Sunday, February 23, 2020
Getting Controversial
I'd like to address a topic that I think many of us have been concerned about, which is the May 19, 1996 series finale of the hit Angela Lansbury TV series "Murder, She Wrote."
You see, Murder, She Wrote's infectious blend of ridiculously cosmetic slayings and feisty Maine yokels had long made the show a ratings hit, but late in its run CBS became concerned about the network's aging demographics and started pushing for "younger" shows like the internationally-beloved hits "Models, Inc." and "Central Park West." CBS moved Murder, She Wrote from its customary Sunday evening time slot, where it had teamed up with 60 Minutes to create a sort of Avengers for the Rascal Scooter by Electric Mobility set. Instead, CBS moved the show that launched a thousand Seth/Amos slash fiction pieces to Thursday nights, opposite NBC's juggernaut, "Friends."
Lansbury felt that the network was trying to kill off Murder, She Wrote, and channeled her passions into her art, first with the Friends parody episode "Murder Among Friends," where Jessica solved a murder on the set of a comedy called "Buds" about six young acquaintances who hang out in a coffee shop and, as Jessica put it, "talk about their sexuality." Boy was Matthew Perry's face red. And also covered in money.
Despite subtle creative masterpieces like this, CBS did cancel Murder, She Wrote, and the season finale, "Death By Demographics" was another jab at the network, centering on a radio station that decided to jettison its classics-loving morning show host in favor of a younger "shock jock" who had Bob Saget's haircut and made comments that were at worst mildly intemperate. I forget who died or why or who did it, but of course none of that was ever the point with Murder, She Wrote. The point was that Jessica was smarter and better than everyone around her in every way possible.
But the real tragedy is that this finale was in no real sense a finale. Jessica didn't marry anyone or decide to move to LA and pursue her acting dreams or even acknowledge in any way that the show was ending. And none of the regular Cabot Cove characters were there, like Dr. Hazlitt or Mort Metzger or that old whore Eve Simpson. I always assumed the show would end with Jessica's nephew Grady accidentally blowing everyone through his constant and hilarious incompetence. But no. There was no closure, no finality. America deserved better, frankly. And even parts of Canada.
I'd like to address a topic that I think many of us have been concerned about, which is the May 19, 1996 series finale of the hit Angela Lansbury TV series "Murder, She Wrote."
You see, Murder, She Wrote's infectious blend of ridiculously cosmetic slayings and feisty Maine yokels had long made the show a ratings hit, but late in its run CBS became concerned about the network's aging demographics and started pushing for "younger" shows like the internationally-beloved hits "Models, Inc." and "Central Park West." CBS moved Murder, She Wrote from its customary Sunday evening time slot, where it had teamed up with 60 Minutes to create a sort of Avengers for the Rascal Scooter by Electric Mobility set. Instead, CBS moved the show that launched a thousand Seth/Amos slash fiction pieces to Thursday nights, opposite NBC's juggernaut, "Friends."
Lansbury felt that the network was trying to kill off Murder, She Wrote, and channeled her passions into her art, first with the Friends parody episode "Murder Among Friends," where Jessica solved a murder on the set of a comedy called "Buds" about six young acquaintances who hang out in a coffee shop and, as Jessica put it, "talk about their sexuality." Boy was Matthew Perry's face red. And also covered in money.
Despite subtle creative masterpieces like this, CBS did cancel Murder, She Wrote, and the season finale, "Death By Demographics" was another jab at the network, centering on a radio station that decided to jettison its classics-loving morning show host in favor of a younger "shock jock" who had Bob Saget's haircut and made comments that were at worst mildly intemperate. I forget who died or why or who did it, but of course none of that was ever the point with Murder, She Wrote. The point was that Jessica was smarter and better than everyone around her in every way possible.
But the real tragedy is that this finale was in no real sense a finale. Jessica didn't marry anyone or decide to move to LA and pursue her acting dreams or even acknowledge in any way that the show was ending. And none of the regular Cabot Cove characters were there, like Dr. Hazlitt or Mort Metzger or that old whore Eve Simpson. I always assumed the show would end with Jessica's nephew Grady accidentally blowing everyone through his constant and hilarious incompetence. But no. There was no closure, no finality. America deserved better, frankly. And even parts of Canada.
