tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post4756054290819257260..comments2024-03-17T18:19:49.076-04:00Comments on It's About TV: The crime drama as metaphor Mitchell Hadleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-12681869151358979452015-02-04T22:23:27.702-05:002015-02-04T22:23:27.702-05:00Oh, I think you're probably right - but then, ...Oh, I think you're probably right - but then, when the book you're writing is destined to wind up in the Sociology section rather than TV/Media, it's bound to happen! :)Mitchell Hadleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08695771505209080030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6042603612494762084.post-69022719251419421062015-02-04T21:15:34.321-05:002015-02-04T21:15:34.321-05:00May I take this opportunity to strike down one of ...May I take this opportunity to strike down one of the Great TV Urban Myths?<br /><br />When William Link, Richard Levinson, and Peter Fischer launched <i>Murder, She Wrote</i>, they set a few hard-and-fast rules for the production. <br />The one we're concerned with here is this:<br /><b>Only <i>five (5)</i> episodes in any given season were to be set in Cabot Cove - <i>no more and no less</i>.</b><br />The rest of the time, Jessica Fletcher was on the road or in New York City, where she started her university class midway through the run (and I think the Rule of 5 held there as well).<br /><i>Murder, She Wrote</i> ran for twelve seasons as a weekly series, for a total of 261 episodes.<br />Five Cabot Cove shows a year for twelve years comes out to sixty (60) murders in the town over more than a decade (multiples not counted here - I'd have to rewatch the whole series) - OK, that's quite a few, but well short of the slaughterhouse that the joke makes it out to be.<br /><br />The rest of your comment - I think you're taking it all just a touch too seriously.<br />The Britectives that I've been watching most recently - principally <i>Jonathan Creek, Dalziel & Pascoe, New Tricks</i> - seem to run more in the classical mode, with angst held to a discreet minimum. (<i>Dalziel</i> may be a partial exception to this, at least the ones I've seen.)<br />Mike Dorannoreply@blogger.com