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

[jimmyjet]

parker - liked it a lot


i only have 1 left - i guess it is appropriate that it is named death !!

 

[Matt Hough]

The mystery was fine, but those lousy Southern accents that peppered the cast took me out of the story from time to time.


Nice to see long-time recurring actor Gregg Henry take on one more role on Murder, She Wrote.

 

[jimmyjet]

i had to look him up - he is the husband that got killed ?


accents are seldom good for me - to be honest, i would prefer that they allow the actors to speak without an accent

 

[Matt Hough]

i had to look him up - he is the husband that got killed ?


accents are seldom good for me - to be honest, i would prefer that they allow the actors to speak without an accent

Yes, he was the victim this time. He's often been the killer (at least twice that I can remember), but Angela must have liked him very much to allow him to return season after season.

 

[jimmyjet]

death occurred on sunday at 7:33 in the evening


i liked it. saw a lot of faces that i recognized


matt, did they know this was the last show ? if so, i would have expected something to denote it ?

 

[Matt Hough]

I am really not sure when the axe fell on Murder, She Wrote. I don't see struggles to maintain composure or anything else out of the ordinary, so they may not have informed anyone until after the production of the season was completed.


Angela has gone on record that no one from CBS called her to inform her of the cancellation. She read about it in Daily Variety and felt very hurt and betrayed by the network. Of course, they did contract with her for the four TV movies which all brought in big ratings for CBS, and even at her advanced age, she gets murmurs about doing another one. It won't happen. I certainly was glad NBC scuttled their plans to revive the franchise with Octavia Spencer playing Jessica.


As for this episode, it was purely run-of-the-mill for me. I HATED the forced happy ending. The classics format that wasn't bringing in a dime of revenue to the station and had sunk in the ratings now is a big draw and everyone is happy. Nope, not realistic at all.


Well, this brings us to a close. It's been a fun ride revisiting these episodes. Thanks for making it such a delightful spree.

 

[jimmyjet]

thank you matt,


gosh, i cant believe after 12 years that cbs did not tell anyone, not even jessica !!

 

[Rob_Ray]

Jessica should have deduced it. All the clues were there.

 

[Bryan^H]

I guess I can only hope this comes to Blu-Ray at some point. I recently picked up the dvd complete series, and then I discovered it was on Netflix in HD. After comparing an episode in HD to standard dvd I came to the conclusion that my new complete series set is a useless brick. There is no way I can go back after seeing the night and day difference in quality(an understatement).
HD streaming only of classic TV is a disturbing trend. Forcing fans of physical media to surrender, and adapt or live with lesser quality on disc.

 

[MatthewA]

I wish I had actual tangible news about it, but I imagine a Mill Creek Blu-ray box set isn't outside the realm of possibility. How many discs would it actually have though? We're talking 12 seasons here. But yeah, those masters look spectacular. Angela herself discussed the time change and eventual cancellation, insisting it never would have happened if William S. Paley were still alive.* The guy in charge of the decision, Peter Lind, was gone from CBS within less than a year after the show's last network broadcast.

As for the time slot move, CBS was a mess through much of 1990s after Paley died and Laurence Tisch, who let it lose ground to NBC (which was reveling in the success of Brandon Tartikoff's last hit show, Seinfeld) and ABC (making money hand over fist with its family sitcoms), dumped it on Westinghouse. The Dave Letterman vs. Jay Leno feud aside, they had little else going for them besides this The Nanny, Murphy Brown, Diagnosis Murder, Cybill and Chicago Hope. 60 Minutes doesn't really count since that's news, not entertainment.**

*This would be the second time former Tampax spokesperson Courteney Cox was in a show up against MSW after playing Jessica's niece in the season 3 premiere "Death Stalks the Big Top"; the last two seasons of Family Ties, where she was to them as George Clooney was to The Facts of Life, were on the same time slot. That aforementioned episode also had Florence Henderson; Angela's brother Bruce was a bigwig at Paramount TV during the later years of The Brady Bunch's original run.
**One wonders how many shows would be listed on a comprehensive list of every show that collapsed up against it.

 

[HonkyTonkMan]

Does anyone here know if there are any syndicated versions of Murder, She Wrote episodes included on this Complete Series 63-disc box set?

I really hope that all of the episodes are presented in their original complete and uncut CBS broadcast versions.

For example, uncut episodes of Murder, She Wrote from 1984-1989 would probably have a running time anywhere from 47 1/2 to 50 minutes each.

I wonder if all of the episodes of Murder, She Wrote from 1990-1996 have a running time of over 46 minutes each.

I am planning on buying this Complete Series 63-disc box set sometime within the next 90 days.
I am also planning on buying the 2-disc set that includes all four of the Murder, She Wrote movies from 1997-2003.

I'll be buying this Complete Series 63-disc box set even if some of the episodes are missing some scenes from their original CBS broadcast versions.

I've seen less than five Murder, She Wrote episodes during my lifetime thus far and it's now been years since I have last seen any Murder, She Wrote episodes.

But, I do remember that I enjoyed each of the Murder, She Wrote episodes that I did see.

Every review that I've read about the Murder, She Wrote - The Complete Series 63-disc box set thus far has failed to mention if any syndicated versions of episodes were included.

 

[Matt Hough]

About those Murder She Wrote TV movies: the final two were produced during the widescreen era and are frequently presented properly widescreen on Hallmark's frequent plays of them. But the home video versions are the 1.33:1 versions which always galls me a little bit when I go to watch them.

 

[classictvfan40]

Love me some MSW and I own the entire series and movies. I wish someone would release it on Blu Ray. I would repurchase because it was such an outstanding show.

 

[morasp]

The DVDs look great in my system. Even before Netflix took it off I preferred DVD to the HD streaming. The DVD audio was better and the picture was at least as good.