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12 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

"Murder, She Wrote" - poster

The start of a new, sleeker, more budget-conscious era for MSW, with Dame Angela (along with her family) firmly in charge.  Although Cabot Cove and its' denizens remain a recurring favorite, the humor and folksiness of the first 7-8 seasons is gone, as MSW becomes more sophisticated, more continental, more ready for the '90's.

Edited by Khan

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I remember that Milan episode only because when I was a kid and would watch with my parents, my dad was so excited that he guessed not only the murder victim, but the killer and I believe the murder weapon.    He tended to always never guess right, or only guessed who would be the one killed (and sometimes when he was wrong about who the person that would be murdered was, the one he guessed would end up being the killer).

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4 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

So I'm assuming the Milan Film Festival was recreated in LA?

Yep, right on the Universal Studios lot, lol.

By the time Angela Lansbury assumes full control, MSW is pretty much studio- and backlot-bound.  There are also more close-ups and two-person shots to cover the fact that Angela herself was available to shoot her scenes only certain days during the week.

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7 minutes ago, Khan said:

Yep, right on the Universal Studios lot, lol.

By the time Angela Lansbury assumes full control, MSW is pretty much studio- and backlot-bound.  There are also more close-ups and two-person shots to cover the fact that Angela herself was available to shoot her scenes only certain days during the week.

Oh, that's interesting. A budget decision, right?

Did she deliberately cut down her workload?

Edited by Paul Raven

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9 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Oh, that's interesting. A budget decision, right?

Did she deliberately cut down her workload?

Yes, that was the compromise to keep the show going after it was clear that the audience didn't like the episodes where Angela was only there to introduce a guest detective's story.

Edited by Franko

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18 minutes ago, Paul Raven said:

Oh, that's interesting. A budget decision, right?

Did she deliberately cut down her workload?

 

8 minutes ago, Franko said:

Yes, that was the compromise to keep the show going after it was clear that the audience didn't like the episodes where Angela was only there to introduce a guest detective's story.

As @kalbir has pointed out in the past, MSW, along with "60 Minutes," kept CBS afloat during some VERY rough years in the late '80's and early '90's.  The network and Universal were willing to do just about anything to keep the show on the air, including allowing AL to assume the reins as EP, bring several members of her family aboard as producers and director and reduce her own work schedule to (I think) 1-2 days per shooting week.  As a result, later episodes often include more scenes without AL/Jessica; and when she IS on-screen, she's often shot in close-up (and reading from cue cards).

It's another reason why the last episode to be taped, "Mrs. Parker's Revenge," feels so out of the ordinary (aside from the story being about biological warfare): it's the first time in several seasons that an MSW appears to be taped at least partially on-location (even if it's a stretch to assume Jessica Fletcher's in Atlanta, lol).  The camera actually moves with Lansbury as she winds her way through a hotel lobby, instead of there being one static close-up of her after another.

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