Mystery Movie Review - Murder She Wrote TV Series

     It is with deep sadness that we say goodbye to Actress Angela Landsbury, who had a long and illustreous career but was perhaps best known for playing Jessica Fletcher on the Murder, She Wrote television series.  It ran for 12 seasons from September 30, 1984 to May 19, 1996, for a total of 264 episodes.  

     I remember seeing a young Landsbury in the classic movies Gaslight (1944-she was nominated for an Oscar: Best Supporting Actress) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) and I noted that she had stage presence even in those smaller roles.  I had reviewed the movie Death on the Nile with Landsbury (click here) starring alongside Bette Davis and Maggie Smith.  But she became a beloved household name as Jessica Fletcher.

What it's about:

     This television series is in the cozy mystery tradition.  The main character is Jessica Fletcher (Angela Landsbury) who is a best-selling author of mystery novels, a former English teacher, and amateur detective.   Jessica is introduced as a widow in the first episode, her beloved husband Frank having died a couple of years before the start of the series. 

     Jessica and Frank had no children but did raise their nephew Grady upon the death of his parents, a never-named brother of Frank and his wife. Jessica is very close with Grady and he appears in several episodes in the first four seasons. 

     In the show's first episode, Grady sends her manuscript, The Corpse Danced at Midnight, to an agent because she was going to leave it in a drawer.  She becomes a wildly successful author and when murders happen around her, she is often able to use her reasoning and observation skills to figure out the killer.

After the the television series finished in 1996, four television films were released between 1997 and 2003.  There is currently an ongoing book series, beginning with Gin and Daggers, with a total of 56 books (written by Donald Bain 1989-2015, Donald Bain with Renée Paley-Bain 2015-2016, Donald Bain with Jon Land 2018 May, Jon Land 2018-2020, and Terrie Farley Moran 2020- present) at the time of this writing.

Cast:

Regulars were: 

Angela Landsbury as Jessica Fletcher

Tom Bosley as Sheriff Amos Tucker

William Windon as Doctor Seth Hazlet

Ron Masak as Sheriff Mort Metzger

Michael Horton as Grady Fletcher

The show had stars and future stars on the show regularly such as: George Clooney, Courteney Cox, Linda Hamilton, Adrienne Barbeau, Linda Blair, Sonny Bono, James Caviezel, Morgan Fairchild, Genie Francis, Anthony Geary, Stewart Granger, Neil Patrick Harris, Rue McClanahan, Darren McGavin, Kristy McNichol, Gerald McRaney, Kate Mulgrew, Adrian Paul, Joaquin Phoenix, Phylicia Rashād, John Rhys-Davies, David Ogden Stiers, Kevin Sorbo, George Takei, Billy Zane, and many, many more.

Noteworthy awards or rankings:

34 award wins and 55 nominations according to IMDB (click here)

In 2004, Fletcher was listed in Bravo's "100 Greatest TV Characters". 

AOL named her one of the "100 Most Memorable Female TV Characters". The same website listed her among "TV's Smartest Detectives". 

She was ranked at number six on Sleuth Channel's poll of "America's Top Sleuths". 

Guinness World Records called her the "most prolific amateur sleuth".

Trivia:

From Wikipedia:

The lead role of Jessica Fletcher was originally developed for actress Jean Stapleton, who ended up turning down the role.

Filmed mostly on sound stages at Universal Studios in Universal City, California (near Los Angeles). The series also filmed exterior shots and some episodes on location in the Northern California town of Mendocino, which stood in for the fictional Maine town of Cabot Cove. 

It is established early in the series that Jessica cannot drive. This was written into the program to facilitate the character's questioning of suspects and fellow investigators while having them drive her somewhere. 

Jessica Fletcher's travels as an author frequently take her to places around much of the world, giving the show writers freedom to explore characters and situations beyond rural New England. 

One trip takes her to Hawaii, where she shares a crossover case with private investigator Thomas Magnum in a special episode of Magnum, P.I.

In 1985, Warren Company released a Murder, She Wrote board game. One player assumes the hidden role of a killer and the other players try to guess which player is the killer. The killer wins for killing five of the characters on the game-board and escaping, while the detective players win by correctly deducing the identity of the killer.

In later seasons, Jessica moved to Manhattan to teach criminology at Manhattan University.

From IMDB:

 The harbor of Jessica's home town, Cabot Cove, is actually the Jaws (1975) lake on the Universal Studios tram tour.

Jessica's middle name is Beatrice, which was a tribute to Lansbury's best friend, actress and singer Bea Arthur.

The show's title is a reference to the Miss Marple mystery Murder She Said (1961), which was based on a novel by Agatha Christie.

The location filming in Mendocino used the Blair House Inn Bed and Breakfast as the exterior of Jessica Fletcher's house. Due to the amount of filming that took place at the location for the series, a V.I.P. room was renamed as Angela's Suite, and a replica of Jessica's bike is in the garden.

Jessica's maiden name was MacGill, based on Lansbury's mother (born Charlotte Lilian McIldowie), who took the acting name Moyna MacGill.

Prior to creating this show, producers Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, and William Link produced Ellery Queen (1975), which used an almost identical format. 

Prior to being offered the role of Jessica, Lansbury was offered the chance to appear in a sitcom, Golden Girls, with her best friend Bea Arthur.  However, her manager suggested she not take that role and do Murder, She Wrote instead.

Season 1 episode 18 "Murder Takes the Bus" and Season 2 episode 13 "Trial by Error" and the highest rated episodes.

My Thoughts:

Murder, She Wrote is like comfort food and Jessica is eminently likeable.  If you enjoy cozy mysteries then dip your toe into the MSW world alongside Jessica Fletcher (currently on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries channel most evenings).  The books are always a pleasure to read as well.  Angela Landsbury owned the role and I can't imagine anybody else ever playing the role.  I always enjoy seeing all the guest stars.  Thank you for all the great movies and MSW, Angela Landsbury.   

Show Trailer

https://youtu.be/68shcoLWgiU