or slated to be killed, like Leonard Matoso, arriving from Africa to speak out against his government. She still had the indignity of being falsely imprisoned. Sgt. Nash (Michael Callan) doesn't believe that Jessica is who she says she is. (MSW could be frustratingly inconsistent regarding how famous Jessica was. There's a discrepancy within this very episode.) Adding insult to insult, Michael's plot to keep Jessica safely in jail is furthered by Grady (Michael Horton)! Everyone's least-favorite nephew is on hand for doing things like scaring the daylights out of Jess when he claims to have never seen her before and not adequately explaining to freelance reporter Glenda (Leslie Easterbrook) that she's talking to his fiancee, Donna (Debbie Zipp), not Jessica. Naturally, Donna misunderstands Glenda's comments about Grady being terrific. Ha-ha ... kill me now!

-- Hey, It's 1988! "Jailbird" launched Murder, She Wrote's fifth season. It was the first episode to air after that year's writers strike. Robert Swanson frequently wrote for MSW, but I wouldn't rank this one among his best. A show like this needs red herring characters, but the ones in "Jailbird" tend to be off in their own milieu, as opposed to "Politic," where they're all in the same "goldfish bowl." "Politic" introduced most of its characters within three minutes. Not counting Zipp's one-minute appearance, the last guest star in "Jailbird," Sam Behrens, was officially introduced at the 26-minute mark. If you told me that Swanson cobbled together some ideas (international intrigue, Jessica falsely accused), I'd believe you. Which brings me to talking about how "Jailbird" was filmed. Angela Lansbury's scenes were shot at the end of the production week, with Jessica spending most of the episode in jail. We now know that Lansbury was feeling burnt out by the demands of a weekly TV show. In fact, she considered quitting at the end of this season. This, of course, led to the controversial "bookend" episodes with guest crime solvers like Michael. I now wonder if "Jailbird" was an early attempt at trying out the Murder, She Wrote with little to no Jessica format.

-- Comedy Corner: We have Grady and Glenda. She's a freelance reporter who may or may not have had international experience. Glenda plans to submit her piece on Jessica to Rolling Stone. Grady, like any self-respecting Baby Boomer, is impressed by this. You remember how many Rolling Stone articles in 1988 were on obscure elderly authors, right? Look, is Jessica a household name or isn't she? I've forgotten if Jessica had any other reason to be in San Francisco other than her interview with Glenda. For that matter, what's Grady doing there, either? Anyway, besides the Gs, we have Maureen Arthur as Veronica, who occupies the cell next to Jessica's. A blowsy but good-hearted gal, Veronica allegedly threw a beer bottle at a state senator, who required stitches. Veronica spends her time writing complaining letters to her congressman. Jessica spends her time reading a paperback copy of Zane Grey's The Last of the Plainsmen. The book, which Jessica took from Ivanov at the murder scene (!), contained a Vegas Strip postcard with an unusual stamp.

-- Whodunnit? The Cobra is supposed U.S. State Department special attorney Kevin Styles (Behrens). Like I said, his motive was to fulfill the hit on Matoso, obtain the stamp (valued at $500,000) and eliminate anyone who could trace the crime back to him.

-- How did Jessica know? She actually was first interested in the stamp. Seeing that the cancellation marks hadn't run across it, Jessica replaced the stamp with one of Veronica's. I have no idea if Jessica wanted to make $500,000 herself, or what. Anyway, Jessica didn't know Styles was the bad guy until she picked up on his interest in the Grey paperback. "And sure enough, after he left, I found that the postcard was missing." Because he had an everyday stamp, Styles came back to pull a knife on Jessica. She said the valuable stamp was in her shoe, which she kicked over to Styles. This caused him to crouch down, allowing Michael (in the next cell and wearing a Veronica-style wig) to get Styles in a headlock and hold a gun on him.

-- Thoughts: So, I guess Glenda didn't get her story. Also, for whatever reason, Murder, She Wrote opted not to retain Rhys-Davies and Caulfield as part of Michael's continued adventures. Eh, they at least got to appear in other episodes, which is more than I can say for Ron O'Neal, wasted as Det. Santiago, visiting from Miami to pursue the Cobra case. The scenes between Jessica and Michael aren't too bad.

-- Hey, It's the 1980s!: Both "Politic" and "Jailbird" have set decoration including anti-crime posters. My personal favorite is the one at the end of "Jailbird": "D.A.R.E. is the Lethal Weapon to fight Drug Abuse."

Oh, and one more point: The American Library Association missed a trick not having Angela do one of their "READ" posters.

Edited February 12, 2022 by Franko

[Khan]

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."

Edited February 13, 2022 by Khan

[Franko]

Thank you, @Khan. I know what you mean with Jessica's head shakes and I liked that she varied them up. Sometimes it was with righteousness ("So long, scum!"). Sometimes it was with a little despair ("And to think that my dear friend trusted you.").

[Khan]

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.

[Franko]

The joke that Jessica Fletcher is the world's most prolific uncaught serial killer has been done to death, but when you have her looking so merry after so many murders, it starts to make some sense.

[Soapsuds]

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[Khan]

And we really don't know how poor Frank died, do we? 

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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.)

Edited February 15, 2022 by Khan

[FrenchBug82]

And then there is the fact they *always* confessed.
Not that I want to encourage perps to try to get away with crime.
But why? VERY often Jessica's rationale, as sound and accurate as it was, really wouldn't have been nearly sufficient to win a jury trial in terms of evidence.
How is it that none of these people ever thought they should deny, deny, deny?

[Khan]

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."

[Franko]

@Paul Raven mentioned that Jean Stapleton was first in line for the role of Jessica. Jean's a TV legend, certainly, but I can't see her version of MSW lasting as long. It might have made a fun casting gag if Jean (or Julie Andrews) played Eudora in "Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall."

People on MSW did tend to face the end of life as they currently know it with an absurd amount of stoicism.

[Soapsuds]

How can we have a thread about MSW without it's iconic opening/theme song?

 

 

[Khan]

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.

[Soapsuds]

@Khan You have me

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with all of your MSW knowledge. The Grady stuff...

[Franko]

That is some writing music right there! (Seriously, sometimes when I need to get motivated, I put on the Murder, She Wrote theme.)

YES!

Edited February 13, 2022 by Franko

[Khan]

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.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Khan