Both times, my brain went in the exact opposite direction when I witnessed both of these good citizens being good citizens. Because I have consumed a steady television diet of procedural dramas and true crime documentaries, I immediately thought to myself, "What if there's a body or body parts in those bags? They just put body part garbage bags in their trunks AND their fingerprints are all over the bags, so if the bag is found in the dump and the police analyze it, they're going to be a suspect in a murder all because they were being good citizens." This is legitimately how my brain works. I would never, ever pick up a bag of trash on the side of the road because I've seen every episode of CSI at least three times and I know better. Marg Helgenberger has taught me well.
I know, I know. My brain is a weird place to exist. Just last week, one of my co-workers asked me something and when I answered in an oddly specific way, he looked at me like I was an alien. Everyone has their own way of thinking, and apparently, my brain likes to go the true crime route in most situations. I don't know why, but that's how it works. The most recent incident happened not too long after I started watching season one of Murder, She Wrote on Amazon Prime. My inner Jessica Fletcher, because we all have one, is on overdrive.
Murder, She Wrote was a drama series that ran on CBS from 1984-1996, back when tv shows had over twenty episodes each season and you had to be home in time to watch or tape a show so you wouldn't miss out. It starred international treasure Angela Lansbury as a retired English teacher from a small Maine town who becomes a famous mystery writer and helps whatever local police force solve murders whenever she happens to stumble into a situation where a murder occurs. And one occurs all the time. It doesn't matter if she's in her little hometown of Cabot Cove or jet-setting around the world, murder seems to follow Jessica everywhere. And she's always a step ahead of the police and always unmasks the killer.
I haven't watched an episode of Murder, She Wrote since the early 1990s. I used to watch it with my grandma when we'd visit Detroit. She liked mysteries and horror fiction (me and my brother got into horror fiction because of her). I decided not to get cable when I moved, so I've been relying on Netflix and Amazon Prime for my entertainment. I've binged Schitt's Creek, AJ & the Queen, the Aaron Hernandez docuseries, and the Netflix docuseries about the cat killer who internet sleuths tracked online after he killed an actual person. I stumbled upon Murder, She Wrote as I was building my watchlist on Prime, and decided to dive in last week. I know how to rock a Friday night - Murder, She Wrote, wine, and a cat snoring. Perfection.
Anyway, I'm not even done with season one and I'm completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of famous people who were on this show. There's an entire Wikipedia page devoted to guest stars of the show. Here's a quick sample of the guest stars so far (I'm on episode 14):
Guest star awesomeness aside, I'm intrigued by the overall concept of Jessica Fletcher. One fan theory posits that Jessica is, in fact, a serial killer. If you only look at the Cabot Cove episodes, over 200 murders occur over the course of the series in town with a population under 4000 people. Does death just follow this woman or is she really a devious serial killer, leaving death and destruction in her wake? If she's not the killer, it's very possible her nieces and nephews are. Her nephew, Grady, is involved in two cases in season one and would go on to be a recurring character throughout the rest of the series. Two of her nieces and a cousin are also involved in cases. How does so much murder find one family?
Jessica is a lady about the world. She's a widow and doesn't have any children of her own, so she travels all over the place. After her writing career takes off, she goes to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New Orleans, and some random island in the Mediterranean. She has friends and family everywhere and is such a jet-setter. She helps two Russian ballerinas defect to the US, and ends up in Congress after the congressman from her state ends up dead. She also solves his murder, and helps the other congressman (who just so happens to be the dad from The Monster Squad) from Maine pass a bill to protect the cove.
Did I also mention that all the old, rich dudes on this show want to get together with Jessica? Her energy, her smarts, and her quick wit are like catnip to these dudes. I admire her ability to flirt without being awkward (not my skill set). She's never prim, but always proper and it's so much fun to watch her let go in her very Jessica Fletcher sort of way. She never loses her cool, and never gives too much away. There's something very feminist about her, although I doubt she'd be the first person to come to mind when you think feminist heroes, but the pieces are all there. Smarts, a photographic memory, awesomeness, nerves of steel, crime solving skills - Jessica Fletcher is my hero. She would appreciate my apprehension at picking up garbage bags on the side of the road. And if we followed those body part containing garbage bags to the dump, Jessica would find the killer in no time, putting the local police to shame with her mad skills.
Do yourself a favor, and spend your weekend solving mysteries with Jessica Fletcher. You'll be glad you did.
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I know, I know. My brain is a weird place to exist. Just last week, one of my co-workers asked me something and when I answered in an oddly specific way, he looked at me like I was an alien. Everyone has their own way of thinking, and apparently, my brain likes to go the true crime route in most situations. I don't know why, but that's how it works. The most recent incident happened not too long after I started watching season one of Murder, She Wrote on Amazon Prime. My inner Jessica Fletcher, because we all have one, is on overdrive.
Murder, She Wrote was a drama series that ran on CBS from 1984-1996, back when tv shows had over twenty episodes each season and you had to be home in time to watch or tape a show so you wouldn't miss out. It starred international treasure Angela Lansbury as a retired English teacher from a small Maine town who becomes a famous mystery writer and helps whatever local police force solve murders whenever she happens to stumble into a situation where a murder occurs. And one occurs all the time. It doesn't matter if she's in her little hometown of Cabot Cove or jet-setting around the world, murder seems to follow Jessica everywhere. And she's always a step ahead of the police and always unmasks the killer.
I haven't watched an episode of Murder, She Wrote since the early 1990s. I used to watch it with my grandma when we'd visit Detroit. She liked mysteries and horror fiction (me and my brother got into horror fiction because of her). I decided not to get cable when I moved, so I've been relying on Netflix and Amazon Prime for my entertainment. I've binged Schitt's Creek, AJ & the Queen, the Aaron Hernandez docuseries, and the Netflix docuseries about the cat killer who internet sleuths tracked online after he killed an actual person. I stumbled upon Murder, She Wrote as I was building my watchlist on Prime, and decided to dive in last week. I know how to rock a Friday night - Murder, She Wrote, wine, and a cat snoring. Perfection.
Anyway, I'm not even done with season one and I'm completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of famous people who were on this show. There's an entire Wikipedia page devoted to guest stars of the show. Here's a quick sample of the guest stars so far (I'm on episode 14):
- Jose Ferrer
- Martin Landau
- Lynn Redgrave
- Lorna Luft
- Genie Francis
- Jerry Orbach
- Leslie Nielson
- Gabe Kaplan (there was another guy from Welcome Back, Kotter on a separate episode)
- Milton Berle
- Jeff Conway
- Vickie Lawrence
- Andy Garcia
- Robert Goulet
- Jo Anne Worley
Guest star awesomeness aside, I'm intrigued by the overall concept of Jessica Fletcher. One fan theory posits that Jessica is, in fact, a serial killer. If you only look at the Cabot Cove episodes, over 200 murders occur over the course of the series in town with a population under 4000 people. Does death just follow this woman or is she really a devious serial killer, leaving death and destruction in her wake? If she's not the killer, it's very possible her nieces and nephews are. Her nephew, Grady, is involved in two cases in season one and would go on to be a recurring character throughout the rest of the series. Two of her nieces and a cousin are also involved in cases. How does so much murder find one family?
Jessica is a lady about the world. She's a widow and doesn't have any children of her own, so she travels all over the place. After her writing career takes off, she goes to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New Orleans, and some random island in the Mediterranean. She has friends and family everywhere and is such a jet-setter. She helps two Russian ballerinas defect to the US, and ends up in Congress after the congressman from her state ends up dead. She also solves his murder, and helps the other congressman (who just so happens to be the dad from The Monster Squad) from Maine pass a bill to protect the cove.
Did I also mention that all the old, rich dudes on this show want to get together with Jessica? Her energy, her smarts, and her quick wit are like catnip to these dudes. I admire her ability to flirt without being awkward (not my skill set). She's never prim, but always proper and it's so much fun to watch her let go in her very Jessica Fletcher sort of way. She never loses her cool, and never gives too much away. There's something very feminist about her, although I doubt she'd be the first person to come to mind when you think feminist heroes, but the pieces are all there. Smarts, a photographic memory, awesomeness, nerves of steel, crime solving skills - Jessica Fletcher is my hero. She would appreciate my apprehension at picking up garbage bags on the side of the road. And if we followed those body part containing garbage bags to the dump, Jessica would find the killer in no time, putting the local police to shame with her mad skills.
Do yourself a favor, and spend your weekend solving mysteries with Jessica Fletcher. You'll be glad you did.
Image
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