Murder, She Wrote: Complete Series 10/1/13 (2 Viewers)

[Matt Hough]

i dont often know the names of some of these actors.

but this episode had a Geoffrey Lewis in it.

i have seen him so many times.

and he always cracks me up.

i think he is a wonderful actor.

is he considered good by the acting industry ?

i cant recall anything specific, but he must be in lots of stuff ?

Yes, he is considered a very reliable character actor, a particular favorite of Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds.

 

[UniversalPhan]

Best Buy stores (YMMV) finally got in the reissued season sets (standard DVD case) of Season1 1 and Season 2 for $10. From what I know, only the first five season sets have been reissued as individual sets.

 

[jimmyjet]

matt,

do you think that character actors are more skilled actors than lead actors, as a general rule ?

imo, there are too many leads because of some image that the producers want to project.

for example, you mentioned eastwood and reynolds - i dont think either one has good acting skills.

it doesnt mean that i dont like the movies they are in - i tend to like clint eastwood movies, but not because i think he is a good actor.

i know that john wayne was not considered to be a good actor by almost any actor. and i pretty much agree - but i do like john wayne movies.

i had seen this geoffrey lewis so many times, i just assumed he must be a lead actor.

i do think many of the old leads were great actors (hepburn, tracy, stewart, etc.)

 

[jimmyjet]

in fact, i would pick jimmy stewart as number one - cuz he was never jimmy stewart, but rather the character he played.

and he played so many roles.

 

[Matt Hough]

No, I think you can have versatile lead actors (Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep) and versatile character actors as well as mediocre or typecast leads and character people. There's a tremendous variety of types and talents out there worldwide.

 

[jimmyjet]

okay, so both leads and supporters can be good or mediocre ?

cemetery vote

i liked this one better than average. it also had more of a personal touch than average, at least for me.

i like john mcliam - he was on highway to heaven several times, if i recall.

and i almost always like mitchell ryan.

so i guess i think of them as good actors

never heard of ellen bry, but i thought she was pretty, and did a good job with her role.

 

[Matt Hough]

Yes, this was a pretty good mystery with the "mole in the mayor's office" plot using Charline Tilton as a red herring.

 

[jimmyjet]

they seem to enjoy placing little sentimentalities about other characters in their show.

i cant believe it was a coincidence that harry morgan played a cop named webb !!!!!

good episode.

 

[jimmyjet]

season 3 ended !!

 

[jimmyjet]

when thieves fall out

boy, jessica was really wrong, feeling sympathy for the 2 guys.

the last sentence spoken summed it all up.

i guess it shows that it is hard to be objective when your friends turn out to be killers.

 

[Matt Hough]

when thieves fall out

boy, jessica was really wrong, feeling sympathy for the 2 guys.

the last sentence spoken summed it all up.

i guess it shows that it is hard to be objective when your friends turn out to be killers.

I rewatched this at lunchtime. It's filled with faces familiar to TV audiences of the time: Dack Rambo, Kenneth McMillan, Michael Lembeck, John Bennett Perry (Friends' Matthew Perry's father), and the always wonderful John Glover.

I agree. Jessica was very wrong not to see that the young man was only looking for justice, and she almost seemed to have blinders on concerning their reprehensible acts. It wasn't his fault that the guilty parties were eaten up with their guilt and (in the case of the two-time murderer whom Jessica continued to feel sympathy for) did despicable things.

Of course, it wasn't the first or last time that a dear friend of Jessica's wound up being the murderer.

 

[jimmyjet]

so far, these episodes have had a similarly high level of quality.

this is one of the most important aspects for a show to keep longevity.

for the person who likes a show, to have confidence that they can sit down, relax, tune in, and get something that they were expecting.

 

[jimmyjet]

witness for the defense

i guess the title was a bit of a ploy on the movie witness for the prosecution ?

there was one thing that i did not like about this episode, or at least it is bugging me.

near the beginning, when patricia and monica get out of the car, clay looks at patricia and then winks at her.

as if to say something like "everything is set to go".

and it made it appear that monica would have seen this.

i thought this was gonna be another time when i would complain about them giving too much of a clue away.

but now i dont quite get it. it does not seem to play any significant part to the story, at all.

i also have a hard time believing that jim would go to a motel with what he thought was a good roomate of his wife, patricia. that seems a bit odd. he surely could have found some attractive girl elsewhere that would not put him so dangerously close to being found out ?

anyways, i liked the show, but had some reservations on these minor points.

 

[Matt Hough]

This is the episode I mentioned some pages back about Jessica being grilled harshly on the witness stand about her family members' previous involvement in murder investigations. I found that moment quite amusing.

Yes, that business of Jim hopping into bed with that woman supposedly an old friend of his wife's didn't ring true at all. Yes, his dominating mother making him feel less than a man might be used as an excuse, but it's a feeble one.

 

[jimmyjet]

hi matt,

does angela lansbury have any ownership, production or writing impact in the show ?

or is she simply the lead actress ?

 

[Matt Hough]

While she had definite pull to get guest stars she wanted, her son (Anthony Shaw) as director of some episodes, and to mold Jessica into the character she wanted to play, at this stage of the show, no, she was not a producer, but she became a producer on the show several years later when she drew up a new deal with CBS to keep the show going. Her production company banner Corymore Productions is plainly stamped on those episodes.

 

[jimmyjet]

our favorite martian came to visit in this one

i was a bit surprised that they made a crack about shirley maclaine's viewpoints in the show.

she must not be liked by at least one of the bigwigs !!

 

[Matt Hough]

I think I remember the episode he was on: the one about jockeying for the chairman of the board position with Ray Walston as a kind of mole on the board reporting to the man who wanted to take over the company?

 

[jimmyjet]

yes, that was it.

 

[jimmyjet]

it runs in the family

a bit different

jessica's twin sister is in this one, and solves it

murder doesnt happen until 23 minutes into the episode

normally it is right away

never heard of jane leeves - but she reminded me of emma samms