Murder She Wrote

The longest running TV mystery crime series

Murder, She Wrote aired for 12 seasons, from 1984 to 1996 and starred Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher.  Debuting September 30, 1984, Murder, She Wrote, is TV's longest-running mystery series, and was produced by Richard Levinson and William Link who enjoyed success with their 1975 TV weekly Ellery Queen. The series folded after a single season, but Levinson and Link were still committed to the concept of a best-selling murder-mystery novelist who solved real murders when not at the typewriter. By changing the gender of their protagonist from male to female, and transforming the character from a good-looking, absentminded young pedant to a middle-aged, down-to-earth widow, the producers were able to parlay their "mystery writer/amateur detective" premise into a 12-year hit for CBS.

The show revolved around the day-to-day life of a retired English teacher who, after being widowed in her early fifties, became a very successful mystery writer. Despite fame and fortune, Jessica remained a resident of Cabot Cove, a coastal town in Maine, and maintained her links with all of her old friends, never letting her success go to her head.

Her one eccentricity was an insatiable curiosity, especially whenever murder reared its ugly head - which it seems to wherever she goes. Critics found it ridiculous how murders seemed to follow Jessica wherever she went but the viewers loved it.

Jessica's relationship with the police varies from place to place. Both the sheriffs of Cabot Cove had resigned themselves to having her meddle in their cases. However, most detectives and police officers didn't want her anywhere near their crime scenes, until her accurate deductions convinced them to listen to her. Some were fans of her books and were glad to assist her investigation. With time, she made friends in many police departments across the USA, as well as a British police officer attached to Scotland Yard.

In 1991, newly appointed executive producer David Moessinger and producer J. Michael Straczynski were brought aboard in an effort to shore up ratings. They moved Jessica to New York, and revitalized the show, bringing it back into the top ten. It was Straczynski who made her an instructor in writing and criminology, and is widely held to have most emphasized her role as a working writer, with all the deadlines and problems involved in that profession.