Murder, She Wrote

[Paul Raven]

Shootdown was an NBC Monday movie and ranked #27 16.0/25

In the film, Nan Moore (Lansbury) loses her son in the Korean Air Lines Flight 007 disaster. She wishes to discover the truth about her son's death.

Competition was ABC Football #21 16.8/30

CBS Murphy Brown # 32 15.5/22 designing women #30 15.8/23 Almost Grown #44 12.9/21

So this was a more dramatic role than her CBS offerings.

[Khan]

The subject matter was certainly grittier.  Angela Lansbury's non-MSW TV projects tended to be more sentimental fare, with her roles in "Lace" and "Rage of Angels: The Story Continues" being possible exceptions.

[Soaplovers]

Angela did what most female tv stars did in the 80s, they played roles that were a departure from their tv role.

She played dramatic (Rage of Angels, Shootdown), sentimental (Shell Seekers), and did two romance oriented movies (The love she sought and Mrs arris goes to Paris).

Jessica Fletcher was a great character to play, but in some ways, the cozy mystery/procedural vibe boxed the character in...so I could understand why she did tv movies and stage work.  She had the best of both worlds...a steady income and an outlet to continue playing new characters.

[Paul Raven]

I think this report was Universal trying to squeeze some $$$ out of CBS as there is no way they would let MSW go to another network.

Broadcasting Jan 89 interview with Brandon Stoddard of ABC.

Stoddard also confirmed there had been "some discussions" that CBS's Murder, She Wrote would become the fourth spoke in the Monday Night Mystery wheel. Stoddard quickly added, however, that CBS "would be very anxious to keep Murder, She Wrote in any shape or form, including slides, if they could." It is perceived that Universal, which produces Murder, She Wrote and the three movies in the mystery wheel, would benefit from having the highly rated CBS series join the wheel, possibly insuring the survival of the entire movie rotation. The other three parts of the wheel are movies starring Burt Reynolds, Peter Falk (reprising his Columbo role), and Louis Gossett Jr.

[Khan]

I agree.  As @kalbir and others have said, CBS was in third place and struggling.  MSW and "60 Minutes" were the only two shows keeping them afloat.  Which definitely explains why CBS and Universal even allowed Angela Lansbury to reduce her workload to the point that they had the "bookend episodes" during the sixth and seventh seasons.

[Soaplovers]

That would explain why the Mystery Movie format on ABC eventually did create  fourth movie series called Christine Cromwell starring Jaclyn Smith.. since it looked like the network was interested in adding a female detective to the roster.

I think it was a move done by MSW to ensure that Lansbury got her wish for a reduced work schedule.  If you look like you're in demand, then your current employer will give you anything you want to ensure you stay.

[Khan]

I see your point, @Soaplovers.  Angela Lansbury had complained for years about being overworked.  Moving to ABC and becoming part of their "mystery movie wheel" series would've allowed her more time off, while simultaneously sparing us from the "bookend episodes," lol.  

[DRW50]

I'd never heard of this until it started showing up on Youtube recently. I thought Christine Cromwell was that non-daughter of Viki's on OLTL who was bodied by Ursula.

I wonder if CBS really did cancel the Equalizer out of spite, given that this situation went public and got so messy.

[kalbir]

40 years ago this week.

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[Khan]

"Funeral at Fifty-Mile," which closes out MSW's inaugural season, has, IMO, one of the show's most clever reveals (which I won't give away in case anyone hasn't seen it yet, lol).  I'm not surprised that it ended up being the first episode to beat DALLAS in the weekly Nielsens.