murder she wrote - classic or dud?

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i've been watching an unhealthy amount of this recently and i'm going to give it a resounding CLASSIC! who'd have thought murder stalking an elderly woman at every turn could be so, heh, COSY? just never invite jessica fletcher round to stay at your house is all i can say.

opinions?

weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

dud.

RJG (RJG), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

heheh, can't you even love it on an ironic level? HAHAHA!

weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

i keep meaning to watch it,because my phone used to belong to my cousin,so my ring tone is the murder she wrote theme tune...
haven't heard the real version though
its on around two in the afternoon i think,i always either forget about it or sleep in...

robin (robin), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

Never saw the show, but I'd give Lansbury a CLASSIC. I have a fondness for all those old British dames, like Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench. They're all so classy.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

My Mom would say: "CLASSIC"

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

Miss Marple Retires and Changes Her Name

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ned is otm, it's the whole Marple schtick moved to New England. Murder She Wrote was kind of the Bionic Woman to Matlock's Six Million Dollar Man.

Nicole (Nicole), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

I don't consider angela lansbury to be too british.

RJG (RJG), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

Dud.

Cozen (Cozen), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

Lansbury IS GAY U ALL ROCK

oops (Oops), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

c'mon guys where is your heart? have some respect for an old woman who's managed to turn a staggering run of bad luck into a profitable murder story-writing career. murder she wrote, indeed.

weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

and robin you're seriously missing out. that theme tune is fantastic also.

"do-do-do-doo-do / do-doo-do /do-doo / do-de-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do / do-doo-do-do-do / ding-ding-ding"

classic

weasel diesel (K1l14n), Friday, 11 April 2003 16:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

Lansbury in De Mille's Samson and Delilah: k-rowr.

Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 11 April 2003 17:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

I don't consider angela lansbury to be too british.

She's kinda like the pianist Marian McPartland. Born in England but been here so long, the accent isn't as prominent. But maybe I like that it comes off as this anachronistic aristocratic-New-England accent. Like the woman with the big glasses from those Old Navy commercials (I know, she was an editor for Vogue). Or the grandmother on Gilmore Girls. God, I love it.

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 11 April 2003 17:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Why did I italicize Old Navy??

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 11 April 2003 17:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

That post just inspired me:

Aristocratic New England accents: C/D?

jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 11 April 2003 18:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Very dud. Lansbury is okay, but the show is a bore.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 11 April 2003 18:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Mixed feelings about this show. It's okay, but there's too many past-it 'names' popping up every episode. And Tom Bosley's accent is atrocious to the point of being truly irritating.

On. The Fence. Ow.

ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Friday, 11 April 2003 18:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate = scary. but really good.

Nick A. (Nick A.), Friday, 11 April 2003 18:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

its good when its got harry mcgraw in it though? or, even better, just the spin off, 'the law and harry mcgraw' with the godlike jerry orbach

gareth (gareth), Friday, 11 April 2003 20:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

Bring back Quincy in the afternoons.

Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 11 April 2003 20:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

COLUMBO IS WHERE ITS AT U R ALL SOOOOOO GAY

RJG (RJG), Friday, 11 April 2003 20:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well OBV - but 'Colombo' is a little too rich for everyday nappin'

Andrew L (Andrew L), Friday, 11 April 2003 20:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ooh, I have the Columbo with Johnny Cash and Ida Lupino on video, ready to watch when a few interested friends can get it together to visit.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 11 April 2003 20:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

that was on channel five a few weeks ago.

RJG (RJG), Friday, 11 April 2003 20:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yes, that is where I taped it from.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 11 April 2003 20:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

nice one.

RJG (RJG), Friday, 11 April 2003 20:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Lansbury was SO good in the Manchurian Candidate. I need to see more of her stuff.

I love the William Windon character in Cabot Cove ("JessicAH!!!") but the big thing I remember about this show is how the endings were either "my friend's name is cleared and I'm happy!" freeze-frames of her face or a "my friend actually committed the murder and I'm very sad" face.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 11 April 2003 21:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

utter CLASSIC.

"i was just baking this layered cake and i... layers! oh james i think i just worked out who killed julie and how they burried her..."

thuddd (thuddd), Friday, 11 April 2003 21:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

That ep. is classic, Martin.

Shows like these that I love:

Columbo
Quincy
Diagnosis Murder

I've recently done the Meltzer on the following ("if you think long and hard enough about all that legitimacy then you can turn it into nice old usable illegitimacy" paraphrase):

Starsky & Hutch
Magnum

Which means I have more viable watching options now.

That I hate:

Murder She Wrote
Doctors
Petrocelli

That I'm OK with:

CHiPS

Cozen (Cozen), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

diagnosis murder is only good because it really, really, really, really, really, really isn't.

RJG (RJG), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's still good, then.

Cozen (Cozen), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

yeah.

RJG (RJG), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

I remember watching a daytime TV interview with Lansbury in the late 80s when she said that they basically had 5 plots which were on a cycle - I couldn't get my head around the idea, but nor could I be arsed to work out what said plots were. I reckon they were ripped off Scooby doo to be honest.

Still struggle to get my head around the fact that Angela Lansbury is George Lansbury's daughter.

Dave B (daveb), Friday, 11 April 2003 22:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

My brother (18 yrs. old) has a bizarre fetish for Angela Lansbury. I walked into our living room one day to find her picture cut out of a magazine in the shape of a heart. I'm glad he's moved out.

Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 11 April 2003 22:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

what do we think of MONK?

rockford files

and petrocelli rules! also who was that polak guy, baranek or something

zemko (bob), Friday, 11 April 2003 23:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh, Bedknobs and Broomsticks! Angela Lansbury is the best.

Dan i., Saturday, 12 April 2003 00:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm pretty sure the recent Diagnosis Murder run was like the last series. Ever. Not that this will stop repeats. And they did make a couple of feature-length specials last year.

Mind you, it's really pretty rubbish. But I do like a bit of Dick.

ChristineSH (chrissie1068), Saturday, 12 April 2003 01:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

well if you want it as a ringtone send me an email killian!

robin (robin), Saturday, 12 April 2003 02:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

It was Banacek, wasn't it, Zemko? I liked Petrocelli too, especially when he dressed up as a woman.

I like Monk a great deal. The star actor is great, and it's clever stuff.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 12 April 2003 14:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw the writer/producer of Monk get a tattoo.

rosemary (rosemary), Saturday, 12 April 2003 14:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

An episode of Monk is just starting now.

Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 12 April 2003 15:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

http://www.bertconvy.net/ban.jpg

It may be possible that Bert Convy guest-starred in every show mentioned in this thread.

lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Saturday, 12 April 2003 16:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

IT'S THE EVIL PATRICK DUFFY! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!!!!

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 12 April 2003 16:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

four years pass...

CLASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSIC

Surmounter, Friday, 9 November 2007 15:58 (sixteen years ago) link

For some reason when I was 12 I used to watch MSW all the time. Now I don't think I could sit through more than ten minutes - the plots move slower than Monk.

snoball, Friday, 9 November 2007 16:02 (sixteen years ago) link

Cabot Cove sacres the fuck out of me. There's like, what, 300 people in town and somebdoy gets whacked every week.

Michael White, Friday, 9 November 2007 16:02 (sixteen years ago) link

So in other words, CLASSIC when there were only four TV channels and no Internet, DUD-ISH now I can sit around downloading pr0n all day.

Cabot Cove sacres the fuck out of me. There's like, what, 300 people in town and somebdoy gets whacked every week.

Yeah, it's like Midsomer.

snoball, Friday, 9 November 2007 16:04 (sixteen years ago) link

I do like these dolls though... they look like they should be featuring in a 1970s kids TV show, I think it gives them a nostalgic appeal

the cat equivalent of love handles (bends), Monday, 30 September 2013 18:49 (ten years ago) link

like some kind of stop motion thing

the cat equivalent of love handles (bends), Monday, 30 September 2013 18:50 (ten years ago) link

OMG she does custom designs

the cat equivalent of love handles (bends), Monday, 30 September 2013 18:51 (ten years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaYHGFTP9JA

not as sophisticated as stop motion but definitely in this ballpark

how do i shot cwmbran? (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 September 2013 18:53 (ten years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu0vUwsufP0

better clip, sorry

how do i shot cwmbran? (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 September 2013 18:53 (ten years ago) link

she could sell this local hero round here
http://www.etsy.com/listing/127261573/david-livingstone-historical-art-doll?ref=shop_home_active

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 30 September 2013 19:01 (ten years ago) link

one for the UKIP/BNP types
http://img0.etsystatic.com/007/0/5267222/il_570xN.364595036_ne4b.jpg

pfunkboy (Algerian Goalkeeper), Monday, 30 September 2013 19:04 (ten years ago) link

fearsome warrior queen who butchered her enemies - including women and children - in their thousands. is the one before it Boudicca?

how do i shot cwmbran? (Noodle Vague), Monday, 30 September 2013 19:08 (ten years ago) link

three weeks pass...

killer either breaks down and confesses and she lends a sympathetic "aw, well time to go to jail" expression

lol yeah: the old lady smugness

the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:04 (ten years ago) link

Black women all look alike, Shakey?

Johnny Fever, Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:16 (ten years ago) link

lol I guess those two look alike enough for me to have thought they were the same person for like the last 5 years oops

Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:19 (ten years ago) link

apparently I am not alone

Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:21 (ten years ago) link

haha

Johnny Fever, Thursday, 24 October 2013 17:26 (ten years ago) link

one year passes...

lol

Office, day
NEEDLESSLY DICKISH BUSINESSMAN:
With Desperate out of the way, this merger will definitely go through! Yes, I had a motive to kill him alright.
IRRELEVANT CHARACTER WHO LOOKS CONFUSINGLY FAMILIAR:
I reply, but say nothing of substance and never become relevant to the plot, although I look enough like someone who is that you’re no longer completely sure of what’s happening.
Lovely house, day
JESSICA’S LOVELY FRIEND:
What’s that?
JESSICA:
Hm? Oh, just Desperate’s phone records from the night he died. Do you know, he didn’t make a single call to his wife that night? Don’t you think that’s odd?
JESSICA’S LOVELY FRIEND:
I like you but no.
JESSICA:
All the same, I’m going to keep looking through these records.
JESSICA’S LOVELY FRIEND:
Well, this isn’t at all the right context for this phrase, but a rolling stone gathers no moss.
JESSICA:
Moss… that’s it!
JESSICA’S LOVELY FRIEND:
That’s what?
JESSICA:
The missing piece of the puzzle!
JESSICA’S LOVELY FRIEND:
What puzzle?
JESSICA:
The puzzle of who killed Desperate Businessman!
JESSICA’S LOVELY FRIEND:
It’s getting weird that you won’t just tell me what you know.
JESSICA:
I have to get to the police station immediately! (leaves)
JESSICA’S LOVELY FRIEND:
Jessica, for fuck’s sake!

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 15 July 2015 18:44 (eight years ago) link

one month passes...

Rue McClanahan is in this awful 1985 episode as a librarian, which we know because she wears Tootsie glasses.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 13 September 2015 12:28 (eight years ago) link

one year passes...

She put it best in a 1985 New York Times interview: “Mostly, I've played very spectacular bitches”.

r|t|c, Saturday, 17 September 2016 13:15 (seven years ago) link

Hallmark runs a mini marathon every Saturday and Sunday. Best part of waking up.

The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 17 September 2016 13:17 (seven years ago) link

five months pass...

http://i.imgur.com/z2aocJY.gif

pplains, Saturday, 11 March 2017 21:58 (seven years ago) link

two years pass...

A lovely read.


What really drew me to the show, however, was Jessica herself. Brilliantly embodied by Lansbury, she is a sassy, smart and funny older woman who — despite not knowing how to drive — is totally independent. As she travels the world, she seems as comfortable in Cairo as she does back home in Maine. While she has many admirers, she doesn’t have any interest in moving on from her dead husband Frank. She has no children. This is not as sad as it sounds; she’s genuinely happy with life.

Her contentment without kids made me feel more secure about my own choice to not become a parent. When it comes up in conversation, I’m often told I will regret the decision, and some wonder who will take care of me when I am older. But Jessica, who seemed to have an abundance of friends and extended family, showed me that being a senior woman doesn’t mean that you will be alone in the world. Setting aside the dead bodies and the half-serious fan theories imagining her as the real killer in each case, she might be the healthiest, most stable character I have ever seen on television.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 20 August 2019 01:10 (four years ago) link

All that and she met Magnum and was able to resist his charms.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 05:14 (four years ago) link

That reminds me how great Lansbury was in the « Murder on the Nile » movie !

AlXTC from Paris, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 07:04 (four years ago) link

there's a youtuber called Pushing Up Roses who recaps some 80s and 90s shows including Murder She Wrote. I liked her video on the VR episode.

adam the (abanana), Wednesday, 21 August 2019 19:18 (four years ago) link

there are entire episodes of MSW on youtube, it's so great

flappy bird, Wednesday, 21 August 2019 19:41 (four years ago) link

five months pass...

my theory of this show -- based on the lighting as much as the plots and the casts -- is that jessica fletcher is in hell

mark s, Friday, 24 January 2020 18:00 (four years ago) link

lol
this is one of my favoriet shows of all time i watch it all. the. time

surm, Friday, 24 January 2020 18:01 (four years ago) link

Jessica Fletcher is in hell.

Cabot Cove is the waiting room.

TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 24 January 2020 18:02 (four years ago) link

i have a Cabot Cove tshirt!

surm, Friday, 24 January 2020 18:03 (four years ago) link

if Jessica is in hell, then she must be the devil

flappy bird, Saturday, 25 January 2020 22:54 (four years ago) link

Did y'all know that there were four MSW television movies made after the fact? I stumbled across a DVD collection a while back, but I haven't watched any of them yet.

Maria Edgelord (cryptosicko), Sunday, 26 January 2020 01:28 (four years ago) link

Whenever I see the covers of 'Siamese Dream' or 'Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' all I can think of the Murder, She Wrote title card. It's a very distinctive font that I haven't seen anyplace else.

Deflatormouse, Sunday, 26 January 2020 03:44 (four years ago) link

Knight Rider had it, kinda

Clearly a font of a certain time and place

Master of Treacle, Sunday, 26 January 2020 04:29 (four years ago) link

a friend of mine had a rather sheltered upbringing but they watched this show a lot as a kid. as a result, they believed that being an adult involved a regular and ordinary risk of being murdered.

visiting, Sunday, 26 January 2020 05:00 (four years ago) link

Did y'all know that there were four MSW television movies made after the fact? I stumbled across a DVD collection a while back, but I haven't watched any of them yet.

― Maria Edgelord (cryptosicko), Sunday, January 26, 2020 1:28 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i have them all

surm, Monday, 27 January 2020 18:02 (four years ago) link

two years pass...

my god George Clooney and his mullet are in an early episode

So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 19 February 2022 00:35 (two years ago) link

seven months pass...

Jessica Fletcher is in hell.

Cabot Cove is the waiting room.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, January 24, 2020 12:02 PM (two years ago) bookmarkflaglink

i have a Cabot Cove tshirt!

― surm, Friday, January 24, 202

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 11 October 2022 19:43 (one year ago) link

I always hated the "reveal" ending scenes where she would calmly explain to the killer exactly how s/he did it - killer either breaks down and confesses and she lends a sympathetic "aw, well time to go to jail" expression, or killer tries to take out Jessica only to be stopped by the local cop who she just happens to have brought along who's been hiding in the shadows listening to the killer implicate themselves.

awful.

― Shakey Mo Collier

lol

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 12 October 2022 11:55 (one year ago) link

one year passes...

otm

ꙮ (map), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 16:49 (four months ago) link

been laughing at this all morning:

JESSICA:
Looking for this? (She holds up an earring)

SOMEONE’S WIFE, YOU FORGET WHOSE:
Jessica! No, I was just… I thought I heard a dog, in the bin.

JESSICA:
I’m afraid it’s over, Someone’s Wife. You killed Desperate for basically the same mundane, practical reason as one of the male suspects, but you didn’t get much screen time so it still seems like a surprise. I found your earring at the crime scene, and when I give it to the police I’m sure they’ll prove it was yours.

SOMEONE’S WIFE, YOU FORGET WHOSE:
Not if I happen to have a gun on me and draw it now, honestly planning to kill an old lady over some fairly flimsy evidence but for some reason wanting to warn her first!

POLICE IDIOT:
(Emerging from the shadows) Drop it, Someone’s Wife!

SOMEONE’S WIFE, YOU FORGET WHOSE:
Oh for God’s sake. Why do you let her do these things as a weird piece of theatre?

POLICE IDIOT:
Her chain of evidence is always hopelessly weak, so we just have to hope you’ll either kill her or confess.

JESSICA:
It’s true. I have no reason to mention this beyond simple smarm now, but I never found any earring.

poppers fueled buttsex crescendo (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 January 2024 21:06 (three months ago) link

haha irl lol

who wrote it?

corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 17 January 2024 16:22 (three months ago) link


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