Category: TV Series

SUMMARY:             APPROX. RUNNING TIME: 47:00 Min.

First airing on CBS on November 30, 1995, this final season episode was directed by Paul Lazarus off Mark A. Burley’s script exploring skullduggery at a Ben & Jerry’s-style ice cream factory. 

In Racine, Wisconsin, Jessica Fletcher (Lansbury) is visiting her friend, ice cream magnate Larry Armstrong (Smitrovich). His prosperous ice cream company, Gary & Larry’s Frozen Stuff, is donating $750,000.00 to her literary fund charity.  Yet, Larry’s accountant (Bovingloh) suspiciously dies, and then the $750,000.00 shockingly vanishes from a Gary & Larry’s bank account.

Further complicating matters is a potentially ugly scandal, as Larry’s business partner, Gary (Benedict), tries halting a consumer investigation over the company’s alleged use of banned milk-related substances.  On top of all else, Larry’s shadowy ‘flower child’ past has suddenly come back to haunt him.

Clandestine shenanigans involving embezzlement, blackmail, adultery, and literally cold-blooded greed precipitates homicide.  Helping expedite Sheriff Chubb’s (Curry) investigation, Jessica must quickly find some answers before Gary & Larry’s Frozen Stuff implodes. 

Jessica Fletcher: Angela Lansbury

Larry Armstrong: Bill Smitrovich

Gary Herling: Dirk Benedict

Carol Herling: Kristen Dalton

Woodstock “Woody” Seabrook: Bryan Travis Smith

Susan McGregor: Christina Pickles

Ralph Brewer: Gregorzy Itzin

Jim Kenton: George Wyner

Peggy Evans: Ann Hearn

Victoria: Sarah Koskoff

Kyle McGregor: Don Bovingloh

Sheriff Mike Chubb: Christopher Curry

Coroner: Fred Sanders

Cop: Scott Cranford

Priest: Charles C. Stevenson, Jr.

Mourners: Uncredited

Sheriff’s Deputies: Uncredited

Gary & Larry’s Frozen Stuff personnel: Uncredited

Larry’s Ex-Girlfriend (photo only): Uncredited.

REVIEW:

This episode’s well-played whodunnit elements manage to surpass an otherwise dull setting. 

Led by Bill Smitrovich, the supporting cast provides Angela Lansbury with solid on-screen chemistry.  More specifically, guest star Dirk Benedict redeems himself after his disappointingly shallow performance in Season Five’s “Smooth Operators.”   Benedict delivers this episode’s most intriguing character, in terms of conveying ethical ambiguity.  Hence, it becomes a surprise whether or not his well-played ‘Gary Herling’ will be the culprit, a victim getting a lethal dose of the “cold shoulder” treatment, or perhaps a mostly innocent bystander.

“Frozen Stiff,” in that sense, makes for a fine Murder, She Wrote with some welcome plot twists. 

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                            6 Stars

IMAGE NOT AVAILABLE

SUMMARY:          APPROX. RUNNING TIME: 47:00 Min.

First airing on CBS on November 23, 1995, this final season episode was directed by Angela Lansbury’s son, Anthony Pullen Shaw, off series producer/writer Tom Sawyer’s script.   

In New York City, on behalf of a museum, Jessica Fletcher (Lansbury) is eagerly in pursuit of a genuine Arthur Conan Doyle manuscript.  Meanwhile, ominous deaths are linked to an elusive, multi-million-dollar Edgar Degas painting that may have resurfaced at the same auction house where the now-disputed Doyle manuscript is up for bidding. 

Shady international bidders, include one stateside team that sends perpetually luckless Chicago private detective Charlie Garrett (Rogers) as their representative, quickly become interested in eccentric artist Angus Neville’s (Hutchinson) latest painting at the auction. With art world mobsters now involved, could this development be a coincidence or not?

After Garrett bungles his assignment and overbids by $300,000, it’s a murky question of now who really owns the interpretative Neville work.  Once Neville himself steals the painting, his subsequent homicide has Jessica, her trusted friends Reggie and Pete (Jones & Williams), and the NYPD’s irritable Sgt. Unger (Allen) in search of his missing artwork and an opportunistic killer. 

With the lost Degas also still at stake, could Jessica’s opportunistic ally, Garrett, turn into the greedy culprit?        

Jessica Fletcher: Angela Lansbury

Reggie Evers: Renée Jones

Pete Dunning: Jeff Williams

Giles Havelock: Martin Jarvis

Charlie Garrett: Wayne Rogers

Milt Solomon: Paul Lieber

Diana Barrow: Melanie Smith

NYPD Sgt. Unger: Tyrees Allen

Lawrence Mezznou: Aharon Ipalé

Angus Neville: Doug Hutchinson

Felix Wesker: Craig Richard Nelson

Serena Rundle: Kathleen Garrett

Kenneth Rundle: Edd “Cookie” Byrnes (uncredited cameo)

NYPD Det. McKenna: Charles Hoyes

Waiter: Sian Taylor (Dane Taylor Matthews)

Auction House Extras: Uncredited

NYPD Cops: Uncredited

Restaurant Customers: Uncredited.

REVIEW:

This episode’s complex premise teases intriguing possibilities.  The problem is that its whodunnit substance is sabotaged by exceedingly dull execution (pardon the expression) of the plot twists.  While guest stars Renée Jones and Tyrees Allen convey some vibrant energy supporting Angela Lansbury, that cannot be said of the other cast members.  Ironically, the episode’s weakest link – in spite of his generally reliable career – is Wayne Rogers’ lazy contribution. 

Rogers’ dubious effort as private detective ‘Charlie Garrett’ falls far short of the welcome snark that Jerry Orbach’s semi-sleazy ‘Harry McGraw’ once imbued Murder, She Wrote.  Suffice to say, replacing Orbach’s world-weary gumshoe with Rogers’ affable ‘Garrett’ does neither Jessica Fletcher nor viewers any favors.  This unfortunate observation is especially true in “Deadly Bidding,” as the script plays ‘Garrett’ as a weakly forgettable suspect rather than Jessica’s co-sleuth. 

Had Orbach’s everyman star power replaced a bored Rogers (and with a few necessary plot tweaks), “Deadly Bidding” likely would have been far more entertaining.

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                  5 Stars

IMAGE NOT AVAILABLE

SUMMARY:           APPROX. RUNNING TIME: 47:00 Min.

First airing on CBS on September 20, 1992, Anthony Pullen Shaw (Angela Lansbury’s son) directed this ninth season premiere off Laurence Heath’s script. 

Jessica Fletcher’s (Lansbury) novel, All The Murderers, has been adapted into a high-profile blockbuster film set to premiere at a glitzy Milan film festival – reminiscent of Cannes.  Friendly with Jessica, the film’s producing partners: Catherine Wayne and Tom Hiller (Blakely and Desiderio); its up-and-coming director, Jim Randall (Kroeger); leading lady Louise Thayer (Pinsent); and her screenwriter father, Andrew (Coe), are all in attendance.  The same applies to Jessica’s famous friend, Marcello (Romero), and a rival film producer, Steve Morrison (Gleason). Also present is Paul Crenshaw (Harper), who bears mutual professional hostility towards Wayne.  

Randall and Morrison unsuccessfully try double-teaming Ms. Wayne to release Randall from his binding two-year contract. That way, he can direct Morrison’s upcoming high-profile project.  Wayne, to her chagrin, finds that her film’s star (and now Randall’s fiancée), Louise, is hardly inclined to help keep him from being poached from his contractual commitments.  More so, unexplained cost overruns exceeding a million dollars from the end of the film’s production has perplexed Wayne, Hiller, and Randall. 

With Randall on the phone in another room, someone decides to brutally murder the chilly Ms. Wayne inside her posh hotel suite.  Randall is arrested as the crime’s prime suspect, but Louise is the first one to discover the corpse.  It’s then up to Jessica and the local police inspector (DiCenzo) to find Catherine Wayne’s desperate killer.                    

Jessica Fletcher: Angela Lansbury

Catherine Wayne: Susan Blakely

Marcello Abruzzi: Cesar Romero

Jim Randall: Gary Kroeger

Steve Morrison: Paul Gleason

Tom Hiller: Robert Desiderio

Inspector Lombardo: George DiCenzo

Louise Thayer: Leah Pinsent

Andrew Thayer: George Coe

Paul Crenshaw: Robert Harper

Giorgio (paparazzi photographer): Time Winters

Hotel Maid: Grace Kent

Press Agent: Mary Wickliffe

Reporter: Paul Ryan

Other Reporters: Uncredited

Countess: Barbara Pilavin

Party Attendees: Uncredited Extras

Hotel Guests: Uncredited Extras

Milan Policemen: Uncredited

Catherine’s Office Staff: Uncredited

Note: Nearly all of this supporting cast had previously appeared on Murder, She Wrote in different guest roles.

REVIEW:

This formulaic ninth season opener serves up glitzy style without the substance.  Aside from wasting Cesar Romero and George DiCenzo in minor roles, the script’s biggest whodunnit mistake is that only the eventual culprit appears remotely suspicious.  Working with a decent guest cast, Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher makes it look far too easy disposing of this tepid case.  Specifically, Jessica (and her off-screen London legal team) conducts even the most basic investigative work that the Milan police inspector conveniently overlooks.     

Besides telegraphing the culprit and far too little police work, Laurence Heath’s weakly-devised script makes a third glaring blunder.  By depicting ‘Catherine Wayne’ as a tough yet otherwise reasonable businesswoman, it negates virtually the entire suspect roster, in terms of any plausible motive to kill her. 

Had Susan Blakely’s character been conveyed more as a mean-spirited villainess tempting a harsh fate (no matter how clichéd it sounds), there would at least be some potential for a suspect’s intriguing plot twist.  Yet, the closest viewers get to such a twist is the inference that no one sheds an iota of grief over her brutal death – even Jessica just shrugs it off.  Instead, everyone comes off as far more self-involved in posed glamour photos for the paparazzi (i.e. the image going into the closing credits).

The victim’s meaningless death spells out how hollow Heath’s underwhelming script really is — and the less said about the ludicrous crime once finally revealed in flashback the better. “Murder in Milan,” in theory, might have been a solid Murder, She Wrote premise. Unfortunately, its vacuous pap fails to generate an ounce of suspense.      

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                  2 Stars

IMAGE NOT AVAILABLE

SUMMARY:          APPROX. RUNNING TIME: 47:00 Min.

First airing on CBS on March 4, 1990, John Llewellyn Moxey directed this episode off a script by the program’s co-creator/executive producer, Peter S. Fischer. 

Per a regular practice for Murder, She Wrote’s sixth season, “Murder – According to Maggie” briefly depicts Angela Lansbury’s ‘Jessica Fletcher’ in the first scene introducing the subsequent standalone story.  There is a dual purpose: 1. To allow an elderly Lansbury extended vacation breaks from filming, and 2. To test the waters for potential spinoff options. In this instance, Jessica introduces a tale about her former writing student, Mary Margaret “Maggie (aka “M.M.”) McCauley (Canova). 

Unable to get her heartfelt poetry and more down-to-earth literary works published, Maggie has reluctantly established herself in Hollywood’s TV industry.  As the stressed creator/executive producer/head screenwriter of a popular, hard-nosed cop drama, “Beat Cop,” Maggie battles both her ungrateful cast and self-serving TV network executives.  With the likelihood of “Beat Cop” being abruptly cancelled by the scheming network president (Sandy), someone opts to influence that decision through homicide. 

Given that the murder weapon is his own prop gun, the show’s egocentric moron of a star, Bert Rodgers (Thomerson), is subsequently arrested as the prime suspect.  Under pressure from executives (Hickman and Guilbert) to save “Beat Cop,” a snarky Maggie must then play amateur detective.  Evading disapproval from the condescending LAPD homicide detective (Arndt) she is dating, Maggie probes a plethora of self-serving secrets off the set of “Beat Cop.”  As she fears, it’s likely that one of her own show’s insiders committed murder for an ulterior purpose.           

Jessica Fletcher: Angela Lansbury

Mary Margaret “Maggie” McCauley: Diana Canova

Bert Rodgers: Tim Thomerson

Dana Darren: Leann Hunley

Andy Butler: Bruce Kirby

Brian Thursdan: Dwayne Hickman

LAPD Lt. Vince Palermo: Denis Arndt

Julie Pritzer: Talia Balsam

Keith Carmody: Gary Sandy

Leo Kaplan: Paul Kreppel

Harriet De Vol: Ann Morgan Guilbert

Director: Tom Troupe

Screening Room Projectionist: Vince Howard

LAPD Uniformed Cops: Paul Ganus, Ron Steelman, & Myles O’Brien

Dooley: Greg Norberg

Burnsie: Ben Stack

Vi: Miriam Flynn.

REVIEW:

Entertainment-wise, this derivative episode (*see below) is easily watchable yet just as easily forgotten. In terms of actual storytelling substance, unfortunately, it’s weak stuff – including Lansbury’s forgettable contribution.  Aside from guest star Diana Canova’s fun presence, the episode’s backstage TV industry chuckles provide its other endearing asset. 

With Fred Dryer’s Hunter as a then-Nielsen ratings rival, it’s obvious that Murder, She Wrote pitches its “Beat Cop” as some good-natured parody along the lines of Police Squad.  Despite an amusing premise, this episode is self-sabotaged by too many subpar contrivances and the cast’s purely routine performances.  Ironically, in terms of laziness, the script’s mediocrity mirrors that of the even more insipid “Beat Cop.” 

The following revelation isn’t meant as a plot spoiler, but to demonstrate a sample of the storyline’s dreadful plotting.  Specifically, the mystery’s pivotal clue is ridiculous, as it somehow precipitates Maggie and the culprit then converging alone after hours at the studio.  More so, the LAPD have conveniently deduced the same via lab testing before showing up right on cue.  Calling this silly climax a Hollywood TV murder-mystery cliché is frankly an insult to clichés.  More so, the innocuous item providing the script’s eye-rolling clue might be the epitome of inoffensive TV murder-mystery pap.

Peter S. Fischer’s lighthearted script laughs at macho TV cop shows (and, by extension, Hollywood’s jaded industry), but “Murder – According to Maggie” is hardly a gem itself.  It’s just a shame that Canova’s appealing character sinks into rerun oblivion with an inferior whodunnit.         

*Note: Déjà vu!  Moxey and Fischer trotted out this spoofy Murder, She Wrote premise once before in Season Four’s “Steal Me A Story.” In that instance, the fictional TV detective show they gleefully knock is Jack Klugman’s Quincy, M.E. – it’s a bit of foreshadowing considering CBS debuted Diagnosis: Murder six years later. 

Unsurprisingly, this decent Season Four episode suffers the same problem: lots of good TV insider jokes, but its formulaic mystery isn’t really much of a whodunnit. Between the two of them, “Steal Me A Story” surpasses “Murder – According to Maggie,” due to a slightly more complex plot … and a few extra originality points.  

BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING:                   4 Stars

IMAGE NOT AVAILABLE