From Campy Episode Titles to Iconic Fashion: The Ultimate Guide to "Murder, She Wrote"
10-ish Reasons 'Murder, She Wrote' Deserves a Spot in Your Watchlist Right Now
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If you’re new to Jessica Fletcher, the greatest untrained detective of all time, let me offer some necessary intel. Murder, She Wrote followed the life, loves, and chaos of Jessica Fletcher from 1984 to its cancellation in 1996.
Jessica Fletcher is a former teacher living in Maine who became a hugely successful mystery writer in her retirement. She is the Americanized version of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, an older woman who also traveled around and solved mysteries. In Miss Marple’s world, she was able to travel around under the largesse of a nephew who funded her trips or due to the generosity of rich friends who invited her to their large country homes to presumably discuss the legacy of colonialism and why they’d deign to dine with a lady who lives in a small cottage and spent her life training domestics (just kidding, the culture of the British empire in decline is a mess though I love the aesthetics of the houses).
What makes Murder, She Wrote so interesting as an adaptation (in part) is the choice to make Jessica a surprise hit author after a career as a teacher. She does not rely on the generosity of others to fund her life or shape her choices. In fact, rather than serve as her benefactor, her nephew on Murder, She Wrote, Grady, is mostly forgettable and a goofball she has to bail out on occasion (I am not a fan, if you’re a Grady-head please don’t at me). This is a woman in charge who always dresses well, reads the room, and is off book on every detail that matters in life. Conveniently, she solves whatever murder presents itself in one hour’s time. Even Miss Marple needs 90 minutes or more to get it done (no judgments, love her too).
Let’s imagine you are not convinced to start watching this show immediately to discuss it with me (putting my cards on the table, I basically want a book club that workshops eps of this show). In that case, I have put together a list of reasons to get the uninitiated on board:
Top 10 Reasons to Watch Murder, She Wrote
The episode titles more than hint at how camp and insane this show is.
Some examples include:
“Keep the Home Fries Burning”
This is set in a mock Friendly’s. More on this later.
“Murder Takes the Bus”
Linda Blair plus carceral state commentary. Need I say more?
“The Corpse Flew First Class”
Kate Mulgrew played two different murderers in Murder, She Wrote. In this iconic episode, we follow Jessica’s’ attempt to solve a murder on a transatlantic flight. Hint: Kate Mulgrew is involved. This is perhaps a better use of that time than my own life choice to explain the concept and plot of the Twilight books to a middle-aged woman while on Ambien years ago when flying home from Ireland.
“Who Threw the Barbitals in Mrs. Fletcher’s Chowder?”
You may think this is a cautionary episode that needlessly inserted itself into conversations about the DARE program and the war on drugs in the 80s, but the show made the wiser choice to instead explore how you can use soup to murder an abusive husband. #themoreyouknow
Angela Lansbury is a queen, and she fills every frame with 110% effort and serves looks that should be taught in schools. Forget Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront, teach this expression at Yale Drama School!
All men in Jessica Fletcher’s orbit want to get with her.
This includes:
Amos, the town’s doctor and her close friend, who clearly pines for her as she continues with her life unaffected.
Michael Hagarty. In a star turn that clearly inspired the later accent work of Nicole Kidman, Len Cariou plays an Irish operative in MI6 who checks in from Ireland by way of . . . truly impossible to place his accent. He is obsessed with Jessica and tries to woo her over dead bodies all around the world.
Harry McGraw. Before he played Lenny Briscoe, Jerry Orbach played Harry McGraw, a tough-talking PI from Boston (his accent is also not convincing) who gets mixed up with murders and, of course, obsessed with Jessica in the process.
Importantly, she does not want to get with any of them!
This is key. She never gets with any of these men! Not a spoiler alert, just an iconic life choice. Angela Lansbury insisted that Jessica never get in a relationship because she did not want her character defined by her relationships with men. THANK YOU!
At various points, she must save her own cousin, who appears to be her British twin (played by Angela Lansbury)
I love camp, and you have not lived till you’ve seen Angela play her own British cousin. She goes full cockney and I will never question this choice even as Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins feels like a lovable hate crime.
She once solved a murder committed at an American Revolution-themed diner which feels very New England-coded (and if I may), Friendly’s coded
As a lifelong New Englander, Murder, She Wrote is one of our great cultural ambassadors though it was filmed in California. The set of this fictional restaurant is deeply reminiscent of the Friendly’s I grew up loving. For those uninitiated, Friendly’s is a New-England-based restaurant chain that serves breakfast, burgers, and “Americana” along with killer ice cream. (Pun intended).
She is the greatest ambassador for Maine, a role she created by promoting a fake town!
I love the trope of shows set in fake cities that then become a major reference for people for that place. Cabot Cove does not exist, but it is my favorite town in Maine. Other examples of this phenomenon include everyone not from Connecticut (where I live) associating us with Stars Hollow (sadly, not a real place), or, when I was younger, Stoneybrook (the setting of the Baby-Sitter’s Club and also not a real place).
She is expert-level at creating fake identities either to gather clues or to protect herself
There’s an episode where she needs to attract attention to get clues and she does this by roughing herself up in a mirror and pretending to be drunk while dancing at a Juke-Box. It’s both hot and completely insane.
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No one person should look this good in clothes. NO ONE.
Need I say more?
Okay, coastal grandma!
FYI, there are many sites that honor her fashion: Exploring Jessica Fletcher’s Closet and Murder_She_Wore.
She is living proof that seniors have something valuable to offer society (and made this point one year before Golden Girls hit the airwaves in 1985). (Sidebar, what’s up with 80s television creating more spaces for depictions of seniors than tv today?)
She could be gay. Because Angela refused to let Jessica have a male partner, she opened up a space for queerness. I mean this not purely in the sense that Jessica could be gay, but also that she refused to occupy a traditional role in society. She’s not married, or single (truly the originator of the “it’s complicated” status update), and occupies a kind of liminal space in society that lets her reimagine the possibilities for a woman of her age in her space and time.
12. Watching Murder, She Wrote will invite you into a fun game called “Is that a legend of Hollywood in an out-of-pocket cameo or am I hallucinating?”
Spoiler alert: You’re not!1
Angela invited friends from her Hollywood days on the show for fun and to help some keep their health insurance, a real class act. Some cameos include:
Janet Leigh. Surely, Psycho would prepare her for the dramatic gravitas required of Murder, She Wrote.
Mickey Rooney is as camp as you’d expect.
Bonus: Murder, She Wrote trolled, or parodied, Friends in an episode called “Murder Among Friends” because CBS moved its time slot from Sunday night to Thursday to directly compete with it. The cozy vibe of Murder, She Wrote was definitely not going to draw viewers away from the “cool” vibe of Friends in the 90s, leading to the cancellation of the show in 1996. Still, I love that Murder, She Wrote met this moment with an episode that replicated a friend group where one member had an influential haircut and the group met and hung out at a chic coffee shop. Icons.
Important follow-up:
Will you watch with me? I love to discuss Murder, She Wrote! I am going to host a chat on Substack about the first episode of Murder, She Wrote next week on Tuesday, October 8th. I’d love to have you join me to talk about my favorite show (whether you’re new to it or a fellow fan like me). (You can always find the chat on my page here or use the button below).
Call Me! (or not!)
I’d love to hear from you! Drop your thoughts in the comments to share with the Landline community, or reply to this email to contact me. You can also find me on Instagram, or email me. I don’t have a dedicated phone line yet (just like in my youth), but maybe someday I’ll achieve Claudia status and get a Landline.
Thanks for reading!
This is a free post for subscribers of Landline. Consider subscribing to the paid plan to get my weekly email of recommendations and links, a podcast episode, and more! You can also help me spread the word by sharing it with a friend who would love it. Thank you for being a friend!
I don’t accept the tyranny of a top 10 list being limited to 10 and neither should you. The stakes are too high here!
Thanks for the tip about the Pluto channel! Pluto is a wild world.
Mary I've watched every season of Murder She Wrote multimultiple times! I want to be Jessica when I grow. I am still upset Angela is gone from this world