"Murder, She Wrote" is one of those television programs which shows you just how influential the "Over 45" demographic is. I had no idea that it was on for 12 years. I knew it was a fixture of the CBS Sunday night line-up in the mid-to-late 80s, but had no idea that it had lasted that long -- my how time flies, when you are being bored to tears with the same plot repeated over and over again.
Alright, perhaps that's unfair. Just like "South Park," "Murder She Wrote" was designed to appeal to a certain niche market -- in "South Park"'s case it was the edgy youth of today, in "Murder, She Wrote"'s case, it was their grand-parents. Now, there are doubtlessly many people under 40 who have fond memories of this show, but, with its bland non-threatening character and predictable plot twists, it was clearly designed to appeal most to people who didn't like "Matlock" because it was too violent.
In "Murder, She Wrote," Angela Landsbury took the character of Miss Marple (which she had previously played on screen), simplified it a bit, and gave it an American accent. The plots, too, were watered down Agatha Christie stories, simplified to fit a 50 minute time-slot.
I don't think I'm revealing anything when I tell you the basic formula that the "Murder She Wrote" writers ground into the dirt: Jessica Fletcher, in the course of her duties as a mystery author, wanders guilelessly into a setting in which there is an unsympathetic character. She notes how character mistreats a variety of other characters around them. Suddenly the unsympathetic character is murdered. A friend or relative of Jessica, who clearly had nothing to do with the crime, is then accused of it by a well-meaning but inept police force. Jessica then puts all of her skills as a mystery writer to work finding out who really did it -- in the process doing a series of good deeds such as uniting shy young people, and saving the homes of elderly widows. In the end, the murderer is always someone who had a really good reason to commit the crime, or someone who appears sympathetic but is actually just as cruel and heartless as the person who was kill -- so no one who has our sympathies ever comes to any real harm.
I watched this show with my parents when it first came out, and I liked it then, because I've always liked Agatha Christie, and, in the 80s environment of car-chases and cop shows, it was nice to see something slightly more cerebral. I became disenchanted with it as time passed and the formula for the show became more and more rigid, and the plot required less and less thought. There became nothing mysterious about who would be killed, who killed them or why. There was no character development of any kind. The show refused to deviate from the plot in any way. This show just refused to take any kind of a chance on anything new. I'm not saying that Jessica should have tried to match wits with a gang of crackheads that just massacred a kindergarten -- that might be a little too edgy -- but, just as there were variety in all the Agatha Christie mysteries, maybe there could have something to spice up the stories just a little bit. As it is, the show is the television equivalent of Pablum.
Alright, perhaps that's unfair. Just like "South Park," "Murder She Wrote" was designed to appeal to a certain niche market -- in "South Park"'s case it was the edgy youth of today, in "Murder, She Wrote"'s case, it was their grand-parents. Now, there are doubtlessly many people under 40 who have fond memories of this show, but, with its bland non-threatening character and predictable plot twists, it was clearly designed to appeal most to people who didn't like "Matlock" because it was too violent.
In "Murder, She Wrote," Angela Landsbury took the character of Miss Marple (which she had previously played on screen), simplified it a bit, and gave it an American accent. The plots, too, were watered down Agatha Christie stories, simplified to fit a 50 minute time-slot.
I don't think I'm revealing anything when I tell you the basic formula that the "Murder She Wrote" writers ground into the dirt: Jessica Fletcher, in the course of her duties as a mystery author, wanders guilelessly into a setting in which there is an unsympathetic character. She notes how character mistreats a variety of other characters around them. Suddenly the unsympathetic character is murdered. A friend or relative of Jessica, who clearly had nothing to do with the crime, is then accused of it by a well-meaning but inept police force. Jessica then puts all of her skills as a mystery writer to work finding out who really did it -- in the process doing a series of good deeds such as uniting shy young people, and saving the homes of elderly widows. In the end, the murderer is always someone who had a really good reason to commit the crime, or someone who appears sympathetic but is actually just as cruel and heartless as the person who was kill -- so no one who has our sympathies ever comes to any real harm.
I watched this show with my parents when it first came out, and I liked it then, because I've always liked Agatha Christie, and, in the 80s environment of car-chases and cop shows, it was nice to see something slightly more cerebral. I became disenchanted with it as time passed and the formula for the show became more and more rigid, and the plot required less and less thought. There became nothing mysterious about who would be killed, who killed them or why. There was no character development of any kind. The show refused to deviate from the plot in any way. This show just refused to take any kind of a chance on anything new. I'm not saying that Jessica should have tried to match wits with a gang of crackheads that just massacred a kindergarten -- that might be a little too edgy -- but, just as there were variety in all the Agatha Christie mysteries, maybe there could have something to spice up the stories just a little bit. As it is, the show is the television equivalent of Pablum.