Talk:Murder, She Wrote

Guest star policy/overseas cliches

Surely, one facet of the guest cast for this silly old nonsense, that should have been mentioned in the article, is that in each episode, there would be at least one person (Kathryn Grayson, Van Johnson, Roddy McDowall etc.) whom most viewers would have assumed to be dead, or retired. "Veterans", to put it politely. Also, the episodes set in England and Ireland wre atrocious, full of cliches. The British ones were all cardboard sets and Dick Van Dyke accents, while the Irish ones (and those involving Len Cariou as a spy) proved, yet again, that the American idea of an Irish accent is to talk as they usually do except for ending every other sentence with "sure now". Dolmance (talk) 18:17, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Also, town police chiefs in Maine are not called "sheriffs". A sheriff is a politician; the chief elected executive of a county. He's a manager and politician and wears a suit and tie to work, not a badge. Western-style cowboy hats are not typically attire for local police in Maine. Even the Maine stereotypes are phony, and I don't think there was ever anything resembling a Maine accent. When a local accent was portrayed fictionally, it was always a cartoon caricature of an accent. The southern California writers, directors, and producers new no more about Maine than they did about Britain or Ireland. 66.19.201.149 (talk) 01:24, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

Clearly, you know little if anything about the USA. Here, the sheriff is the chief law enforcement agent for the county, not the chief executive as he is in the UK. JDZeff (talk) 05:56, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

CFD notice

Removed cfdnotice, cfd has completed. --Kbdank71 16:24, 9 May 2008 (UTC)

Longest running murder mystery series

In the Origin section, it says MSW is the longest, while in Episodes, it claims "for several years the longest-running". To muddy things even further, according to List of longest running TV shows by category, that accolade goes to Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which had 4 more episodes, but in fewer years (1955-62) and before MSW. Can somebody clear up this mystery? Jessica? Clarityfiend 16:51, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

Regular v. recurring cast?

What is being used as criteria for regular/recurring cast? All but one of the actors listed under 'regular cast' was actually recurring -- only Angela Lansbury was on contract the entire twelve years. William Windom, Ron Masak, etc ... they were guest stars (recurring) only. Mostly curious. D'Amico 07:55, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, it would be rather odd-looking to have only one person in the regular cast section. Also, when I watched the show, I wasn't surprised to see the other "regulars". They were clearly a level above characters like Grady. Clarityfiend (talk) 22:13, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Influences

No references, I note, to influences on the series. I assume the following are true, but have no references to back my thoughts up.

• The title is modelled on Murder, She Said.
• Fletcher is modelled on Miss Marple; both are nosy, unmarried women who stumble upon many murders and always outwit the police.

Can anyone confirm whether these are true, and insert these points, with suitable references? — Paul G (talk) 11:30, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

As a matter of law, your assumption is incorrect. This very article states: "Murder, She Wrote was originally pitched as an American version of the Agatha Christie character Miss Marple, but the owners of the rights to that character refused to allow it." If the subsidiary rights were not granted, it cannot be based on Miss Marple as a matter of copyright law. While the two characters may have certain similarities, they also have many dissimilarities. This article should be based on verifiable, sourced facts, not drive-by speculations. 71.175.4.207 (talk) 02:28, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Murder, He Says a 1943 hit song from Betty Hutton. Murder, He Says is also the title of a 1945 Fred MacMurray film. Both predate the 1961 film, which was based on a 1957 Christie novel originally published under a very different title. I'd be surprised if the song didn't influence the MacMurray film, and equally surprised if the TV show's male creators weren't familiar with either/both. (They would have been 8-10 years old then.) Hutton was extremely popular when they were growing up.

Regardless, without a citation, it's just speculative.

(Yes, I know: I'm responding to a 15-year-old post. I was curious if anyone had documented the origin of the name.)

152.44.150.22 (talk) 03:20, 24 June 2021 (UTC)

Length per episode

Like I wrote some time ago in the German Wikipedia, the length of the episodes is not fitting. On TV the duration of an episode is only about 45 minutes. Furthermore, the duration of the DV version of every season at amazon's is also about 45*episodes. Someone with more background knowledge than me corrected this mistake in the German Wiki. I don't know, if I haven't made any logical mistakes, so I don't want to edit the articel (maybe there where cuts etc). But it would be fine, if someone with more background infos could do. (Why the hell this mistake, if it is one, is also in the ImDB?!) --82.218.61.23 (talk) 19:38, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

The 60 min duration includes commercial breaks. Most US TV shows ran for 42 to 44(excluding commercial breaks) in the period Murder, She Wrote was broadcasted.ant_ie (talk) 21:43, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Internet

I recently heard that many episodes of the series are available for download in various Internet sites. Does anybody happen to know any of them? - Anonymous, 2 August 2008

opening credits

Were the opening credits the same throughout the series? ISTR at some point she switched from a typewriter to a computer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bizzybody (talk • contribs) 04:50, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Discussion of {{FreeContentMeta}}

{{FreeContentMeta}}, which is used in the {{MSWWiki}} template, is under discussion. Please see template talk:FreeContentMeta#Inline or floating to participate in this discussion. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 09:14, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Translation of Murder She Wrote in Italian

I made an adjustment to the translation of "Murder She Wrote" into Italian. "In giallo" doesn't mean "in yellow" so I made a correction. --KeithatET (talk) 02:04, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Video Game

At E3 2009 Legacy Interactive announced a Murder, She Wrote game for PC. Titled Murder, She Wrote: Murder By the Garden Gate [1] Pat (talk) 19:01, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

International syndication

Since the editor who deleted the table didn't bother to answer why he deleted it, I can only assume that there wasn't a reason except for him not liking the table. Therefore I reinserted it. --Six words (talk) 12:25, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Jessica Fletcher not in later episodes?

Just watched one of the later episodes and Jessica Fletcher did not appear to be in it (although I was not paying total attention). Was she written out of the last series or were some based on stories she wrote rather than crimes she solved? Stutley (talk) 15:14, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

• Although Lansbury was the lead, as the series went on -- and the actress got older and was also involved in other projects -- the series featured additional players who would play lead roles in some episodes. In at least one case this practice led to a spinoff, The Law and Harry McGraw and I think at least one other substitute nearly got a series. Lansbury was never written out of the show; just like Johnny Carson, she used the occasional guest host. 68.146.81.123 (talk) 01:29, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
  • I saw an episode in which Jessica simply told the story. She wasn't a part of the story at all. But this was an early episode. Other people solved the crime. It couldn't have been done because she was getting older. Why did they do these? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.102.46.144 (talk) 17:57, 29 December 2013 (UTC)
    • In the UK I think that this is called “banking”, and isn’t just to do with age or infirmity in the lead character(s), but simply to ease the production of more episodes in a short space of time, so that programmes meet the broadcast schedule. It amounts to having two productions on the go in parallel; the lead(s) are given a very reduced role in one or other of the episodes, the reason for which may actually be a feature of the plot (e.g. Story A: Officer X is badly injured and swathed in bandages in hospital - will Inspector Y manage to go back on the beat and track the attacker after years behind a desk?; Story B: Officer X is left in charge of the station while Inspector Y is off on a team-building exercise, and comedy ensues!), and two episodes get made in the same period. It also allows actors to have a break in the middle of a production cycle - Angela Lansbury could shoot the “book-end” material of her introducing or rounding up a story as Jessica Fletcher at the end of the block for the previous episode, for example, and then have a couple of weeks off before being needed again.109.154.149.154 (talk) 07:38, 30 May 2014 (UTC)
  • I recently saw an episode in which Jessica doesn't appear, although she's mentioned. Her place in the story was taken by her cousin Emma McGill, who did a fine job in solving the murder. JDZeff (talk) 18:08, 12 September 2019 (UTC)

Origin

This paragraph needs rewriting at the start, 131.111.184.95 (talk) 12:56, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Controversy

Hello please note the following: wherever she goes, within a few hours there is a murder. AND in most cases, there had been strong evidence of her being the murderer, until she proved otherwise. It seems quite obvious to me that she is the murderer, a serial killer (more than 500 murders!), and that she had some manipulating (hypnotic?) technique in order to push someone else to plead guilty at each time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.112.159.201 (talk) 12:24, 7 August 2015 (UTC)

Rumor of a final episode. Comeback for Lansbury

http://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/837672/Classic-Murder-She-Wrote-with-Dame-Angela-Lansbury-final-episode-Jessica-Fletcher

Majinsnake (talk) 22:16, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

Other actresses were considered for the role of Jessica Fletcher

There were other actresses who were considered for the role of Jessica Fletcher. Angela Lansbury was not the first. I think Doris Roberts was one of the actresses because she did not want to commit to a TV series. Later on, she starred in Everybody loves raymond.

Majinsnake (talk) 22:57, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

Contradictory episode counts

The overview says "a total of 264 episodes" but the "no. of episodes" field says 265. Which is correct? 202.168.33.73 (talk) 10:48, 12 October 2022 (UTC)

What are the episodes about

I come to wikipedia to be spoiled so i dont watch inapropriate stuff, not get something that sounds like the movies/tv show promotional ads . If i dont know what its about i wont let my family watch it. At some point “murder she wrotes” wili article gave away the murderer, then a cabal of antispoiling people decided to take that information away because in their opinion spoilers are blasphemy. Id like to talk about this there are ways of warning people a spoiler is coming without depriving people of the info they are seeking. 98.236.39.75 (talk) 00:30, 17 February 2023 (UTC)