Murder, She Wrote episode 5...It's a Dog's Life

Image by Getty Images via @daylife'A fox hunter dies when his normally placid horse goes wild, and suspicion falls on the heir to his estate: his dog' Murder, She Wrote Definitive Guide

During the opening title sequence someone is seen giving a grey horse a pill of some sort.

Jessica is visiting her cousin Abigail Benton Freestone, played by Lynn Redgrave, and ends up at a fox hunt. She is surrounded by a rich spoiled family, the Langleys. They are bitching and sniping with each other. Abigail is the horse trainer for the Langleys.

During the fox hunt, the head of the family, Denton Langley's horse is spooked and Denton dies in a fall.

Jessica's cousin Abigail is distraught...she 'admired him greatly'...she's also pissed off with his 'selfish family' who 'only wanted his money.'

Time for the reading of the will! The lawyer is Marcus Boswell, Dean Jones from the Herbie films! The is on a VHS tape...'the latest in will technology!' and 'it's legal as hell!' Denton basically disses all of his family members...the art work goes to the 'national gallery' and the rest of it $15 million dollars goes to his faithful dog Teddy! And if Teddy dies of anything besides natural causes then the money goes to the RSPCA.

So of course, someone is trying to make Teddy look mentally unstable so the money is taken away from him. He bites this guy Isaiah Potts...'a notorious liar'.

Abigail and Jessica go to see Boswell, Morganna Cramer ne Langley, is there disputing the will. Saying that Teddy is of 'unsound mind'. Boswell keeps getting calls from his broker...he wants his money! He bought some stock recommended by Spencer Langley, who in debt up to his elbows.

Teddy is hanging out with the security guard, Barnes, when Trish Langley, drunkenly, pulls up in her car to the front gate. The guard runs down there to help her just in time to see her crushed by the gate...ewwwww.

There's a paw print on the gate button in the security room! Teddy killed Trish!

Jessica goes down the crime scene and 'helps' the deputy...by breaking the chain of custody by touching Trish's fur coat.

Boswell comes into the kitchen whilst Jessica and Abigail are having tea...he has a mysterious oil stain on his suit.

They then figure out how Teddy could have been trained to push the button.

OMG...a really long complicated explanation of how Trish was murdered...I can't even go into it.

They tell everyone it was with a whistle...the sheriff has happened to find a whistle with Abigail's initials...so she and the dog are jailed for murder!

A lot more crazy stuff happens but it's all too ridiculous that I can't even get into it.

So, we're at the inquest now and of course Jessica is the expert witness and explains the thing...
The murderer is...MARCUS BOSWELL! The incriminating piece of evidence...a bike clip!

Murder, She Wrote episode 4...Hooray for Homicide

                         Image via Wikipedia'Jessica becomes a murder suspect when she threatens a film producer who has plans to glamorize one of her novels' Murder, She Wrote Definitive Episode Guide

A Hollwood producer Jerry Lydecker, played by genre actor John Saxon most famous for the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' films, buys one of Jessica's book and tranforms it into an entirely different movie. So she flies out to L.A. to confront him.

Basically, he bought it for the title. Jessica is not happy with the way the story has been changed in the film. Her name and reputation are stake...Jessica tells him she going to 'do whatever it takes to stop this picture from being made.' right in front of his secretary...that's going to come back and bight her in the butt.
Jessica finds the body of Jerry Lydecker on the graveyard set and of course is now a suspect in his murder.
John Astin aka Gomez Addams is the director of the movie, Ross Hayley. He tells Lt. Hernandez that pretty much everyone wanted Lydecker dead.
Lt. Hernandez 'volunteers' Jessica to go tell the 'leading lady', Eve Crystal (Melissa Sue Anderson...aka Mary Ingalls in 'The Little House on the Prairie') that Lydecker has been murdered...she finds her at his beach house, drunk.
The film company decide to they want to continue with making the movie. Ross Hayley is now the producer and director of 'The Corpse Dances at Midnight'.
Lt. Hernandez dramatically arrests Jessica on the set of the movie...but he knows that she'll find the real killer. But she's been barred from the lot as a 'disruptive influence'..so how is she going to solve the murder!
Somehow, she gets to watch some of the rushes and sees something that peaks her interest. Crystal Eve and her co-star Scott Bennett are an 'item'.

Image via Wikipedia

Jessica goes to the Wardrobe Department and talks to the head Wardrobe Mistress, Elinor, played by screen legend Virginia Mayo!
She goes to check Crystal Eve's dressing room when Hayley runs out and knocks her over. Lt. Hernandez arrests him for Lydecker's murder and when he pats him down he finds the button that Jessica was looking for earlier.
Jessica throws a party as she's about to head back to Cabot Cove...but the party is a classic mystery move...she's going to confront the real murderer!
She does a toast to Ross Hayley 'Wrongfully accused of murder.' and then everybody suddenly leaves accept for Crystal.
Ross did take the button from the murder scene but only to protect Crystal...she's the one who murdered Lydecker because he was going to fire her lover Scott Bennett.
Jessica figured it out because 'real drinkers' don't mix whiskey and diet cola...Crystal is a diabetic and can't drink...she was faking it.

Murder, She Wrote episode 2...Deadly Lady

Sheriff Amos Tupper

"A multimillionaire is swept off his yacht during a hurricane near Cabot Cove, but his four daughters aren’t exactly drowning in sorrow." from the Murder, She Wrote Definitive Episode Guide

This is the episode we are introduced to Sheriff Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley aka Mr. Cunnigham from Happy Days) of Cabot Cove.
Jessica helps out a 'hobo' Ralph by cooking him breakfast for weeding her garden. But she soon figures out that he is not actually a hobo, just some retired businessman who wants to see America from another prespective.
Jessica gets called down to the docks...a wealthy millionaire, Stephen Earl, has been swept overboard and presumed dead by his four daughters...did one of them do it?
Jessica returns to her house to find Raplh still there. She gives him her deceased husband, Frank's pipe.
Jessica figures out that the yacht would've been in the eye of the storm and the sea would have been calm.
One of the dughter's freaks out and says that she shot him on deck. Sheriff Tupper arrests her there and then.
Jessica sees a picture of Stephen/Ralph in the local paper and rushes back to her house with her good friend Ethan...but he's gone! At the same time a body is found on the beach it's Stephen Earl/Ralph!
Jessica is well pissed off.
When they confront the daughter, Maggie Earl, that claimed to have shot Stephen/Ralph she breaks down and tells them that the two of them had actually planned his 'death' to prove that one of the daughter's boyfriends is a golddigger but now he is actually dead.
Jessica says that there's no way the body was in the water for three days.
Looks like half of Cabot Cove are searching the beach for clues...a pair of shoes are found with a broken heel. They are Nan Earl's shoes...did she kill her father!? They make her try them on and they fit.
They take her to the policde station so her goldigging boyfriend can make an idiot of himself with her hiding in the other room.
Jessica confronts the rest of the sisters about the shoes, saying sisters often borrow each others clothes and shoes.
The daughter who claimed to have planned their father's death breaks into Jessica's house...she killed him in the end! She confesses to everything and then threatens to kill Jessica...but of course Jessica had called Sheriff Tupper and he was listening to the whole conversation.
With the murder sovlved Jessica goes sea bass fishing eith Ethan.

Outfit of the Show: Jessica wore a fluffy white cardigan with black fish on it that looked nice and warm.

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The First Episode of Murder, She Wrote...The Murder of Sherlock Holmes

Image via WikipediaIt looks like ITV3 is showing Murder, She Wrote from the beginning, which is the perfect opportunity for me to 'live blog' them!
The pilot episode was a full length TV movie but is now shown as a two parter...Jessica Fletcher, a retired teacher from the small town Cabot Cove in Maine heads to New York City to publicise her first novel. While there she gets invited to a costume ball at her publisher, Preston Giles' mansion; where one of the guests Caleb McCallum (Brian Keith, the dad in The Parent Trap) who is dressed as Sherlock Holmes, is murdered! He's found dead, face down in a pool.
Ned Beatty's the local police detective trying to solve the crime.
Wait a second...Mr. McCallum is dead afterall! So who's dead? It's the private detective Baxendale.
In what will become a recurring trend, Jessica's nephew Grady is the suspect.
I'll finish this tomorrow when I watch part 2...
So, Jessica is following a suspect, Ashley Vickers, on a bus in NYC, of course going through a dodgy bit.
She gets off the bus and is mugged by two thugs...and one of them is Andy Garcia! She gets saved by a black kid, who we're supposed to think might mug her too, but turns out to be a fan.
Ned Beatty's detecive gets called to Captain McCallum's boat...and gets stopped by two police officers, they all find a body in the sail!  It's Caleb McCallum!
Oh my...Jessica's just been kissed by her publisher!
She's now getting a train back to Cabot Cove...btw: nobody actually takes the train in the U.S., it is purely a romantic image used by the film and television industry.
She looks at a newspaper and then suddenly rushes off that train onto another one, for some reason only know to her...at this time.
She ends up going back to Giles' mansion...and her suspicions are correct the first man she's loved since her husband died is the murderer!
And finally, she heads back to Cabot Cove again...telling Grady she's never coming back to New York City and she might not write another book too!
But we all know that whe goes on to write lots of books and solve lots of crimes!

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J is for...Judge Judy

                           Image via WikipediaJudge Judy is a legend of court room television. She has the longest running and highest rated of all the court room shows. She is also the first to have their name in the title of the show.
Judge Judy Sheindlin was made a judge by then New York City Mayor Ed Koch in 1982. She was a criminal court judge for four years and then a family court judge until 1996, when the Judge Judy show started in September. She became known for her no nonsense attitude, wise-cracks and wanting to use the court system for the common good, making people to take responsibility for their action. Because of this, Judge Judy does not suffer fools gladly. As she often says...'I'm smarter then you'll ever be.' Actually the best part of the show is all her Judyisms...

Judge Judy's Best Quotes:
Don't pee on my leg and tel me it's raining!
Don't teach a pig to sing. It doesn't work and it annoys the pig.
Dumb ideas come from people that have dumb brains.
Either you're playing dumb or it's not an act.
I eat liars for breakfast!
I eat bullies for breakfast!
Your story's a crock of baloney.
On your best day, you are not as smart as I am on my worst day, when I'm sleeping.
Uh is not an answer!
When my mouth is moving, you stop talking.
If something doesn't make sense, it's usually not true.And her most famous one: Beauty fades, dumb is forever! Usually, said to pretty college girls trying to get away with something. It's also the title of one of her books.

There are so many courtroom shows on American T.V. right now but none of them can come close the the queen...Judge Judy!


Even Johnny Rotten knew when to shut up!

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I is for...'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!'

In honor of Halloween and because I couldn't find another 'I', I am writing about the best Halloween themed television show ever! 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!' was the third animated T.V. movie based on the Peanuts comics strip. It has been shown at Halloween every year since it was first broadcast in 1966!
I've lived in the U.K. for 10 Halloweens now and even though it's getting more and more popular here, they haven't gotten on to showing this classic movie.
Linus is writing his annual letter to the Great Pumpkin and everyone is mocking him. He even says in the letter that "more people believe in Santa Claus than in you". As everyone else goes trick-or-treating Linus waits in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin. Sally waits with him but becomes mad because she wasted her night. Charlie Brown doesn't have a good night either, as usual, when everyone else gets candy, he gets rocks. Snoopy dressed as a World War I flying ace loses and air battle with the Red Baron. He crashes into the pumpkin patch and as he rises out of it Linus thinks it's the Great Pumpkin and faints.
All of the Peanuts specials were and still are a tradition for American families. There's an innocence and yet they can be quite cruel at the same time. We either were the kid that believed in something that no one else did or we knew a kid like that. All of us at some point felt like Linus or Charlie Brown. Also all of the girls in the Peanuts are quite strong willed characters. And last but not least, the music by
Vince Guaraldi are jazz classics that soundtrack our holidays and childhoods.
For anyone's who's not experienced the joy of 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.' here's a couple clips...

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H is for Holby City...

Image via WikipediaHolby as it's more commonly known is the completely mad spin off of the British medical institution 'Casualty'. It's set in the same hospital and sometimes there are crossovers. But Holby is way better than 'Casualty' because it's totally mental! It's unrealistic, the acting can be painful and story lines are crazy but that's why I love it.
All the doctor's and nurses are shagging each and barely have time for the patients. There's been so many mad gunmen shooting up the wards you'd think it was the U.S. And Patsy Kensit's face is so frozen from Botox, she can only cry with her lips. Which is better than her soon to be ex-husband on the show Joesph, the most wooden actor I have ever seen.

But the heart throb of Holby right now is Linden, played by Duncan Pow, the geeky Scottish doctor who for some reason is in love with Faye. *BREAKING NEWS! DR. LINDEN CULLEN DIED AFTER BEING HIT IN THE HEAD WITH A VODKA BOTTLE!*

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