Things are looking up for the future elderly of America. While our grandparents got to sit around on their plastic-covered divans, sucking on Werther’s Originals and watching the delightful Angela Lansbury solve crimes in Murder, She Wrote, what hope did the current generation of old-people-to-be have of getting their own classic lady detective TV show?
Well, good news:Â Murder, She Wrote is coming back, and while Angela Lansbury has retired from the role of sassy old lady crime fighter Jessica Fletcher, her orthopedic shoes will be filled by Octavia Spencer, who will update the part for a new generation as sassy black lady crime fighter Jessica Fletcher. What a twist!
Spencer is best known for her role as Minny, the sassy maid in the 2011 film The Help. She has also had roles in Being John Malkovich as “Woman in Elevator” and Spider-Man as “Check-In Girl,” as well as a bunch of other bit parts, so chances are good you’ve seen her somewhere before even if you can’t quite put your finger on where.
In this new version of Murder, She Wrote, Jessica Fletcher is a hospital administrator who solves mysteries on the side. So really, it sounds a bit more like Diagnosis: Murder–another murder-themed show for the elderly–than the previous incarnation of Murder, She Wrote, in which Jessica Fletcher had the much cooler day job of mystery writer. HENCE THE TITLE, YOU DUMMIES. WHY WOULD YOU TURN HER INTO A HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR? IT MAKES NO SENSE!
Ahem. Sorry. The Murder, She Wrote reboot is only in the pilot phase right now and has not been ordered up for a full series, so it’s still up in the air as to whether or not it will ever see the light of day. It’s easy to imagine a scenario in which a CBS executive gives the series the thumbs down just for the opportunity to say, “That’s all she wrote.” Because of the title of the show, you see.
