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.

[kalbir]

Murder, She Wrote key episodes by ratings

September 30, 1984: The Murder of Sherlock Holmes (series premiere), rating 18.9

May 19, 1996: Death by Demographics (series finale), rating 12.3

Season highs

April 21, 1985: Funeral at Fifty-Mile (season 1 finale), rating 24.5

January 12, 1986: Trial by Error, rating 28.5

March 1, 1987: Simon Says, Color Me Dead; rating 30.4

January 3, 1988: Who Threw the Barbitals in Mrs. Fletcher’s Chowder?, rating 25.2

February 5, 1989: The Search for Peter Kerry, rating 25.9

October 1, 1989: Seal of the Confessional, rating 22.1

January 6, 1991: Family Doctor, rating 19.0

January 12, 1992: The Witch’s Curse, rating 20.1

January 10, 1993: Final Curtain, rating 20.8

January 23, 1994: Deadly Assets, rating 21.0

November 13, 1994: Fatal Paradise, rating 17.6

February 26, 1995: Murder a la Mode, rating 17.6

February 25, 1996: Track of a Soldier, rating 14.1

Season lows

December 16, 1984: Death Takes a Curtain Call, rating 16.2

October 27, 1985: Sing a Song of Murder, rating 21.1

May 10, 1987: Murder She Spoke (season 3 finale), rating 20.4

October 25, 1987: The Way to Dusty Death, rating 17.7

May 14, 1989: Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall (Part 1 of season 5 finale), rating 15.4

May 20, 1990: The Sicilian Encounter (season 6 finale), rating 14.1

May 12, 1991: The Skinny According to Nick Culhane (season 7 finale), rating 13.2

May 17, 1992: Murder on Madison Avenue (season 8 finale), rating 14.7

May 9, 1993: The Survivor, rating 15.7

May 22, 1994: Wheel of Death (season 10 finale), rating 14.0

May 7, 1995: Another Killing in Cork, rating 12.3

November 23, 1995: Deadly Billing, rating 7.0

Ten highest-rated episodes of the series

March 1, 1987: Simon Says, Color Me Dead; rating 30.4

January 12, 1986: Trial by Error, rating 28.5

November 23, 1986: Magnum on Ice, rating 28.3

October 5, 1986: Death Stalks the Big Top (Part 2 of season 3 premiere), rating 28.2

January 19, 1986: Keep the Home Fries Burning, rating 28.1

January 4, 1987: Night of the Headless Horseman, rating 27.9 (only #1 episode)

November 2, 1986: Corned Beef and Carnage, rating 27.7 

January 18, 1987: The Corpse Flew First Class, rating 27.7 

November 10, 1985: A Lady in the Lake, rating 26.9

February 8, 1987: Murder in a Minor Key, rating 26.6

Eleven lowest-rated episodes of the series

November 23, 1995: Deadly Billing, rating 7.0

November 9, 1995: Nan’s Ghost (Part 2), rating 8.5

April 4, 1996: Southern Double-Cross, rating 8.7

October 12, 1995: Big Easy Murder, rating 8.9

November 16, 1995: Shooting in Rome, rating 9.0

September 28, 1995: A Quaking in Aspen, rating 9.2

December 14, 1995: Unwilling Witness, rating 9.2

September 21, 1995: Nailed (season 12 premiere), rating 9.3 

October 19, 1995: Home Care, rating 9.4

November 30, 1995: Frozen Stiff, rating 9.4

February 15, 1996: Something Foul in Flapperville, rating 9.4

[Khan]

I'm not surprised that most of the lowest-rated episodes aired during the final season - and not just because of the time slot change either.  I think I've said this before, but even though MSW never exactly declines in the sense that the show itself becomes unwatchable, a feeling of lethargy does indeed permeate many S12 episodes. 

There's one episode ("Something Foul in Flappieville") where the milieu is inconsistent in a way that's uncharacteristic for MSW (whether the episode is set behind-the-scenes at a children's TV show, at a Punch-and-Judy-esque puppet show, or at a toy factory is anyone's guess), a Japan-set episode ("Kendo Killing") that suffers from a lack of authentic locales, two episodes set in New Orleans and Ireland ("Big Easy Murder" and "Nan's Ghost," respectively) that play like cut-and-paste jobs from previous episodes set in the same locales (right down to several actors playing the same roles, only with different names), another episode ("What You Don't Know Can Kill You") that plays like a bad '50's teen movie, and what might be - for my money, at least - the all-time worst episode of MSW (the series' penultimate, "Mrs. Parker's Revenge").

Whether the series' overall lethargy in S12 was due to everyone's displeasure over being forced to compete with NBC's "Must-See TV" Thursday night lineup, or just the sense that they're simply out of fresh ideas, or a combination of two, is hard to say.  However, even if CBS had not moved MSW to Thursdays, I do suspect that MSW wouldn't have been able to last beyond another season.

 

[chrisml]

I tend not to even bother with the last season of MSW. I'm not even sure I've seen all of them because they are so poorly written and acted. It's as if they know they are ending and they just don't care any longer. 

[Khan]

"Nailed" is unusual in that it's the first season opener since S8's "Bite the Big Apple" not to take place in an unusual or exotic locale - which, in retrospect, might have been the first sign of the series' creative lethargy.

If I had been Angela Lansbury or showrunner Tom Sawyer, I probably would've opened the season instead with Jessica travelling to the Holy Land or to Africa.

Edited April 22 by Khan

[DaytimeFan]

These three episodes are truly excellent television. Trial By Error is one of my favourite episodes for how it ends: Jessica playing sweet to the real killer and then showing her total disgust in the last frame.