Conceived in the fertile imaginations of Columbo creators Richard Levinson and William Link, along with Peter S. Fischer, this popular mystery series provided Reagan-era TV viewers with a pleasant throwback to the classic movie whodunits of an earlier era. Murder, She Wrote stuck closely to a formula established at the outset of the series, relying on ingenious and complicated scripts that always supplied a satisfying denouement in which the murderer--usually the least likely suspect--was unmasked by one of TV's most unassuming sleuths. Angela Lansbury played former English teacher and mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, who found herself in the middle of more crime scenes than any middle-aged woman could possibly imagine--even in her hometown of Cabot Cove, Maine. Presented in a disappointingly extra-less three-disc set, the debut season's (1984-1985) 21 episodes set the pattern for the show, which became a favorite stomping ground for former TV stars and veteran players of Hollywood's Golden Age. Among the best episodes here are “Hooray for Homicide,” a star-studded romp that finds Jessica in Hollywood to protest the adaptation of one of her novels into a trashy movie. This episode introduces Claude Akins in the semi-regular character of police Captain Ethan Cragg; another recurring character (and Watson to Jessica's Sherlock Holmes) was Tom Bosley, playing Sheriff Amos Tupper. “Death Takes a Curtain Call” reunites Lansbury with Hurd Hatfield, her co-star in 1945's The Picture of Dorian Gray, in the story of a backstage murder that disrupts a ballet. “Murder to a Jazz Beat” finds Jessica investigating the unexpected onstage death of a popular New Orleans musician. “Tough Guys Don't Die,” which involves the search for a private investigator's killer, introduces yet another semi-regular, the late Jerry Orbach, as private eye Harry McGraw (who got a short-lived spin-off series of his own). Most of the first-season episodes are written by Fischer, who helped guide the show to ratings success and pop-culture immortality. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (E. Hulse)
Murder, She Wrote: The Complete First Season
Universal, 3 discs, 1,114 min., not rated, DVD: $49.98 Volume 20, Issue 3
Murder, She Wrote: The Complete First Season
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