TV Show Review: Murder, She Wrote - Season 10

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Jessica still solving murders each week

Cons: Not as charming as earlier seasons

The Bottom Line:

Still solving murders

Not as charming as before

But still worth watching

“Sheriff, Would You Mind if I Called Boston?”  “When You Get That Look, What Am I Going to Say?”

With it being summer, it is time for my annual season of Murder, She Wrote.  This year, we are hitting double digits with season 10 of the show.  Honestly, my thoughts from last year haven’t changed that much – the show is still enjoyable, but it has lost the spark it once had.

Of course, the premise remains the same.  The show follows mystery writer Jessica Fletcher, as played by Angela Lansbury, as she works to solve the murders she keeps stumbling upon in real life.  They may happen in her home town of Cabot Cove, Maine, in her new life in New York City, or anywhere in the world where she is visiting family and friends.

What is new for the 1993-1994 season is the new series opening.  For the first time, we see Jessica writing on her new computer during these quick snippets.  Of course, it does start with the iconic shot of her on her type writer, but then, we switch things up.

What kind of cases does Jessica deal with this season?  While visiting friends in Hong Kong, she gets involved in a kidnapping and murder.  When she writes the script for a virtual reality mystery game, she gets involved in a murder at the game company.  Murder and horse racing go together again.  A trip to London to help with a stage adaptation of one of her books finds her clearing an actress friend of murder.  And a trip to visit friends in Texas finds her clearing them of murder.

I didn’t count, but a good portion of the episodes this season take place in New York City.  Four of them find her working with Detective Artie Gelber, as played by Herb Edelman.  I was surprised to realize how few episodes of the show he did as Artie because I loved his character.  He always had some storyline going on as he was involved in the case.  Anyway, highlights of the New York City episodes included one involving racing pigeons, a musical maestro found dead in Jessica’ apartment building, and the murder of Jessica’s editor.

And, there are five Cabot Cove episodes this season.  In the first, Jessica is worried that her contractor is distracted by another client – until that client is found with a stake through his heart.  Jessica comes to town to confront her accountant about why he isn’t paying her bills.  A trip to throw a surprise party for her good friend Dr. Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) finds her getting involved in a case of petty theft and murder.  On one visit, there is a rumored prowler in town; then Seth disappears.  Finally, a carnival in town brings Sheriff Mort Metzger’s (Ron Masak) old girlfriend to town.  And, of course, murder.

It’s time to update my stats on the murder rate in Cabot Cove.  As I like to point out, there weren’t as many episodes in the small village as people try to claim.  5 of the 21 episodes this season take place there, 4 of them featuring residents and one focused on a group that comes to town.  We are up to 44.5 murders in Cabot Cove over ten seasons, 31 involving residents, and 14 involving strangers.  At this point, Jessica has solved 203 murders, meaning that 21.9% of the murders she’s solved have been in that community, up slightly from last season.  That’s not too bad, right?

I do feel the show has lost some of it’s spark this late in the series.  Most shows do if they are lucky to continue on this long, so that’s hardly a surprise.  Part of it is the reduced schedule that Angela Lansbury needed to keep from burning out.  She is the heart of the show, so having her in fewer scenes per episode cut down on the charm.  Again this season, we don’t see her with any relatives, just friends.

I also realized another issue is that, in the Cabot Cove episodes, we only see Mort and Seth this season.  We don’t see any of the other residents we’d gotten to know.  I miss them.

As always, I recognized some of the guest stars.  Among the stand out for me were David Warner, Alan Thicke, Kevin Sorbo, Tippi Hedren, Sean O'Bryan, Mickey Rooney, Shawnee Smith, Morgan Fairchild, Robin Sachs, Denise Gentile, Loretta Swit, Matt Mulhern, Lisa Wilcox, Robert Beltran, Kate Mulgrew, Ethan Embry (as Ethan Randall), Jay Underwood, Joanna Cassidy, and Patrick Cassidy.  Jeff Conaway also showed up again, but not as Jessica’s nephew-in-law Howard Griffin but a new character.  Finally of note, the season finale included Ron Masak’s new son-in-law Jimi Defilippis.  And yes, they do have scenes together.

While I keep saying that the show has lost some of its charm, it isn’t all gone.  Angela Lansbury is still wonderful as Jessica.  The guest cast entertains.  And it’s fun to see if you can figure things out before Jessica.  Even having seen these episodes before (granted, it’s been a long time), I usually can’t.

As I mentioned earlier, there were 21 episodes this season.  The DVD release includes all of them, but a bonus episode from season 11.  No, I didn’t watch it, so I’m a little unsure why it was included.  I’m waiting until next summer to watch season 11.

So, fans will enjoy sitting down with season 10 of Murder, She Wrote.  Even 10 years in, the show still entertains.