Murder Monday: Jessica goes VR

After the second great Leonard Lightfoot episode, Jessica Fletcher enters the then-nascent world of virtual reality in Season 10's "A Virtual Murder." Unfortunately, it's not FletcherWorld with a 3-D Jess taking you on a tour of Cabot Cove. Fletcher has written the script for a VR murder mystery game that immerses the player in its own reality--well, by 1993 standards, anyway. I mean, Jessica herself is impressed when she tests it out, calling it remarkable!

I could grab a still from different sources, but I feel I owe it to you to try to get my own screengrab, so here goes:

The episode co-stars Julia "Poor man's Paula Marshall?" Campbell, Kevin "Pre-stero--uh, bulking up for Hercules" Sorbo, Phil "See me, not just hear me" LaMarr, Allan "Yep, I'm a sleazeball again" Miller, and Ramy "Rufus Sewell will study this performance" Zada. It's an amusing look at VR as it was 30 years ago, and seeing Jessica flail around with that VR headset is worth the price of admission.

Murder Monday: History is made in Season 10

I am guilty of derilection of duty in not reporting on Murder, She Wrote each Monday, but I have to jump in to mention this piece of history. I watch an episode with my wife (virtually) each Monday, and though we have jumped ahead for seasonal episodes, like for Halloween, I don't look ahead at specific installments to scope them out. Therefore, each week I am surprised when I see the cast at the beginning.

Imagine my joy, then when I see the name a genius in the opening credits for Season 10, Episode 2, "For Whom the Ball Tolls." It's not just a genius, but THE Genius--the O.G. himself, the man for whom the Batty is now named, the first-ever Genius Award recipient, Robert Pine!

Pine is the good-hearted, responsible brother of sleazy building developer Kevin Kilner. He is generally a nice guy, displays conscience, and even seems to have a budding relationship with a younger woman. Too bad for him that--Well, just watch the episode.

One Genius is enough to elevate an MSW, but what if I told you TWO Geniuses appear in this one? Returning as NYPD Lt. Gelber is the great Herb Edelman (himself worthy of Genius consideration in the right circumstance, and his right-hand man, Detective Henderson, is played by Leonard Lightfoot!

That's right, the Season 2 Genius winner, honored for his work in Silver Spoons, is in the episode as well. Now, this was a real shock to me. I almost didn't recognize him in his first scene, not because he looked much different, but because of the ignorance of the show's producers. Bruce Lansbury, I hope this doesn't fall on you, but how in the world can you have Leonard Lightfoot in your cast and relegate him to the end credits? I was stunned, but I got over it and just enjoyed his presence in the show.

This instant classic is worth seeing, but then a few episodes later, "The Phantom Killer" reunites us with Gelber AND Henderson. This time, Lightfoot's character even gets to show a little personality (He is super efficient) and some more dialogue. Yes, it appears he is a recurring character! It's enough to make me look forward to the New York episodes though I still love Cabot Cove the best.

I do favor an approach of having Edelman and Lightfoot constants when Jess is in New York except under special circumstances, but I am not looking ahead to see how often this happens!

(Note: Lightfoot's appearance on Murder was mentioned in a previous "Pick Your Pine" game at the end of this season 2 episode, well before I started watching the series each week)

Great Moments in 70s and 80s TV History: Jessica Fletcher has eyes for...Dick Butkus?

In a first-season Murder, She Wrote, "Sudden Death," Jessica Fletcher, who has inherited a share of a pro football team, "accidentally" wanders into the shower area, and it sure looks like she has wandering eyes. The late great Dick Butkus happens to be on the team, known in this episode as TANK MASON!

Tank looks great, but the "defensive captain" of a pro football team at the age of 43? Impressive!

Jessica is asking about a possible theft in the locker room, but she just happens to do it when the team is in the showers, leading to a run-in with Tank Mason, who says (and, yes, I am taking this out of context), "They don't call me Tank for nothing," even as he takes haste to cover himself with his towel.

His eyes are up THERE, Jess!

OK, so when Tank says he didn't expect to see her there at that time, during the showering, she feigns modesty and runs out. We know better, though, right?

The entire cast for this episode is top notch, featuring known 70s performers like David Doyle, Jan Smithers, Tim Thomerson, then Bruce Jenner; and character actor standouts like Allen Miller, James MCeachin, and Warren Berlinger. I'm on Season 9 of a series watch, and those days of exciting loaded casts like in the early seasons are long gone.

Dick Butkus never returned to Murder, She Wrote despite the simmering tension that is so prevalent in this episode.

Murder Monday 9-2: 'Family Secrets" takes me back to Cabot Cove

Reminder: Murder Monday may (and often will) contain spoilers for the episode discussed.

We return to Cabot Cove for the second episode this season, which makes me happy, but it's not a strong outing. The mystery elements are a little weak, and the characters are silly. I enjoy seeing Seth again, though, and Sheriff Mort Metzger has a few amusing moments of SWAGGER. 

One thing I like about it is that we get multiple looks at a neglected corner of Cabot Cove: The liberry! Jessica is doing research on poisons (for her writing, natch--research for her novels) when she runs into a former student. Randy is now a journalist in the big city (Portland, and I don't mean in Oregon) and is digging through records because he has a bead on huge secrets in the town's legendary story of Mad Maggie, who went to a looney bin after a shooting accident in which she killed her husband. What a scandal! He plans to write a book about it.

Randy goes to the local diner and makes a really awkward attempt to talk to a waitress there. He doesn't ask her, but he says he NEEDS to talk to her, so she is put off. Meanwhile, a local Pillar of the Community (someone who was there at the scene of the Mad Maggie incident; hmm) and his son are working on a real estate deal in their office, and the son peers out his window at the waitress as she walks away. We also meet Token Oldie Emily, who knew Mad Maggie; and her daughter Janet, and the two of them are organizing a fundraising lunch for a local Community Center.

Suffice to say Randy is killed in the library, and one of those who find the body is...ARNOLD! Yes, a librarian character, Arnold, someone nerdy in a great cliched way but harmless. Or is he? Randy had reported that Arnold was miffed he wouldn't let him co-write the book. That makes no sense—just one of the silly story elements here, like the fact that Randy is killed by a blow to the head by a paperweight that he always carries with him. You know, the lucky paperweight you absolutely have to have with you when you are on the road looking at real estate records in the library. Be a shame if one of those notorious library gusts came through and blew away some vital records.

I want to see more Arnold. I want to see more of the library, which looks like an inviting place apart from the murders. It leaves me wanting more!

The supporting cast is not distinguished, but Caroline Williams returns a mere 2 episodes after being in the Season 8 finale. Not so odd in real life, but watching these the way we are not taking several months off between seasons, it stands out. Creepy Arnold is the standout here, plus going back to Cabot Cove, but it's not a strong installment.

Murder Monday returns! Episode 9-1: "Murder in Milan"

No more messing around, no trying to backfill the seasons I skipped over--Oh, all the Jessica we could have shared together--but I am just gonna do it: I'm gonna Bring Murder Monday back in real time (sorta) as Wife of the Show Laurie and I continue our journey through the series.

After a spotty seventh season with numerous non-Jessica Fletcher installments, the show has delivered a solid eighth season and transplanted our heroine to New York City, where she now lives part time (It's kind of sketchy) and teaches (THAT is even sketchier, but every now and then, we might actually get proof of that!).

Season 9 kicks off in beautiful Italy, with plenty of establishing shots to prove we are in Italy the whole time, no doubt about it. What a country (Apologies, Yakov)! What a setting! What a treat!
Well, actually, I was disappointed. I don't need Italy. The setting is not just Milan, but a Milan film fest hosting a movie adapted by one of Jessica's books and directed by a young hotshot director played by, you guessed it, Gary Kroeger.

You know what else says "Hollywood power and glitz"? A hotshot producer played by, you guessed it, Paul Gleason.

Paul and Gary want to work together on a new hot property, a best-selling novel, but Gary has a deal with a film producer (Susan Blakely), and she won't let him out of it. She seems to have a personal thing for him, too. Really, she has issues with everyone, and suddenly financial reports from the movie based on Jess' book come in and show millions in overages. Can her finance guy explain it? Can Gary? Why the devil does this big Hollywood producer apparently work full time out of Milan?

Another thing that doesn't ring true is the hot ingenue starring in the movie and dating Kroeger. Frankly she looks about 10 years too old to be an ingenue. OK, I just looked it up. Ouch, she is like 23 or 24. She just looks older, and Laurie said the same thing!

It's a disappointing episode. While it is funny to see George "Hey, I was in the original SNL cast" Coe as the ingenue's dad, the depiction of the film scene is shallow and unconvincing. And what a waste of  Cesar Romero, who is the lead actor in the movie and flirts with Jessica but has little involvement with the plot. I guess I should be thankful to see the kind of old-school star the show used to spotlight, but he is underutilized.

This season opener isn't as special as I think it is supposed to be. I hope we go back to Cabot Cove next week.

Murder Monday: Does Rian Johnson listen to BOTNS?

On the heels of his popular murder mystery film Glass Onion, director Rian Johnson talked to The New York Times about the classic TV that influenced his upcoming series Poker Face, which stars Natasha Lyonne as a woman who is forced to go across the country and solves mysteries each week as she does. Her "super power" is an ability to tell when anyone is lying.

I recommend reading the entire article because Johnson and Lyonne talk about an affection for Seventies and Eighties television and the case-of-the-week structure it offered (Poker Face, premiering this week, offers self-contained stories within an overall narrative arc for the season). Lyonne admits she didn't grow up as a TV person, but Johnson, as we know from the promotion he did for Onion, LOVES the stuff.

Johnson names 3 episodes that stand out as particular influences: Magnum P.I.'s fourth-season opener "Home by the Sea," a memorable one Mike and I have discussed; Columbo's "Any Old Port in a Storm" (Donald Pleasance + wine); and, hey, what do you know? Guess what episode of Murder, She Wrote Johnson highlights?

That's right, Season 1's "Murder on the Bus," the episode Mike and I discussed on the podcast!

Johnson says: "This episode is kind of Hitchcock-like, in the tradition of The Lady Vanishes, where a group of suspects are all displaced together. This one just happens to guest star Linda Blair and Rue McClanahan." There is something so perfect about that last sentence, I won't quibble about not mentioning Larry Linville or Michael Constantine.

He adds that he misses "the contract the audience had with the show," where Jessica would encounter a murder every single week, but she "was never looking into the camera lens and rolling her eyes and saying, 'Not again!' It was like, if you don't talk about it, we won't talk about it. There was something delightfully charming about that." 

As for Lyonne, she mentions the NYPD Blue pilot, "Etude in Black" from Columbo (Cassavetes), and The Twilight Zone's "The Sixteen-Millimeter Shrine" with Ida Lupino. OK, that last one is a little further back, but who is going to complain about a Twilight Zone reference?

Murder Monday: BOTNS remembers Ron Masak

I have the unfortunate duty of devoting a second straight Murder Monday to marking the death of a Murder, She Wrote alum's life (both from natural causes, thank goodness). Last week I talked about my love of the iconic program and Angela Lansbury, and this week I confess: I was skeptical about Ron Masak, who passed away several days ago after a long career that included his portrayal of Sheriff Mort Metzger on MSW.

When I dove into watching Jessica Fletcher's exploits in order, I had this dread in the back of my mind that soon The Bos would leave the series and things would go downhill. Yes, Cabot Cove's intrepid Sheriff Amos Tupper would depart as Tom Bosley would go on to star in Father Dowling, and where would that leave the viewers? Where would it leave ME?

Well, for one thing, Tupper was not in nearly as many episodes as I expected. Would you believe he appears in a mere 19 of 264 per IMDB? Metzger is in 41. A more important factor is that Masak is great! I''m almost halfway through season 7 now, and I look forward to seeing Mort Metzger and am disappointed if a Cabot Cove episode does not include him.

What I like about Metzger is that he isn't a boob--not to say Tupper is, but Amos is a small-town lawman in over his head despite meaning well whenever there's a murder. Metzger offers a different dynamic as a New York cop assuming he can ease into retirement with a simple, peaceful gig in Maine. The series backs down a little bit from the brash New Yorker aspect as Metzger settles in, but his general attitude persists. Mort's most amusing quality is his exasperation, on display at the behavior of the locals and also at the theories Jessica provides at every murder scene. 

Yet he does not push Jess away; to the contrary, he welcomes the help of Mrs. F, as he calls her, even if he doesn't always believe her. He respects her and, while he is stubborn sometimes, he isn't so pigheaded as to ignore the facts. It's a good relationship the two of them have.

Masak's delivery and charm make the character a likable and stable presence in the Cabot Cove episodes. He's not the cliched pushy New Yorker the character could have been, but he does bring a different energy to the bucolic (yet murder-plagued) Maine setting. He even gives the series its own "unseen character" running gag in the form of his oft-mentioned wife, a real piece of work and a former service member who keeps Mort on his toes.

Rest in peace, Ron Masak! Laurie and I will continue to look forward to your appearances each Murder Monday.

But we still enjoy Tupper, too. Here is a spot with Masak and The Bos together:

Murder Monday: BOTNS Remembers Angela Lansbury

As I started watching Murder, She Wrote along with Laurie for the podcast, a funny thing happened: We really liked it. I mean, at first, there was a bit of, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny to watch one of these every week," but it became no joke. Yes, there are goofy aspects to it, and we laugh at the show sometimes (but we also laugh with it), but the bottom line is, what we affectionately term "Murder Monday" is still one of our biggest rituals 2 1/2 years later.

At one point, I was running Murder Monday posts here, and while that fell by the wayside more than once, I am still going through the entire series in chronological order, and we are about halfway through by now. There are many things that appeal to us--the cozy mysteries, the guest stars, the vivid supporting characters--Well, basically, there's one main reason: The brilliance of Batty-winning star Angela Lansbury.

In fact, this year we have had a sometimes-contentious relationship with our weekly journey to Cabot Cove (and parts unknown all over the globe, but mostly New York). In the sixth season, Lansbury wanted to reduce her workload, and the series stepped up its production of non-Jessica episodes. It went from the occasional backdoor pilot to about a third of the stores featuring minimal Jessica in season 6. Some of them were quite good, but I felt anger--OK, as much anger as I can generate over 30-year-old episodes of Murder, She Wrote--each time we opened Peacock, pressed play, and discovered it was one of "those" episodes on tap. 

One night we had to watch two episodes in a row to wash the bitter taste out of our mouths after we were hoodwinked again by the show. We needed our Jessica! I should clarify that when I say we, I really mean me because Laurie is much more rational about this (and all things) that I am.

I don't mean to buy MSW, but to praise Lansbury. Her snooping, righteous Jessica is an endearing and lovable presence due to the performance. Week in and week out, she delivers. Even the lame episodes where she tapes an intro give you at least that little bit of Lansbury, and while it makes her absence in the rest of the story more painful, it gives you a little something.

Years after doing our podcast episode, I continue to watch the series each week. I have the Funko. I own a few of the novels based on the show. I have a TV Guide with a Jessica Fletcher cover (you can't be surprised at that). I even have a board game of the show. Some of this is for laughs, but really it's because we love watching the program, and it's somehow comforting not only to have it to look forward to every week, but to have an artist's rendering of Jessica Fletcher on the premises looking out for possible murder.

It's all because of Angela Lansbury! Farewell, and rest in peace!

Murder Monday: Promo time!

While we wait for me to talk about a specific episode again, enjoy this promo from the show's first season, before the series leaned into the excessive bloodlust and over-the-top mayhem that distinguished it in future years:

Murder Monday: Eddie Albert is old in "The Body Politic"

That's the big takeaway for me from the fourth-season finale of Murder, She Wrote: Eddie Albert is old. He was old. You know what I mean. And what's wrong with that? MSW is a show for all the gray panthers out there, and they deserve a great performance like the one Eddie gives in "The Body Politic."

See, part of the appeal of the performance is Albert's age. He is a wealthy industrialist whose wife (Shirley Jones, not as young as she was on Partridge Family but not as old as Eddie) is running for the Senate. the highlight of the episode is when George Grizzard's sleazy newsman/talk show host baits him at a news conference (there are rumors swirling about Jones' fidelity) and Albert lunges after him, trying to kick his tail. It's great to see senior citizen rage every now and then on a show that can be pretty sedate about murder.

Just for the record, here are the approximate ages of everyone in the cast when this episode premiered in May 1988:

Albert: 82
Jones: 54
Grizzard: 60
Lansbury: 63
James Sloyan: 48

OK, Sloyan is a bit younger, but I include him because his turn as an oily campaign manager (There are some who are not) is another highlight. Sloyan wowed me as the law enforcement figure in Season 3's "Corned Beef and Carnage," so it was a treat to see him again.

Here's the other big highlight: the utter absurdity of the plot device that gets Jessica involved in a Senate campaign that leads to MURDER! Jessica happens to be visiting Jones' Kathleen Lane (all we hear is that they have known each other 17 years) right when the speechwriter has left. So naturally, Lane pleads with acclaimed mystery novelist Fletcher to take over...you know, just for a while for a few key speeches. Have I mentioned this is the week before the primary vote?

Not everything in this episode works. A lot of shots at the media fall flat, and the jabs at politics are rather tame. There are interesting hints that Lane may actually be a little more less faithful than we think, though, which adds some spice. And Albert, though looking all of his 82, delivers a fun and feisty performance and has some great lines. 

Murder Monday: Episode 3-6: Deadly Gold

After the amusing title of the previous episode, "Corned Beef and Carnage," Murder, She Wrote goes for raw impact with the follow-up, "Deadly Gold!" What a great title. Says it all. And this episode, which originally aired November 9, 1986, does indeed offer death...and gold, or at least the promise of it.

Yet with all that's going on in this one--sunken treasure, intrigue in Cabot Cove, BOTNS icon Grant freakin' Goodeve--I am too distracted by the presence of one man, the great Leslie Nielsen. Oh, it's not that I can't accept him in serious roles after seeing him ham it up in Police Squad and The Naked Gun. No, it's that 1) he plays a yacht owner looking for treasure a mere year and a half removed from playing a respectable ship captain in Season 1's "My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean." It was much less than a year and half for me watching these in 2021.  So it's distracting to see Nautical Nielsen so soon after his indelible first-season appearance.

And number 2) I can't help but wonder when I see Nielsen on MSW, did he bring the...you know, the thing on set with him? Oh, I'll just say it: Was Leslie Nielsen walking around the production of a Murder, She Wrote episode while working his infamous fart machine?

Admit it, once that thought is in your head, you find it difficult to think about anything other than Angela Lansbury's reactions. How about The Bos himself, AKA Amos Tupper? The mind reels!

It's a shame because it is a fun episode, though Grant Goodeve is underutilized. Nielsen's David Everett is a roguish former flame of Jessica, and the show keeps us guessing as to his intentions/motives/general character all the way through. He is in debt, involved with shady loan sharks, and has assembled an interesting crew of partners to search for possible treasure. 

Oddly, the recently deceased Robert Hogan appears as new town doctor Wylie Graham, who is taking on a role at the hospital. It's odd because this episode seems to set up the character as a professional (and personal--does he have eyes for Jessica?) rival for William Windom's Seth Hazlitt, yet he only shows up once more in the series, several episodes later. Hogan returns several years later as a different character, so I guess Graham was just a concept that the show abandoned.

"Deadly Gold" is a fun episode that deserves an attentive watch. Good luck giving it one, though, while trying to bury the notion of that fart machine.

Murder, She Wrote Monday: James Sloyan steals "Corned Beef and Carnage" (Episode 3-5)

Murder, She Wrote Monday continues with one of the best titles (if not episodes) I have seen yet in the series: "Corned Beef and Carnage." It feels like it should be a book in one of those endless cozy mystery series that show up on Amazon's Kindle Deal of the Day--you know, like Book 8 of The Katzman Deli Mysteries.

(Photos courtesy of IMDB)

In fact it is another third-season installment of Murder, She Wrote, and the guest cast is impressive: Susan Anton, Warren Berlinger, David Ogden Stiers, Genie Francis, Bill Macy, Ken Swofford, and Marcia Wallace. best of all is Richard Kline as a smarmy (shocker, huh?) ad exec. Oh, and Jeff Conaway and Genie Francis return as aspiring actor Howard Griffin and Fletcher niece Victoria Brandon, a couple we met all the way back in the first season's second episode. Of course the niece is implicated in murder!

The great news is this episode delivers, easily the best so far in season 3. One of the highlights is a performer not in that guest roster above: James Sloyan as Lt. Spoletti. In this New York City episode, we get one of my favorite "authority figure" characters. Of course whenever she encounters murder in the big city, Jessica usually encounters incompetent boobs who relish her help or condescending know-it-alls who resent it. I think we should add a third category: People who start out as know-it-alls but soften and work with her. Spoletti is perpetually exasperated and fun to watch.

(Photo courtesy of murdershewrote.fandom.com)

At one point, he says out loud, "Why is it that I always feel tall blondes are lying to me?" Jessica replies without hesitation, "Adolescent trauma, Lieutenant. But about the..." and goes right into a spiel about some clue. It's one of many LOL moments in the episode.

It's a knockout episode with a great speech by the murderer. It falls right on the borderline of cheesy and--Aw, who am I kidding. It's cheesy and awesome. Kline has never been oilier. Add this to your season 3 watchlist, folks!

Murder, She Wrote Monday: The "Earth-Prime" work of Jessica B. Fletcher

Not only does Jessica Fletcher write successful novels in character on the TV series Murder, She Wrote, but she is also a prolific author in this world--yes, our world, which I like to call Earth-Prime after my misspent youth reading DC Comics. Donald Bain is credited as the co-writer, but I like to think he just transcribed Jessica's audiotapes since she is too busy solving murders to sit down and type out manuscripts. Of course, since Bain died in 2017, he probably isn't even doing that anymore.

According to Wikipedia, Jon Land took over the series after Bain's passing, and now 3 books are scheduled under the name of Terrie Farley Moran, or "Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran," that is. It's amazing that the books roll on 25 years after the television show signed off.  The first novel appeared in 1989, and then there was a gap until 1994, but since then there has been at least one and often more than one new mystery novel every year except 2017, and given what happened then, that's understandable.

(In case you're wondering, Bain died of congestive heart failure and not under suspicious circumstances involving one of Jessica's relatives.)

Has anyone here read any of the books? I picked up a few cheap paperbacks at a used book store a while back. To think I mocked the show when it aired back in the day, yet now I watch reruns each week and paid actual money for two novels based on it! When my girlfriend and I picked these two up, we thought it would be fun to read them aloud, and given that they are written in the first person, that does sound like quite a diversion. We haven't read them yet, but someday!

Here are the two I have, from 1995 and 1997, respectively:

Brandy and Bullets features some kind of attempt to bring "high art" and culture to Cabot Cove, so that sounds fun. Murder on the QE2 sends Jess on a free cruise she earns for giving mystery-writing lectures on board. I'm not sure that all this will work without the special guest stars and luminaries like The Bos, but I do plan to give it a try!

Next time we'll go back into the episodes with one of my favorite titles of the series so far.

Murder, She Wrote Monday: Episode #3-4: One White Rose for Death

It's entirely possible for Murder, She Wrote to deliver a well-produced, professional, solid episode and for that same episode to leave me kind of flat. Such is the case with episode 4 of the third season, "One White Rose for Death," which suffers from being thematically similar to season 1's "Death Takes a Curtain Call." To be fair, in "real life," almost two years separated the two installments, while in "me watching the show on streaming today" time, it was way less.

"White Rose," like "Curtain Call," features a practitioner of the fine arts involved in Cold War/Communist Bloc intrigue and possible defection. Yet this episode lacks one key element of the earlier story: William Conrad! The former Cannon (and many other wonderful things) is one of the best guest stars of season 1 and is not approached by anyone in this season 3 show. Oh, "White Rose" has plenty of fine actors such as Bernard Fox, but it doesn't have a guest as fun as Conrad.

It's an interesting setup this time out. Jessica is attending a concert in Washington D.C. by a famed East German violinist (Jenny Agutter) and suddenly gets entangled in a situation with her old pal British agent Michael Hagerty (palpable sexual tension between Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury, folks); they hole up in the British Embassy, where a murder is committed! The Embassy itself is a pretty cool set and the kind of thing you just don't see in Cabot Cove, yet by this point in season 3 I am anxious to get a Cove episode again.

There isn't anything wrong with this one--the art direction and the performances are impressive, and the mystery is fine--but it lacked something for me. I really do think it felt a bit too familiar overall after having seen the Conrad episode, which was more entertaining. This one is a reminder to me that I am not really watching MSW for quality television and airtight mysteries. I'm watching it for the entertainment value of the guest stars, and the ridiculousness Jessica finds herself in each time out. So while I admire the international intrigue and geopolitics of this episode, it falls short of top tier for me despite being probably the best-acted one I can remember seeing in some time.

Murder, She Wrote Monday: Episode 3-3: Unfinished Business

One of my favorite performers of the early days of television is Don DeFore. Smooth and professional, he was a perfect foil for the titular Hazel and an enjoyable regular as Ozzie (of Ozzie and Harriet, natch) Nelson's neighbor Thorny. He even seemed polished in grittier work like movies Too Late for Tears and Southside 1-1000.

It was a big pleasant surprise to see him pop up in "Unfinished Business," a Murder, She Wrote that debuted October 12, 1986. For one thing, I don't remember him being in much at all post-Hazel, let alone 15 years after the fact. For another, his resort proprietor is kind of unkempt. Disheveled Don DeFore is not a frequent presence in my TV memory!

Just by existing in this one, he steals the whole thing from an impressive roster of character actors. Pat Hingle is prickly as a retired lawman trying to solve an old case, J.D. Cannon is the local lawman who gets involved when a new murder occurs at the lakeside cabin resort DeFore owns, and Lloyd Bochner is a doctor who may be involved somehow. All this plus Erin Moran and Hayley Mills!

What interests me is that, speaking of "that guys," series regular William Windom gets a little bit of a showcase for his Seth character.  Dr. Seth is of course Jessica's "close personal friend," and she works to clear him on some serious charges at this declining resort--but what secrets is Seth hiding? I like seeing Windom have a bit more to do than make sarcastic (yet genteel) comments about the idiots in Cabot Cove.

The woodsy setting is a nice change of pace, and the performances are fun, but the story is lacking.  The resolution is a real head scratcher that doesn't bring a satisfaction closure to everything. The plot is credited to longtime scribe Jackson Gillis, who knows what he's doing, but we had to try to cobble together an explanation that made some kind of sense. Maybe some key scenes were excised in post production.

But, hey, Don DeFore with stubble! Turns out this is his next-to-last role, followed only by an appearance on St. Elsewhere in 1987. I never expected to see him on Murder, and it points out the real joy of the show: the surprise of seeing who turns up each week.

Viewers in 1986 may have thrilled to a Tom Bosley/Erin Moran reunion. It's interesting to see Sheriff Tupper out of his jurisdiction, another nice change of pace.  I still think this episode could have been much better, but this was one where the guest cast carried the program and made it a solid outing.

Murder, She Wrote Monday: Episodes 3-1 and 3-2: Death Stalks the Big Top

My antennae go up whenever an hourlong TV show has a two-parter. Sometimes it leads to a gem, but often it means stretching out a single-episode with filler. Sometimes a radical change in the show's premise or an expansion of the milieu warrants more time--we will see an example later this season--but does "Jessica goes to the circus" really need a two-parter?

The short answer is no, but "Death Stalks the Big Top" is a fun outing nonetheless. It doesn't really take advantage of the traveling circus theme, though, even with the extra running time, and here's one big waste: How in the world do you have BOTNS fave Greg Evigan as a guest star and not have him sing?

The episode has a bizarre structure: We start in Washington D.C. as Jessica arrives in town for the wedding of her niece (a young Courtney Cox). On a flimsy pretext, Jessica flies right back out of there to track down a relative (this is all on late hubby Frank's side)  presumed dead. I think she just wants to get away from her niece's snooty, annoying family, but Jessica has a mission that takes her into the world of the circus and of course gets her involved with a murder and an obnoxious small-town D.A. (Ronny "No relation to Courtney" Cox).

The main guest star is Jackie Cooper, who is likable enough and gets some showcase scenes.  The circus is really more like a carnival, and we are supposed to think of them as tight-knit carnies who don't like outsiders. There is some family intrigue, an annoying kid, and MURDER!

Here is the best reason to see this episode: In order to get a foothold in the closed-off circus community, Jessica "goes undercover" as a local general store owner. To get in character, she dons outlandish clothes and some kind of Southern accent. It works--both to get an "in" and to double me up with laughter. Even before season 3, my better half and I enjoyed joking about Jessica's endless array of nieces and nephews, so we had a good laugh about that, but nothing tops that glorious scene.

I haven't mentioned guests Marty Balsam, Florence Henderson, and Laraine Day, who seem underused even in a two-parter, but Gregg Henry has a nice juicy part as one of the local law enforcers. Did this need to be a two-parter? No, it didn't, but it's entertaining enough even if lacking the showcase Evigan performance for which you keep waiting.

Next time on Murder, She Wrote Monday: William "Seth" Windom gets a run for his "That guy" money, and one of my favorite old-school actors makes a surprise appearance.

Introducing Murder, She Wrote Mondays on BOTNS!

I have a confession to make: After doing prep for our Murder, She Wrote episode, I became-well, not hooked on the show, exactly, but let's just say in my household, we are enamored with our ritual of watching an episode of Murder, She Wrote every Monday--because the show and day start with the same letter, you see--and then committing a real-life murder afterwards.

Just kidding about that last part! What I like to do afterwards is tell my co-conspirator Mike about why the episode was so cool (it almost always is), though I usually wait until the next day to let the episode simmer.

Is the long-running Angela Lansbury vehicle a "great" show? Well, I don't know, but it is a fun show.  The ridiculous plots, the bucolic yet shady Cabot Cove, the endless parade of relatives who get embroiled in murder...It's all great, and that's not even mentioning the show's best asset: Its weekly lineup of guest stars, many of whom are figures we have praised on this very podcast for their work in other vintage television programs.

So now, because Mike suggested it--blame him if you don't like it, but don't blame Amos Tupp-AH, who is a humble lawman just doing his job--I will share these thoughts each Monday with you. We'll start with season 3 since, well, I saw those earlier episodes a while ago.

Here's what you will not get in Murder, She Wrote Monday posts:
*Comprehensive plot summaries
*Video clips
*Detailed production notes and histories

Here's what you will get:
*Words
*Punctuation

I expect most posts will be focused on something that strikes me about each episode--a guest star, a line of dialogue, an accent, etc. Hopefully we will all have fun with this.

Show Notes: Episode 7-6: Murder, She Wrote

*Murder, She Wrote aired on CBS for 12 seasons and 264 episodes from September 1984 to May 1996, and there were also 4 TV movies.  The first 5 seasons are available on Prime Video, and the complete series is on DVD.

*Season 1 Episode 19, Murder Takes the Bus, premiered Sunday, March 17, 1985, at 8:00 P.M. on CBS. Preceding it was 60 Minutes, and following it was Crazy Like a Fox and Trapper John M.D.

ABC countered with Ripley's Believe It or Not, Brubaker (the 1980 Robert Redford film), and Foul-Ups, Bleeps, and Blunders. The NBC lineup that night included Silver Spoons, Punky Brewster, Knight Rider, and a rerun of The Burning Bed.

*Angela Lansbury played Agatha Christie sleuth Miss Marple in 1980's The Mirror Crack'd, which was originally supposed to kick off a series. Liz Taylor, Rock Hudson, and Kim Novak co-star. Sadly, they are among the only stars who didn't show up on Murder, She Wrote.

*A guest star who IS in this episode of Murder, Terence Knox, was indeed still a regular on St. Elsewhere when this aired.'

*Mike mentions on the show what Jimmy Hoffa says in The Irishman about facing a knife as opposed to a gun. Here is the quote from the source material, the book I Hear You Paint Houses:

Frank Sheeran tells Charles Brandt: "Bill Isabel told me that Jimmy said, 'You always run away from a man with a knife and toward a man with a gun.' I don't know about that. You have to know the circumstances.  He's right if you can startle the man with the gun, because he doesn't expect you to come at him. Jimmy did the right thing in these circumstances. But if you go toward the man with a gun who cannot be startled, the closer you get the more you improve his aim.  Most of the time you don't see the knife until you're cut with it. The best thing to do is to be a choirboy."

*Angela Lansbury won numerous Golden Globes for the series yet never won an Emmy despite a record 12 nominations. She lost Emmys to: Tyne Daly, Sharon Glass (Cagney and Lacey), Dana Delany (China Beach), Patricia Wettig (Thirtysomething), Kathy Baker (Picket Fences), and--most surprising to me--Sela Ward for Sisters.

*At this time, there are over 40 official "Jessica Fletcher"novel in our world. In the Murder, She Wrote world, who knows how many novels she wrote? We're not sure she even keeps track.

*Father Dowling Mysteries with Tom Bosley aired 1989-1991 on NBC and then ABC.

*This series was a top-10 show in 8 of its first 11 years, never finishing lower than #13.  It crashed in its final season, falling to #58 overall after an ill-fated move from its longtime Sunday 8:00 timeslot to Thursday at 8:00/

*You can see a clip from Lansbury's Positive Moves exercise video in this week's YouTube playlist. We chose a PG-rated selection.

Murder, She Wrote playlist is now live!

After listening to us discuss Murder, She Wrote on the podcast, take a look at our video playlist for this episode. You'll find A Whole Lotta Lansbury as she sings, shills, and performs with Bea Arthur! Plus appearances by Linda Blair, Rue McClanahan, Larry Linville, and many more! And of course there's clam chowd-ah!



And remember to visit our official YouTube channel for episode-specific playlists as well as past installments of the podcast.

Episode 7-6: Murder, She Wrote "Murder Takes the Bus"

On a dark and stormy night, America's favorite mystery writer/amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher takes a bus ride with a bevy of guest stars. While they hole up in a roadside restaurant, a passenger gets murdered, and everyone's a suspect (except Jessica and Amos natch). Whodunnit? Whydunnit? Will Jessica figure it out, or will they all fall victim one by one? Most importantly, will they make it to the Sheriff's Conference in time for Amos to get some potato soup? Let the man have his potato soup!


Check out this episode!