Five Facts You Likely Never Knew About ‘Murder, She Wrote’

For 12 seasons, from 1984 to 1996, “Murder, She Wrote” was arguably America’s most beloved mystery show.

The highly rated CBS series was set in a small coastal town with an abnormally high crime rate. Best-selling mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher — played famously by Angela Lansbury — worked hard to solve the crimes that were happening in her own community.

It’s a show that likely couldn’t exist in today’s dark television landscape, but it’s remained a popular show over the years as people still devour the whopping 264 episodes of the show.

Here is a look at five facts you likely never knew about “Murder, She Wrote.”

1.) Cabot Cove would be the murder capital of the world. The small and fictitious Maine community where the show was set would truly be the murder capital of the world if it were real. The town of 3,560 people averaged 5.3 murders per year, with a murder rate of 149 per 100,000 people, according to the BBC — that’s a 60 percent higher murder rate than Honduras’ murder rate in 2012 (91 per 100,000). (Honduras had the highest murder rate in the world at that time.)

2.) The show took a shot at “Friends.” In 1996, the final season of the series, the writers of “Murder, She Wrote” decided to take a few stabs at the popular sitcom “Friends” because they competed for viewers on the same Thursday-night time slot.

In an episode called “Murder Among Friends,” the producer of a fictitious show called “Buds” was killed for trying to rid his series of one of its characters. The fake show’s concept was eerily similar to “Friends.” It featured six main characters from New York who hang out in a coffee shop.

“It truly is a phenomenon,” Fletcher said to one of the “Buds” cast members in the episode. “Who would’ve thought a group of 20-something young people sitting around all day long discussing their sexuality would turn out to be a top TV show?”

Related: Five Facts You Likely Never Knew About ‘Six Million Dollar Man’

3.) Jean Stapleton could have been Jessica Fletcher. Stapleton earned her spot as a household name in “All of the Family,” but she could have been on another mega-hit later in her career.

She was offered the role of Jessica Fletcher in “Murder, She Wrote” — but turned down the opportunity.

“I had just come off eight-and-a-half years in a series,” she told the TV Academy. “And I thought, ‘This isn’t for me, now.”

Stapleton didn’t believe the program would offer her the same creative freedom that “All In The Family” did, but she did believe that Angela Lansbury was perfectly cast. “Every time I saw Angela during those years, she’d thank me!” Stapleton said.

4.) Lansbury wasn’t in favor of a reboot. In 2013, a proposed reboot of “Murder, She Wrote” was headed to NBC; in it, Octavia Spencer would take over the lead role. Sure, it could have mustered some ratings, but NBC scrapped the idea in January 2014. Perhaps one reason is because the original Jessica Fletcher spoke out promptly against the idea.

“I think it’s a mistake to call it ‘Murder, She Wrote,’ because ‘Murder, She Wrote’ will always be about Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person,” Lansbury told the Associated Press. (Lansbury, by the way, is age 92 today.)

NBC initially said the reboot was set to be a “contemporary” spin on the concept.

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5.) Jessica Fletcher holds a Guinness World Record. Usually, Guinness World Records are reserved for real-life people — but the organization has made exceptions in the past for popular fictional characters. Jessica Fletcher is one such example; she earned a record for “Most Prolific Amateur Sleuth.”

She earned the honor in 1984, the Guinness website says.

Bonus fact: The show made Emmy history. In all 12 of the show’s seasons, Lansbury earned an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. This set a record that still stands today — indicating how successful the show was for over a decade.

However, the program met tough luck at the Emmy award shows: Lansbury unfortunately did not win the award any of the times she was nominated. Fans undoubtedly still have a problem with that. She did, however, win several Golden Globes for the role.

Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, ESPN, and other outlets. 

(photo credit, homepage and article images: CBS)