Angela Lansbury reigned supreme in our household during the 1980s when she starred as Jessica Fletcher in “Murder, She Wrote,” on Sunday nights.
Last week I received DVDs of her first three seasons as the mystery writer who solves murder cases in her off time. I smiled and thought, “Hmmm, I wonder what she has in common with my current favorite detective, Brenda Leigh Johnson of ‘The Closer’ played by Kyra Sedgwick.”
At first glance, their differences are more striking. Jessica was never a trained police officer; Brenda certainly is. Jessica’s personal life was settled; she’s widowed and lives in a small town in Maine. Brenda’s personal life is a work in progress often put on hold as she begins a new case. Jessica was in her sixties; Brenda is close to half that age. And I don’t recall Jessica craving a signature food fetish under duress the way Brenda sneaks chocolate.
That said, I see some common characteristics between the two women. Both are products of their television times. Jessica’s era was less graphic in terms of showing the recently deceased; Brenda’s is blunter about blood. Yet each is perceptive about noticing small details that are important to the case. Each often solves the mystery while the men around them fumble. Each woman is a fine actress who has been nominated more than once for an Emmy and a Golden Globe.
I’m not sure what this says about the development of television’s female detectives over the years; there have been others – Cagney and Lacey, Detective Tennison, Veronica Mars, the female halves of Remington Steele and Moonlighting – but none has caught my attention. In all fairness, I never watched male detectives either. “NYPD” and “Hill Street Blues” came and went without my ever seeing a single episode.
So why did I get hooked on “Murder, She Wrote” and then “The Closer” twenty-five years later? In the final analysis, I think the dialogue in Jessica’s and Brenda’s series is part of the attraction. The ensemble casting is another. And finally, the lack of chase scenes. I much prefer a battle of wits than a battle between competing automobile brands.
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