‘Murder, She Wrote’ premiered 38 years ago today, September 30, 1984

It's worth watching the above intro video a few times to catch all the differences.

I have nowhere else to be on this Friday evening - can you tell?

It’s 2:19 pm where I am r1. Not evening yet for us.

She almost left the show.

Thanks for the comparison video OP, I have never seen it before!

The big difference in the opening was her going from a typewriter to a very slow computer.

Is it sad I know which episodes most of the images in the credits come from?

I have never seen even one episode. It looks like a show that was geared towards grandmothers.

R6, in the words of Jessica Fletcher, 'SHUT YOIR WHORE MOUTH!' I belive she said that to guest star Dee Wallace Stone in the Season 5 episode, 'If it's Tuesday, it must be Waverly.'

It would have been interesting to see how the show would have turned out, if the original choice for Jessica Fletcher, Lucille Ball had agreed to do the series. It definitely would have had a more sophisticated tone, than what the 'folksy' Lansbury brought.

Remarkably successful. I wonder if Lansbury got residuals, because it still lives on Hallmark channel and some channel on Prime. It would be a just annuity. I still watch myself sometimes, although the channel seems to have bought only 1 or 2 seasons as it reruns the same episodes every several weeks.

Don’t most stars get residuals? It’s child actors who tend to not get them

[quote]Lucille Ball had agreed to do the series. It definitely would have had a more sophisticated tone,

Yes, because nothing screams "sophistication" quite like Lucy.

Yeah, Lucy would have been miscast.

[quote]Don’t most stars get residuals?

Depends when they did the show.

It is something that became more common as stars got more bargaining power.

R10, it depends on the contract and many stars didn't decades ago. At some point it became more common. When she said her agent negotiated more favorable terms, I assume that was part of it.

She knew how to play the game...

I’m still waiting for the movie that reveals Jessica Fletcher as America’s most prolific serial killer.

She said she stayed on the show past season 5 because her agents and son negotiated a much better deal, and admits it was a lot of money. So I assume she got a huge pay raise and residuals to stay as long as she did.

She was very open about that fact, r16...

(r8) Never heard anything about Lucy being offered the role. Jean Stapleton was first choice and said no. Liz Smith announced in a column that they next went after Doris Day, in 1983. They offered her $ 500,000 to do a television movie and then $ 100,000 per episode for the series follow-up. Doris declined because she was happily settled in Carmel.

It's very honest of her to admit that she was bored by the show but stayed on because of the money.

Doris Day would have been very good.

Lucy would have insisted that she could only solve the murder every week AFTER she got caught in, say, a washing machine and solved the crime with soapsuds in her hair and mouth, which made her cry.

Lucy wouldn’t star in a show she didn’t own.

"Angela Lansbury accepted the role after other actresses, including Jean Stapleton and Doris Day, declined it." (from imdb.com)

I can't imagine Doris Day lasting 12 years. Angela Lansbury was a trouper.

[quote]Angela Lansbury was a trouper

Indeed, r24. Compare their Broadway careers.

The second reason Angie says she stayed is MSW employed so many core staff and having such a reliable show secured 100s of families and put their kids through college.

She was very loyal and protective of everyone working on the show, and they had nothing but lovely things to say about her.

Anyone like the TV movie spin-offs?

(r27) Hated them!

Murder, She Wrote: The Very Last Scene

Doris would have been too saccharine. Stapleton would have given it a different tone than Lansbury, but would have been good.

R28 why so?

Angela had amazing stamina to keep going through 12 years, she was almost 71 when the series ended and was in almost every scene, especially in the first few years.

Each season also had 23-24 episodes, not like today's shorter offerings. Towards the beginning she managed to get them to lengthen each episode shoot from 7 days to 8 as she was exhausted and sick.

A real shame they didn't shoot one last Cabot Cove TV special after The Celtic Riddle when William Windom was still alive, as a proper send off to the show.

Did anyone else find Willian Windom as Seth unbearable! Plus he looked like his BMs would have been just the worst!

I thought she worked best with Tom Bosley, who left to do Father Dowling Mysteries.

Jerry Orbach got his first taste of television success by playing Harry McGraw on several episodes, which led to his own spinoff show.

I have recently watched a few episodes after avoiding it for decades.

[quote] Angie says she stayed is MSW employed so many core staff

But do you think she encouraged some of her former co-stars to appear? I noticed Hurd Hatfield guest-starred.

What is the biggest name to appear?— I've seen Capucine and Stewart Granger.

Were any episodes shout outside L.A.? I did see an episode set in Greece but it was obviously shot on the back lot with rear projection.

I always wondered how 'hands on' Angela was with guest-casting, especially since it seems as though a lot of people were cast to keep their health insurance.

R35, she moved her family to Ireland for a season or two and those episodes were shot locally, I believe.

R37 Are you saying those episodes were shot in Ireland?

(r37) The move to Ireland occurred in the early 1970's, more than a decade prior to "Murder She Wrote" "The year 1970 was traumatic for the Lansbury family, as Peter underwent a hip replacement, Anthony had a heroin overdose and entered a coma, and in September, the family's Malibu home was destroyed in a brush fire.[126] They then purchased Knockmourne Glebe, a farmhouse constructed in the 1820s which was located near the village of Conna in rural County Cork, and, after Anthony quit using cocaine and heroin, took him there to recover from his drug addiction. To help her children out, the family had moved to Ireland. Lansbury didn't work for a whole year so she could be there for Anthony and Deidre while they were recovering from their addiction.[127] He enrolled in the Webber-Douglas School, his mother's alma mater, and became a professional actor, then moved into television directing.[128] Lansbury and her husband did not return to California, instead dividing their time between County Cork and New York City."

Story is that Angela L heard that actress Madlyn Rhue, who had MS, was in danger of losing her SAG Insurance because she was short of the earnings required.

That's when the role of the librarian was created with Rhue (in her wheelchair) in the part.

Angie may have suggested stars she'd work with to guest star as it was a nice, well-paid gig. The stopped using so many "names" in later seasons in part to save money.

The only guest star to receive an Emmy nomination was Jean Simmons who guest starred in a double episode as a slightly unhinged rival of Jessica.

As far as I'm aware no episode filmed in Ireland or elsewhere outside the studio. They had people shoot location shots but since it was filmed like a factory machine there was no time to fly AL around.

AL started producing MSW herself from season 8 and started to make Jessica more cosmopolitan - think of the Hilary pantduits and NYC apartment.

It was still getting very high viewership til it's 12th season, although it had peaked already. The TV company moved it from the Sunday evening timeslot to effectively kill it, pitting it against the second season of Friends.

"Murder, She Wrote maintained extremely high ratings, finishing in the top 15 of shows for eleven of its 12 seasons (eight of which it was in the top 10), even well into its late seasons. By its 11th season, Murder, She Wrote was still averaging 25 million viewers per week. At its very peak, the show even hit above 40 million US viewers. However, at the beginning of its 12th season in 1995, CBS moved the show from its extremely popular Sunday night time slot to Thursday night forcing it to compete with NBC's Must See TV line up, and as a result the ratings plummeted."

R38, apparently not. There was some filming in Ireland, according to IMBD. But none of the actors were in Ireland during these episodes, so they were all shot in the US.

Thanks, R39. I always thought it was later.

Was Jessica wearing a wig for this series?

R7, Beverly.

Who was the woman or man who acted as Angela’s stunt double? The pilot and the one where she falls outside the airport is hilarious. You can see their face.