Lorna wrote: ↑January 31st, 2024, 1:56 pm
I watched the MURDER SHE WROTE episode MURDER, SHE SPOKE which was the season finale (remember those?) of SEASON THREE- had forgotten what a cheerfully OUTLANDISH EPISODE this one is- the premise being that JESSICA is recording an AUDIBLE VERSION of one of her books "for the blind" (SIDE NOTE: A plot point about how the AUDIBLE BOOK INDUSTRY has no future ca. 1987 has aged about as well as that sweater WILLIAM ATHERTON has on in the above picture.)
**his character is blind, so at least he had that excuse
there is OF COURSE a MUHHHHDUH during a POWER OUTAGE, so BLIND MAN ATHERTON is the chief suspect.
GW BAILEY- who I think played MOUSER in THE POLICE ACADEMY SERIES pretty much reprises the same role here and honestly- it's one of the more refreshing instances where JESSICA butted heads with an investigator
CHARLIE DANIELS (????!!!!!!!!!) is SERIOUSLY IN THIS as a COUNTRY STAR recording a pretty decent song in the studio next to JESSICA. He has some singularly misogynistic dialogue relating to the character of his niece who is not played by TINA YOTHERS, but the actress playing her brings TINA YOTHERS to mind.
there is a guy in this who looks a lot like JOE DON BAKER but thankfully is not.
HOLY ****, this episode has a TOP TEN ENTRY in the MURDER, SHE HAIR HALL OF SHAME- the character of THE RECEPTIONIST (not pictured) sports a coiffure that I can find no images of (and I looked)- and I actually decided it's for the best.
I have no idea who this actress is, if she is still alive or dead, and either way it's entirely possible- nee even likely- that she wants that time she showed up on national television with hair that would make DEE SNYDER burst into a fit of laughter to be AS OBSCURE and UNDOCUMENTED BY PHOTO EVIDENCE as possible.
WILLIAM ATHERTON is soooooooooooooooooooo OVER THE TOP in the episode. I want to say he appeared more than once on MURDER SHE WROTE and he was probably one of those ACTOR FRIENDS who ANGELA LANSBURY was LOOKING OUT FOR- it almost seems as if they wrote in a couple of BIG DRAMATIC SCENES FOR HIM as per his request. guess he was having a hard time finding work after playing the villain so effectively in GHOSTBUSTERS.
LMREO!!!!!!!! I love your Murder posts, Lorna!!! Murder really had some bad hair (but then it was the 80s). I think Atherton was in 3 episodes (and the murderer in 2 of them) I'd never noticed that ugly sweater before! (how could I not???) Wonder if that was a subtle joke from the writers? He had a promising film career in the 70s but by the 80s it had flatlined and was doing MSW gigs.