Murder, She Wrote

[Paul Raven]

As mentioned in the 90's rating thread the first MSW TV Movie 'South by Southwest' did well in the ratings. Airing in Nov sweeps 97 and rating #13 as Sunday night movie up against ABC's strong Cinderella/Oprah Evening.

The next aired May 2000-quite a gap.

'Something to Die For' aired as a special Thurs 8-10 and ranked #24. Interesting that they slotted it up against Friends again. Wonder what Angela thought about that? On NBC Ihr Friends was #3 and 1hr Frasier was #2

Then in May 2001 'The Last Free Man' aired on Wed 8-10 and ranked #21 winning the first hour but losing the 2nd to West Wing #7

The final TV movie 'The Celtic Riddle' aired  May 2003 as a Friday movie 9-11. It ranked #32,winning the first hour but running 2nd to Law and Order SVU #19.

So overall a good showing from those 4.

Did they maintain the standard? Over to our MSW afficionados...

[Khan]

I've heard/read two explanations for that gap.  One explanation was that Corymore Productions (meaning, of course, Angela Lansbury and her family) was having such difficulties getting CBS to approve the story for the next movie.  The other explanation was that they were so upset with how Leslie Moonves treated MSW, they were in no rush to fulfill the rest of their agreement.  Regardless, Lansbury remembered J. Michael Straczynski, who pitched to CBS what became the second movie ("A Story to Die For").

[Khan]

I think the first two movies, "South by Southwest" and "A Story to Die For," were okay.  The third movie, "The Last Free Man," is fine, once you get past the premise (Jessica's ancestor solves a murder in the Old South) and the "white savior" trope.  "The Celtic Riddle," however, just feels like every other episode where Jessica travels to Ireland (or, as I collectively call those shows, "Jessie McGill and the Little People").

Edited 8 hours ago by Khan

[Soapsuds]

I've read that MSW is coming to Blu-ray in May.

 

[Khan]

Fantastic!  Thanks for letting us know, @Soapsuds!