Murder, She Wrote

[kalbir]

Murder, She Wrote Sunday 8 pm time slot competition.

1984/85: ABC Hardcastle & McCormick, later specials/movies/miniseries. NBC Knight Rider.

1985/86: ABC MacGyver, later Disney Sunday Movie (7-9 pm). NBC 8 pm Amazing Stories, 8:30 pm Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

1986/87: ABC Disney Sunday Movie (7-9 pm). NBC 8 pm Easy Street, 8:30 Valerie, later 8 pm Rags to Riches. Fox 8 pm Married...with Children, 8:30 pm Tracey Ullman Show.

1987/88: ABC Spenser: For Hire, later Disney Sunday Movie (7-9 pm), then Supercarrier. NBC 8 pm Family Ties, 8:30 pm My Two Dads, later Day by Day. Fox 8 pm Married...with Children, later Werewolf, then America's Most Wanted, 8:30 pm Married...with Children.

1988/89: ABC Mission: Impossible, later Moonlighting. NBC 8 pm Family Ties, 8:30 pm Day by Day. Fox 8 pm America's Most Wanted, 8:30 pm Married...with Children.

1989/90:  ABC 8 pm Free Spirit, later America's Funniest Home Videos; 8:30 pm Homeroom, later Free Spirit, then Elvis. NBC 8 pm Sister Kate, then Ann Jillian, later ALF; 8:30 pm My Two Dads, then Sister Kate, later 227. Fox 8 pm America's Most Wanted, 8:30 pm Totally Hidden Video, later The Simpsons.

1990/91: ABC 8 pm America's Funniest Home Videos, 8:30 pm America's Funniest People. NBC 8 pm Lifestories, then 8 pm Real Life with Jane Pauley, 8:30 pm Expose. Fox 8 pm In Living Color, 8:30 pm Get a Life.

1991/92: ABC 8 pm America's Funniest Home Videos, 8:30 pm America's Funniest People. NBC 8 pm Man of the People, then Hot Country Nights, later Mann & Machine; 8:30 pm Pacific Station. Fox 8 pm In Living Color, 8:30 pm Roc.

1992/93: ABC 8 pm America's Funniest Home Videos, 8:30 pm America's Funniest People; then Day One. NBC I Witness Video. Fox 8 pm In Living Color, 8:30 pm Roc.

1993/94: ABC Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. NBC SeaQuest DSV. Fox 8 pm Martin, 8:30 pm Living Single.

1994/95: ABC Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. NBC SeaQuest DSV. Fox 8 pm The Simpsons, 8:30 pm Hardball, then House of Buggin', later The Critic.

The biggest Sunday competition I'd say was America's Funniest Home Videos as that was the only show on this list that was able to finish ahead of Murder, She Wrote in the seasonal ratings. 1989/90 America's Funniest Home Videos first season was 5th and Murder, She Wrote was 13th. 1990/91 America's Funniest Home Videos was 7th and Murder, She Wrote was 12th.

[DRW50]

I love that we lived in a time when you could flip channels between Murder She Wrote and House of Buggin.

[Khan]

It didn't help that those were the seasons with the "bookend episodes."  The following year, after that practice had been suspended, the ratings rebounded.

[DaytimeFan]

I’ve been watching MSW again as it’s airing in reruns in Canada and those bookend episodes were very hard to get through. I skipped at least half of them. And there were far more than I remembered there being on first watch. 

It seems little is known about how those bookend episodes came to be. CBS and Angela didn’t get into a contract dispute so they must have been part of a contract extension when her initial one finished in the 1988/89 season. 

[Khan]

From what I gather, Angela Lansbury agreed to return to the show after the 1988-89 season, but only under the condition that she would have a reduced workload, as she had complained for years about being overworked.  Since reducing the episode order and/or not having her appear in every episode was out of the question, Peter S. Fischer and his team struck a sort of compromise.  Hence, the "bookend episodes."

As for the episodes themselves, I definitely agree that the quality varies.

Generally speaking, I think the ones with Keith Michell as Dennis Stanton are pretty good - and apparently, I wasn't alone in my thinking, as he was featured in all the "bookend episodes" for the 1990-91 season.

Also good: the first "bookend episode" of the 1989-90 season, "The Grand Old Lady," which Fischer had written originally for the short-lived "Ellery Queen" series, except the network cancelled the series before the script could be produced; and "Murder -- According to Maggie," which was (IMO) a sly spoof of the cop shows from that period.

Three of the "bookend episodes" - "Jack & Bill," "Class Act" and "O'Malley's Luck" - are serviceable, meaning, they aren't among the best, but they're all pleasant enough, if you're in a MSW binge-watching mood.

"The Sicilian Encounter," which was the only episode to feature Len Cariou/Michael Hagerty without Jessica/Angela, is okay, but I think it suffers without her presence.

That leaves, I think, "Goodbye Charlie" and "The Szechuan Dragon," which, IMO, are the weakest of the lot, and the ones I avoid re-watching whenever they pop up again on the rotation (although, if I had to choose which one to watch again, I'd choose "Dragon," if only because it's a Cabot Cove episode).  Ironically, "Goodbye Charlie" is supposed to be based on one of Jessica's books, which really makes me wonder just how good of a writer she's supposed to be, lol.

For me, the toughest MSW season to get through would be the 1991-92 season, the only one with David Moessinger as EP/Showrunner.  Although J. Michael Straczynski wrote some great episodes that year, the season as a whole feels a lot grittier and less literate than the seasons that came both before and after.  Moessinger and his team had worked on "Jake and the Fatman" prior to working on MSW, and I think it shows.  (The 1991-92 season is also when we get Ahmed, the doorman at Jessica's NYC building, and quite possibly the most offensively stereotypical character in the show's entire run, lol).

Edited April 4, 2024 by Khan

[soapfan770]

I remember many of the bookend episodes as well. I liked a good deal of them, others not so much.

I’m glad you mentioned Dennis Stanton he along with Harry was one of my favorite recurring characters. 
 

And “Murder According to Maggie” is definitely my favorite bookend episode! Having both Diana Canova and Leann Hurley in that episode did wonders.

After being a Sunday evening staple in our house in the 80’s (it airing at 7PM Mountain time) I feel like the ‘91-‘92 season our family just stopped watching together as by then we had multiple TV’s and cable, and my parents became obsessed with Nick at Nite around that period. 
 

I can say for sure by ‘93 I was watching Lois & Clark or Fox on Sunday evenings instead. The last live episode of MSW I vividly remember watching was Jessica getting kidnapped from her own book signing in Miami by Cuban/Russian smugglers and locked in a trunk…it was over the top campy. I didn’t watch the later seasons in full until I saw them rerun on A&E and wow the Ireland episodes were…something else.

I did love the South by Southwest movie, of course Harriet Sansom Harris stole the show. I actually recorded it on a separate VCR at the time because of The X-Files long awaited Season 5 premiere aired the same night and time that I watched in real time, and I recall the movie flopped in the ratings but it didn’t deter CBS from ordering two more MSW movies. 

[Khan]

I hear ya, lol.  "The Wind Around the Tower," which J. Michael Straczynski (who, IMO, is the best writer from the post-Peter S. Fischer seasons) wrote, is good, but subsequent episodes set in Ireland really lean into the Irish cliches and they are, for my money, the nadir of the Lansbury-produced seasons.  (Ironically, I think all were written by her brother, Bruce, and the Lansburys hail originally from Ireland, lol).

Edited April 5, 2024 by Khan

[dragonflies]

This is one of my "comfort shows" how can you not love Jessica Fletcher

[Khan]

IKR, lol?

Edited April 5, 2024 by Khan

[Khan]

I genuinely love this idea, lol.  I keep hoping the Hallmark Mystery Channel will develop a new series about a female vet who assists the local law enforcement in solving mysteries in her hometown.

Edited April 5, 2024 by Khan

[kalbir]

Totally agree.

There's just something so warm and comforting about Murder, She Wrote.

[Soapsuds]

I've seen the show billions of times. I have the DVDs but watch the HD versions either on TV or online.

[Paul Raven]

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[kalbir]

The ad @Paul Raven posted is for episode 4, Hooray for Homicide, original air date October 28, 1984.

[soapfan770]

So true, I just watched three episodes in a row from 1994 last night after talking about this missing era and I definitely felt so engrossed and comforted by what I watched.