Murder, She Wrote: Season Two

So many studios seem to forget that one of the largest demographics in the audience is those that shall we say have a few years under the belt. Most television is appears to be geared towards the MTV generation. From the mid-eighties CBS became the butt of many jokes when they started to present series specifically aimed at the older members in the audience. The flagship series of this endeavor was ‘Murder She Wrote’. Even though the older members of the family are the prime audience everyone in the family who can appreciate quality will enjoy this show. Now that Universal has released the second season on DVD it is a perfect time to slow down and enjoy some fine mysteries.

By the start of season two Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) has long since left her days as a high school English teacher behind. She now enjoys a good deal of celebrity as a popular author of best selling mystery novels. In many ways Jessica, who goes by the nom de plume of J.P. Fletcher, is based on the real life mystery novelist Mary Higgins Clark. Jessica is a kindly woman, always ready with a pleasant word for all she encounters. The thing is murder does seem to follow her around. Her new found fame has not changed her except she is now able to secure her golden years with more security that a teacher’s pension would have permitted. In the opening episode she is on a vacation in the Caribbean. Even in this topical paradise murder raises its ugly head and the local authorities are glad to have such an expert in their midst. One thing that was very special about this episode was the guest star, Len Cariou. My wife and I saw Cariou and Landsbury in a Broadway production of Sweeny Todd and the pair still maintained excellent chemistry working together.

One of the best things about this series was the guest stars. Some have noted that the producers used what has been called Love Boat casting. Get some older stars from television and let them have roles. While superficially this is true you can’t overlook that these actors were talented and brought some of their best work to their roles here. In ’Murder in the Afternoon’, Jessica’s new fame gets her a guest spot on a soap opera. While there the actor who plays the victim winds up dead and Jessica is called upon to solve the crime. This episode featured Lloyd Nolan, long time friend and associate of Alfred Hitchcock and one of the great actors of his time. As with the first season Jessica’s plethora of relatives appear usually with a dead body near by. In the episode ‘Sing a Song of Murder’ Jessica is summoned to London by Cousin Emma to find yet another mystery on her hands. This episode featured the veteran of television and film, John Steed himself, Patrick Macnee. Some younger stars did get appearance on the series. In the episode ‘Menace Anyone’ Linda Hamilton, fresh off her role in the first Terminator flick makes an appearance in this tale of death at a tennis match.

While the series was fundamentally a one woman show it did have some ancillary characters. Tom Bosley continued his role as Cabot Cove’s local Sheriff, Amos Tupper. There is also a zany character Harry Piece played to the hilt by one of television’s quirkiest actors, John Astin. In this second season the series was a hit so CBS increased the budget for the episodes permitting more of the action to take place outside the sleepy town of Cabot Cove. This did add a little bit to the realism since it would seem that small town had a murder rate higher than here in New York City.

Angela Lansbury is the consummate professional actor. Starting her career in the 1944 classic film noir, Gaslight, she has gone from roles that featured her as the young ingénue to more mature roles such as this with flair and grace. Few actors have transcended the decades as this talented woman. Lansbury certainly has stage presence, that rare ability to hold the attention of the audience whenever she is on the screen. Unlike other detectives on television there is not a mean bone on Jessica’s body. She smiles and cajoles her way into each dire situation as she gathers clues with her keen eye for details. Even though she is a robust woman of years she never has to rely on physically overpowering the villain, not that she realistically could. Each week is a match of wits, something Jessica is well versed in. Tom Bosley has made a nice career for himself playing the slightly befuddled sidekick. He continues that archetype here to perfection. He is the lawman without a clue that has to constantly turn to his friend for help.

While most modern mysteries depend on realistic depictions of the actual murder there is no actual bloodshed presented here. The concentration is on the mystery not the graphic details. Popular shows like CSI use a lot of computer generated effects to tell the story but here it is the talent of the writers as portrayed by the cast that is important. Each episode has a gentle pace to it. While younger viewers may be a bit put off by this if then can get used to the slower flow they will be richly rewarded with excellent stories. These are mysteries in the classic sense, clues are provided for the audience to piece together, seeing if they can outwit the much lauded J.P. Fletcher.

As with the presentation of the first season this is pretty much a plain vanilla DVD box set. The audio is a little uneven with some clipping of the high and low ends of the audio spectrum. The full screen video is not brilliant with some muting of the colors. Still, the enjoyment for this set is based on content far more than presentation. If you can overlook some of the technical problems you will have something you can enjoy with the entire family, something exceedingly rare for television now.

Posted 12/15/05