What's new

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

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
"To Kill a Legend" didn't really play very fair with viewers. The clues for the uncovering of the murderer were barely presented, so there wasn't much of a chance to play along and try to outguess Jessica (which was always my main objective in watching the series).

I thought some of the performances were rather poor, too, and, let's face it, if a hitherto unknown letter from George Washington ever really did surface, the very idea that someone would want to BURN such a historical find is simply ludicrous, and I can't believe NO ONE ever mentioned that. You don't go burning letters from the Founding Fathers.

Other things I found strange: the director was so concerned about historical accuracy (trading out a powder horn for a musket), but he didn't mind many of the re-enactors wearing 20th century eyeglasses!

And Joshua Peabody himself. In the early seasons, Seth claimed there was no such person, only a legend. Now, he and Jessica (who was previously noncommittal about his existence) take part in the celebration wholeheartedly. Not much series continuity there.
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
"Death in Hawaii" is another one with some of the younger actors doing a fairly poor job and a mystery that's weakly laid out with feeble clues for the viewer. Not a favorite.
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
This one had a fair share of surprises that I appreciated (the identity of the columnist was great), but the murderer had to be one of two people apart from the one who was accused, but the clues were rather weak leading to that identity. Once again, a couple of the younger actors give very poor performances, and that "romance" between the mail room guy and the slinky writer had ZERO chemistry and seemed there just to have a romance for the episode.
 

jimmyjet

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
3,053
Real Name
jimmy
murder channel - liked it

hi matt,

one thing is becoming increasing clear. you have a much better nose for the actual clues and detective stuff, whereas i tend to just like to sit back and enjoy it.

it is not that my curiosity is not piqued, but i am not trying to pick up all the details for clues to who did it.

that being said, i can see why we have some differences in the episodes that we like, etc.

while the first 5 seasons were your favorite, most of my worst episodes were in that group. not to say that there werent a lot of good ones, as well.

but i did not like the cabot cove shows. i just couldnt stand the character of amos tupper, his ridiculous accent, or his police stupidity. it made me seem like i was watching don knotts all over again (not a compliment from me).

and the beauty salon stuff was generally poor for me, as well.

whereas mort tickles me - i think his character is wonderful !!

i do agree that there have been quite a few forced romances.

however, in this episode, the romance was there from the beginning, made sense, so it seemed real for me.
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
This one was OK (mystery was actually one of the better ones of late with decent placement of clues even if they were placed VERY early in the episode) though I can't believe supposedly intelligent people would watch a local feed and think it a movie of any kind with that harsh video quality look and sound that is flat and usually buzzy. And HOW coincidental that Jessica would step out of the room the two times the girl she knew walked into frame.
 

jimmyjet

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
3,053
Real Name
jimmy
paradise - enjoyable

hi matt,

i know you are gonna have complaints.

so let me start out with your first one !!!

1) mighty convenient jessica finding a little bullet in a tree

list the rest of em !!!
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
Yes, one must just grin and bear it with some of these formulas the show uses. Jessica seems always more astute than even the best cop.

But I'll tell you the biggest trouble I had with this episode. Almost all of the primary guest stars were Murder, She Wrote regulars from the early years when I was a fanatic about the show and watched each episode multiple times. So when I see them acting roles completely different from the ones I was so used to seeing, it kind of takes me out of the episode (for example, the murderer here earlier played the young Canadian accused of murder in the episode where Jessica was brought in as a character witness and then was destroyed on the stand by the attorney alluding to all the murder that had surrounded her during the past years; the female hired assassin was on an episode where she played a naïve heiress at a resort, and also in another previous episode she and the actress playing Dorie played sisters). I'm also tiring of Wayne Rogers' rather incompetent P.I. but we'll be seeing him in more episodes to come!

The show also showed some desperation having a bossy Southern grand dame (Patricia Barry) and her mousy writer/son who are named Venable - exactly the same set up in Tennessee Williams' Suddenly Last Summer: overbearing mother and writer/son named Venable! Are the writers really such hacks they must resort to such borrowings?
 

jimmyjet

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
3,053
Real Name
jimmy
i dont have that sort of recall of the characters

they may look familiar to me, but i was not associating them with a particular role on a particular episode.

but i also dont have the same sort of familiarity with the actors, to begin with

many of them i dont know at all, so i look em up - especially the cute girls !!!

but then an hour later, i forget about it !!!

about the only tv show that i can recall that i saw episodes many, many times is the original star trek

but it had been maybe 20 years or so, when i watched the complete set on dvd in the past year or two.

and while i did recall some stuff after it happened, it wasnt like i could tell you what was gonna happen before it did. so i still enjoyed them.

most every other show, i saw once when it originally aired, and not since then - so other than a recall of the characters, it has been like watching a brand new show !!
 

jimmyjet

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
3,053
Real Name
jimmy
this is why i like to post immediately after i watch.

the next day, many of the specifics have already left.
 

jimmyjet

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
3,053
Real Name
jimmy
crimson -

hi matt,

i liked it quite a bit.

i know you did not, and i know why !!!

tell me just the one main reason why, and i will be honest with you if i am wrong !!
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
Well, there were plenty of small things I didn't like about this one. I'll bet you think it's because of Gregg Henry (the murder victim) because he's been in so many previous episodes of the show over the years, but at least this time out he's the victim and not the killer. If not that, then the sheepish nerd who pines after the bossy daughter. But since that never goes anywhere, I was OK with unrequited love rearing its head (as it does in almost every episode anyway).

We've had Jessica in wine country before and involved in better mysteries (the one with Eli Wallach as head of the winery was a much better episode).

But the thing that bothered me the most about this episode was the HORRIBLE way the adoptive son got treated by that bossy sister of his. She treats him like dirt when all he's trying to do is what's best for the family, and I can't believe anyone would stand for that kind of harsh treatment from a family that's SUPPOSED to love him as one of their own. Of course, by the end, they're all friends and everything's smoothed out between them, but I really hated that horrendous sister. Also, the family has treated their adopted son this callous way, but the widow of their son with a child by another man they'll welcome into the family as their first grandchild? Where's the consistency in that? He's no more a blood relative than the grown adopted guy!

Really a badly thought out episode.

Small bit of trivia: the man who turned out to be the murderer is the real-life father of Chris Pine who is the new Captain Kirk in the rebooted Star Trek films.
 

jimmyjet

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
3,053
Real Name
jimmy
hi matt,

i didnt get it right !!

one thing i am realizing is that i like this show for different reasons other than the mystery of "who done it".

i dont put a lot of effort into trying to recall all the clues, etc. i go with the flow, enjoy the story, the characters, and the murder is a bit of a sideline for me.

this is one of the first times that the killer turned out to be the only logical person, which at least for me, i dont recall that happening before. and you are usually a stickler for making it difficult to detect (that was the reason that i was thinking).

i figured if even i got it, it would have been no challenge for you.

at the very beginning, you knew the son got killed by someone he knew. if i recall, it showed him being friendly to his killer. but i had no idea who.

but when lars got killed, he said something like "have you considered what i told you yesterday".

and that was just after his meeting with the attorney (the killer). it was the only person that would fit.

of course, i kept thinking that it would end up being someone he had a conversation with, but that the episode did not show it.

if greg henry is lars (the guy trying to buy the winery) - he did look familiar to me. but i did not realize it was from this msw. i just figured i had seen him in other shows.
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
jimmyjet said:
i guess jessica must have been very satisfied with him
Obviously Angela approved. I'm surprised he wasn't made a regular on the show, but regulars don't get to play the delicious suspects and villains that guest stars are handed.
 

jimmyjet

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
3,053
Real Name
jimmy
twos - i did not care for it all that much

the actual story may have been okay

but whoever did the casting must have been drunk

terri is a nice looking lady.

am i supposed to believe she fell in love with sam brice ?

first off, he is married.

secondly, he aint the slightest bit good looking.

thirdly, his personality isnt even as good as his looks.

and then the man that sam trips ? supposedly terri was out on some sort of a date with him ?

for goodness sake - like that would happen on this planet ??

terri and the killer do seem to be of similar age. but emma jean supposedly liked the killer when they went to school together ?

she looked almost a generation older, more around the same age as jessica.
 

Matt Hough

Reviewer
Senior HTF Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
26,151
Location
Charlotte, NC
Real Name
Matt Hough
I disliked it, too. It's another Bruce Lansbury scenario, and they're almost always filled with soap opera characters and situations that don't ring true in real-world terms. I also thought he made Mort Metzger dumber and more stubborn in this one that he usually is when written by others.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Latest Articles

Forum statistics

Threads
356,813
Messages
5,123,609
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
1
Top