Murder, She Wrote: Complete Series 10/1/13 (1 Viewer)

[jimmyjet]

at this point, i dont know if i have heard of her or not ?

i know robert goulet. but i also tend to associate him with steve lawrence.

wondering if steve would have anything to do with me recalling carol or not ?

when i look at her wiki, nothing she did would necessarily make me think i would definitively recall her.

did she have any chart hits ?

 

[Rob_Ray]

at this point, i dont know if i have heard of her or not ?

i know robert goulet. but i also tend to associate him with steve lawrence.

wondering if steve would have anything to do with me recalling carol or not ?

when i look at her wiki, nothing she did would necessarily make me think i would definitively recall her.

did she have any chart hits ?

No, none except the WSS cast album, if you count that. She wasn't a recording star, she was a general purpose star, the likes of which you really don't see anymore. I see on Imdb she had a stint on General Hospital for awhile. I didn't know that. She was just one of those stars that you saw on TV everywhere from Mannix to The Match Game.

I met her once and have to tell the story: A friend's daughter was appearing in a local production of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN about twenty years ago as one of the children. The big "name" in the cast was Michael Goulet, Robert's son. After the opening night performance, we were invited backstage. My friend's daughter introduced us to Michael, who, in turn, introduced us to his Mom, who was also there cheering the cast on. My friend, a local theatre actress herself, before realizing who his mom was, blurted out, "Are you in show business too?" Thankfully, she caught herself just after she said that, and apologized for not recognizing Carol Lawrence.

 

[Matt Hough]

She was nominated for a Tony Award for West Side Story, and that cast album sold millions of copies (one of the first ever LPs in stereo) years before the movie soundtrack outsold it. She did other Broadway shows, too, but as Rob said, she jumped easily between stage, screen, and television and was always a charming, appealing actress. She was on four episodes of the show, I see.

BTW, the writers once again used the name "Andrea" for one of the main characters, but everyone seems to pronounce it the same way through this episode except Angela who twice slips up and puts the accent on the first syllable instead of the second.

 

[jimmyjet]

twice dead - enjoyable

 

[Matt Hough]

Thank goodness this is the last episode in which we'll have to endure Herb Edelman's ridiculous interruptions of the case he's on (this time for head shots of all things). The mystery was OK, but the folding envelope clue was pretty weak. One of those 3 1/2" diskettes could easily fit into one side of an envelope and then be folded over and put into a purse. We didn't see her do anything other than fold the envelope in half which meant nothing, but for Jessica it was the clue to the whole mystery.

 

[jimmyjet]

they do use herb to do that on almost every single episode. i like his acting. i never thought about the diskette being able to fit in a folded envelope ? but i never really used them, so i dont have any experience with them. but gosh, that is surprising that they would make that big a mistake !!

 

[Matt Hough]

Well, Jessica was assuming the diskette was in the middle of the envelope, and naturally THAT couldn't be folded in half, but those diskettes were so small that they could slide to one side or other of a business envelope and then be easily folded in half.

 

[jimmyjet]

i didnt get that, from watching it.

of course, there was only one intelligent way to take it - and that is that the diskette was more than half the width, so that may be why i might have been slanted.

in either case, that was terrible writing.

to assume it would have to be in the middle is not even how it would naturally be. it would tend to move towards one side.

and for the writers to be incorrect as to the size is just extremely careless.

if i had been knowledgeable about the actual discs, i would have made a comment about that big of a snafu.

i do have one question, and i am too lazy to re-watch it.

but was there something mentioned about the thickness of the folded envelope ?

such that jessica could tell it was paper versus a disc ? if up close, as she was, i think it is pretty reasonable for someone to differentiate between a piece of paper and a diskette.

 

[Matt Hough]

Well, we pretty much saw what Jessica saw, and I couldn't tell that the envelope had soft contents rather than something hard inside. But, I do remember when she put the envelope in her purse, the corner of one side bent a little as she put it in. But, if that was the side where the disc wasn't contained, it still could have bent. I honestly don't think the shows are written to be scrutinized much. We are supposed to take Jessica at her word.

 

[jimmyjet]

LOL - and i pretty much do, since i didnt catch it !!

 

[clambake]

This morning I saw the 'Amsterdam' one where Jessica's friend is kidnapped from the hotel. I figured out about half of it (the reporter) before it was over.

I was happily surprised to see Leann Hunley was in it. She's on my 'Actresses I've had a crush on since I was a kid' list! She's just incredibly beautiful, and from seeing her on game shows a bunch of times, she seems like a cool lady.

 

[jimmyjet]

film flam - enjoyable

did not care for kim darby, though

stacey edwards face looks quite familiar to me

but i cant understand why ?

she has lots of credits

but the only 2 regulars i saw were santa barbara and chicago hope - never saw an episode of either one

 

[Matt Hough]

Didn't like this one much. Seems very naïve in understanding the workings of a major studio. You just wouldn't keep running into these people on these big lots, and the commissary is much bigger than what is shown here which almost looks like a diner. The mystery was OK though they never really gave us a good look at that picture showing the young Kim until Jessica was explaining her solution. During the regular story, there wasn't a close-up, and that's not playing fairly with the audience.

 

[jimmyjet]

a la mode - even though in real life, i find the fashion world somewhat meaningless, i did enjoy the episode.

when the shot lingered too long on 37 on carrie's key, i knew that would end up as a clue somewhere !!

 

[Matt Hough]

Disliked this one pretty intensely. Things I found preposterous:

1. Thea Vaughn (played very stridently by the actress) treats her husband like dirt, stringing along a wealthy man in order to open her own fashion house in NYC, and everyone simply puts up with her tantrums and demands. Her character was written so over the top I thought maybe Bruce Lansbury had penned the episode, but he didn't. At least she's left with nothing at the end of the episode which is what such a selfish person deserved.

2. Jessica has become nothing less than clairvoyant. NO WAY on earth she could have ascertained the jewels were sewn into that dress's hem just by seeing a model twirl. Nothing looked amiss with the garment, and she couldn't have heard the jewels rattling around in there due to the music used as background. So how did she know they were there?

 

[jimmyjet]

hi matt,

i still enjoyed the show, but i can see both your points.

i guess at this point, i am used to jessica being brilliant !!!!

thea was pretty selfish, but i thought the guy that got killed was even worse. i never could tell if either of those two actually loved one another, or they were both just using the other person ?

 

[Mikey1969]

I'm working my way through the series (mid-way through season 2, at the moment) and I'm quite enjoying it. Angela Lansbury's charisma and her talented guest stars (always fun to spot) really make it work despite the sometimes cheap-looking production work and atrocious early '80s fashions.

 

[Matt Hough]

You're in the golden years as far as I'm concerned with very good writing and tight mysteries that keep you guessing until the big reveal. Savor them.

 

[jimmyjet]

dream team - liked it

i dont know if i know "pete" from just msw, or lots of other places

but he always seems to play the "slimeball" type of character !!

been awhile since grady was on. awhile since mort was on, as well. always liked those 2 characters.

 

[Matt Hough]

It was OK. I think this is the last time we'll see Grady in the series. A few seasons back, Grady was involved in a project called Neptune Ventures that turned out to be shady and led to a murder. He should have run in the other direction when Columbus Ventures was placed before him. Can't believe no one else noticed that double stack of labels on the model that was so easily lifted to reveal the scam of the whole enterprise. The drunken, out-of-control wife who's been abandoned for a younger, sleeker model is another of those recurring character types this show uses all the time.