Murder, She Wrote: The Complete Second Season

CBS has been releasing the Murder, She Wrote DVD season boxed sets very, very slowly, so it is with much anticipation that fans will be receiving this second set. (NOTE: The gifted actor William Windom, joins the cast in Season Two as the crusty but warm-hearted Dr. Seth Hazlitt.)

The three-disc set includes all Season Two episodes, which originally aired from 1985-1986. Thus far, the studio has not announced any special features to be included in the set.

Episodes include:

Widow Weep for Me: The episode that introduced Len Cariou as the British Intelligence Agent Michael Hagerty in what would be a wonderfully recurring role.

Joshua Peabody Died Here-Possibly: Murder in Cabot Cove mixed up with the town's history.

Murder in the Afternoon: A murder plot in a soap opera become all too real.

School for Scandal: A mother and daughter involved in murder.

Sing a Song of Murder: Angela Lansbury plays a dual role, Jessica and her cousin, Emma MacGill, a London dance hall performer. It is no coincidence that the singing and dancing Ms. Lansbury's given name is Angela Brigid MacGill Lansbury.

Reflections of the Mind: Jessica comes to the aid of a friend being terrorized.

A Lady in the Lake: Jessica investigates the drowning of a swimmer amidst marital and financial intrigue at a lake resort.

Dead Heat: Jessica's niece, an aspiring racing jockey, is falsely accused of murder.

Jessica Behind Bars: Jessica visits a women's prison then is held captive when an uprising occurs because of abuse and murder at the facility.

Sticks and Stones: In Cabot Cove, Jessica investigates a land sale linked to murder.

Murder Digs Deep: On an archaeological dig in New Mexico, Jessica ends up on the trail of a murderer.

Murder By Appointment Only: A former student of Jessica's becomes involved in a love triangle that ends in murder.

Trial by Error: Jessica winds up a jury foreperson in a take off of the classic Henry Fonda film "12 Angry Men."

Keep the Home Fries Burning: Poised strawberry preserves served at the Joshua Peabody Inn result in murder.

Powder Keg: An aspiring singer is wrongly accused of murder.

Murder in the Electric Cathedral: A wealthy friend of Jessica's is murdered and leaves her fortune to an evangelist.

One Good Bid Deserves a Murder: Jerry Orbach returns as Harry McGraw, in a story involving the murder of an actor.

If a Body Meet a Body: Two corpses vanish then reappear.

Christopher Bundy Died on Sunday: The ruthless owner of a periodical is murdered.

Menace Anyone?: In Boston, Jessica investigates two murders at a charity tennis tournament.

The Perfect Foil: In New Orleans at Mardi Gras, a distant cousin of Jessica's is falsely accused of murder.

If the Frame Fits: Jessica investigates a string of art thefts and a murder.

This venerable series features a multi-talented cast, interesting stories and outstanding production values. Murder, She Wrote is arguably the most beloved American TV mystery series, and for good reason.

The series began in 1984 when Angela Lansbury was 58 and continued through 1996 producing 264 episodes for CBS, and easily winning its time slot for most of its run.

The fabulous Ms. Lansbury, who as a distinguished career on Broadway and in the movies, portrayed the lead character of Jessica Fletcher, a widowed, childless English teacher from the fictional small seaport of Cabot Cove, Maine. (The exteriors of the homes, seaport and ocean scenes were actually shot on the opposite coast -- in Mendicino, Calif.)

In the series, Jessica's quiet and predictable life is abruptly turned upside down after her nephew submits a mystery manuscript she wrote under the name "J.B. Fletcher" to an East Coast publisher without her knowledge and the book is published. (In the show, Jessica's middle name is Beatrice.) The book becomes an instant bestseller, and Jessica-the-author continues to write similarly popular yarns until she becomes internationally famous. Equally famous is Jessica's uncanny knack at solving crimes as an amateur sleuth who is called upon to help by law enforcement from Cabot Cove to Europe and beyond as the series continues. (It is interesting to note that Jean Stapleton, who portrayed Edith Bunker on All in the Family, was first offered the role of Jessica but, thankfully, declined.)

Show creators Richard Levinson, William Link and Peter S. Fischer (Lansbury's real-life husband) brought an impressively combined resume that included Columbo, Mannix, Alfred Hitchcock Present and Ellery Queen.

Each week, viewers were treated to the often murderous happenings in small town, quiet Cabot Cove, which ended up having at least 50 murders investigated by Jessica over the course of the series. Jessica helped the local constabulary there, initially bumbling Sheriff Amos Tupper, portrayed by Tom Bosley, then a more credible Sheriff, Mort Metzger, portrayed by Ron Masak, to solve whatever crime occurred.

Along the way, Ms. Lansbury was supported by Windom, whose Dr. Seth Hazlitt was Jessica's closest friend. Hazlitt felt more than friendship for Jessica as the show continued, but unfortunately, the two were never officially brought together romantically.

Let's hope the remainder of this fantastic series is released on a much quicker pace!!!!

I love the Murder She Write Series and greatly anticipated the show being released on DVD. I have both Season 1 and Season 2. I love watching the episodes themselves, but am very disappointed in the quality of the DVDs themselves. I understand that it is not happening with every DVD set, but a lot of the sets (including both of mine) have DVDs that skip and stop. I have to skip entire chapters of the shows just to get to the next episode. The problem is using both sides of the DVD to store the episodes on. If any research had been done on two-sided DVDs prior to putting this wonderful show on the cheaper two-sided format, then we would not be having so many DVDs sets skipping. I really wish they had gone for the better quality route and not the cheaper route.

Does anyone know a phone number or email we can write to at Universal to complain about this? The same thing happened with first season. Many episodes freeze on their frames and cannot be watched. Surely Universal has had several complaints about this. Does anyone know if they are going to do anything about it? The series itself is exceptional but we, the buying public deserve a quality DVD. This is not what we're getting!!

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