Murder She Wrote

I must confess I never thought I would watch Murder She Wrote, let alone an episode.  Yet, here I am now confessing my love for the show.  I first started watching the show one day in the summer when the Blue Jays had a rest day, and nothing else was on.  I had convinced myself for years that there was no way in hell I would watch this boring old people show.  But on that day my only TV viewing options were Entertainment Tonight (I hate celebrity news), or watch Murder She Wrote; I chose the latter.

Okay so what I initially liked about the show was that it was made in the 80’s, and I felt really nostalgic about those years.  It had a wholesome quality about the time (despite the murders), that wasn’t graphic or used profanity like today’s shows.  While the time period drew me to the show, what kept me watching was the excellent story line.  The show is a pure mystery show that is easy to follow, and extremely engaging.  As the story progresses (in each episode), you’re given clues as to who the murderer is, thus allowing you to hypothesize ‘who done it.’

At the end of each episode, Jessica Fletcher (the main protagonist) solves the crime and you find out if your suspicions were right or wrong.  The way that Jessica solves the crime is fantastic because she uses the same clues that were shown in the episode.  This is what I specifically love about the show, because you get to solve the crime as well.   The absence of this is what makes me hate current mystery shows (CSI Miami, Criminal Minds) because the characters solve crimes without explaining how they solved it.  This dumbs down a show and is insulting to the viewer.

Other features about Murder She Wrote that I like are the incredible guest actors that appear on the show.  There’s hardly an episode where I don’t recognize someone on the show from another TV series or movie.  These established actors raise the quality of the show because they come from a time when real actors were well educated and sophisticated.  The show also doesn’t take itself too seriously because there are great comedic relief moments scattered throughout.  Unfortunately Murder She Wrote ended in 1996, after 12 seasons.  Thankfully I am still in season 5 with plenty of seasons left.

Murder She Wrote Wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder,_She_Wrote