What episode of Murder, She Wrote are the worst? And which ones are the best?

*episodes

I like the episodes set in Cabot Cove when Tom Bosley played the sheriff. The show went downhill when he left.

One of my faves is when a bus breaks down on a stormy night and they take shelter at a roadside diner. A murder happens and everyone is a suspect. Linda Blair and Rue McClanahan co-star.

R2 I just saw that one last Friday. I thought the killer might have been the old man. I do like the ones at Cabot Cove the best. It's been years since I've seen her show. In the 90s I watched it so often, that the theme song would play nonstop in my head. I think Angela's son had a hand in the show.

R2/r3, that is one of the few episodes of MSW I have seen. It featured Michael Constantine as well, right?

Stick with the early seasons when they hired actual actors as guest stars. Sure they weren't all great but they were still better than the endless parade of soap opera "actors" they used in later seasons.

I didn't like the two parter where Jessica does her sleuthing at a Rodeo tournament and also the other two parter where she looks for her supposed to be dead brother in law at a circus. I also didn't care much for the Magnum crossover two part episode (one was for Magnum and the second one was for Murder She Wrote).

Call me crazy, but I liked the ones with the former thief working as an insurance detective.

The best episodes for me are the ones that involve the beauty parlor and the horny realtor.

I liked the episode called "Danse Diabolique" with Marisa Berenson looking so beautiful. Oh my good she looked like a goddess.

R4 Yes he was in it. He used to be in Room 222. It's true the guest stars weren't that great, in fact a lit of them didn't do much else. But occasionally I'll see someone like Lynn Redgrave, Jerry Orbach (he'd go on to Law & Order) and just recently Bruce Jenner, that I'll recognize.

THE worst is the one is Episode 3 from Season 4. Jessica goes to Québec. Had anyone involved with the episode even been to Québec? Or even been to Canada?!

It's funny because r9's pick for the worst episode is my pick for the best. Solely for the scene where Jessica is slaughtered on the witness stand. The defense attorney begins listing all of Jessica's relatives who have been accused or involved in murders, since the prosecutor had claimed Jessica was from "one of New England's most respected families." The defense attorney declares, "One of New England's most respected families is a breeding ground for homicidal maniacs!"

Another one of my favorites is when a tourist is poisoned with strawberry preserves at the Joshua Peabody Inn. Trudy McMahon from the Golden Girls plays this cunt public health investigator, who calls Jessica a "crisis hound."

As far as the worst episodes, there are a lot of clunkers post-season 8 when Jessica moves to NYC. However, one of the all-time worst is the one with Grady and his wife and the Szechuan Dragon. Another really awful one was with Florence Henderson as a country singer. Her accent was so over the top that is was like she was doing a skit on The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

The worst episode I've seen is "The Bottom Line is Murder". The way the lives of the characters are explored, no one really cares about who is killed or who is the suspected killer. The only redeeming quality of this episode is Adrienne Barbeau being a bitch and George Takei being George Takei.

I also love the strawberry preserves episode.

Another favorite is "Who Poisoned Ms. Fletcher's Chowder" with Anne Meara.

I also like the one where somebody writes nasty letters to everyone in town and all hell breaks loose.

[quote]Another one of my favorites is when a tourist is poisoned with strawberry preserves at the Joshua Peabody Inn. Trudy McMahon from the Golden Girls plays this cunt public health investigator, who calls Jessica a "crisis hound."

R11 - Sorry, you are incorrect. The public health inspector was played by the sublime Anne Francis.

I love the Cabot Cove episodes. In fact, I wish they would put out a DVD set of just the Cabot Cove episodes.

I liked the 2 part episode called "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" starring Jean Simmons as the author who was the former Queen of Mysteries who has been supplanted by our Jessica. She shows up in Cabot Cove with a basket of shiny, red apples to tempt our Jessica.

I loved "Mirror, Mirror On The Wall" with Jean Simmons. Jean Simmons was just perfect for that role, as she has that dark air about her. One can totally believe she is a murdering witch, but at the same time one can also feel very sorry for her.

Murder, She Wrote - Danse Diabolique

The episodes where Jessica/Angela sliced ham tended to be the best, because she always did it so perfectly. And, from what I've heard, in one take.

The one where the guest star says, "oh Jess, you look wonderful!"

Didn't anyone find it odd that whereever Jessica would go, someone would show up dead?

She's really a serial killer

[quote]I loved "Mirror, Mirror On The Wall" with Jean Simmons. Jean Simmons was just perfect for that role, as she has that dark air about her. One can totally believe she is a murdering witch, but at the same time one can also feel very sorry for her.

I think that probably is the best, exactly for the reasons you describe.

I have a fondness for one in the second season when Jessica serves as a jury forewoman. It's very much an homage to 12 Angry Men, but also to To Kill A Mockingbird, with Brock Peters as the lone holdout that refuses anything other than "guilty." It also has a great twist.

The Jessica-lite episodes were of varying quality, but (here's one for the Diana Canova Troll), "Murder: According to Maggie" may be the best of those.

I also like the one from the final season, where, faced by CBS' decision to move the show to Thursdays opposite Friends, the show went for broke and had Jessica investigating a murder on the set of a popular sitcom called Buds. The episode's title is "Murder Among Friends."

One of the earlier episodes with Eleanor Parker playing a famous stage actress is a favorite, and I believe it was EP's final acting credit.

Another episode, with Lucie Arnaz adopting a strong Brooklyn accent, displayed her obvious range as a dramatic actress.

R20 Back then it was cute when shows made a reference like that. Now they'd bang into your head how clever they're being.

The best was the one with Danny Markel in it, "Murder a la Mode" (1995), S11 E17. The worst was...all the rest. It was such a shitshow.