MovieChat Forums > Diagnosis Murder (1993) Discussion > Did Angelea Lansbury ever do a guest rol...

Did Angelea Lansbury ever do a guest role on Diagnosis Murder?


I'm watching Diagnosis Murder for the first time. I'm watching it on the Hallmark Channel and they seem to be doing it chronologically. I'm on Season 4 right now and in recent episodes there was a guest star appearance of Andy Griffith in his Matlock role; Mike Connors in his Mannix role; and Randolf Manntooth in his role as a firefighter/paramedic for Emergency.

I'm wondering if Angela Lansbury, as Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote) ever did a guest role in Diagnosis Murder?

reply

[deleted]

In season 6 episode 7 the title is called 'write, she murdered'. It's quite a witty episode too.

reply

I remember reading a column in either A slip-in syndicated Sunday news magazine' question and answer readers feature or it may have been a column in a TV-Guide, regarding this cross over and the writer - whose name escapes me - claimed that Lansbury was not thrilled with the whole idea! Especially with the fact that the Magnum episode was written by their writers- and that she did not like the way her character was portrayed. One point made was that she found it somewhat demeaning and that she did not need the ratings boost but apparently the Network wanted it to bolster the Magnum position- especially with her fans. I remember seeing both episodes - at the time they were initially broadcast and several times since then and I have to say initially I was very pleased with the two episodes - but after reading the column I mentioned above- I have picked up the discrepancies in both ways the lead characters were written by the other series writers- in each - The guest character is treated in a somewhat diminished way. Although I think that Jessica on Magnum was made out to be less than the way the Murder She Wrote writers portrayed Magnum. He was still not as well portrayed as he usually was on his own show, but the Murder She Wrote writers certainly treated him better than the Magnum writers treated Jessica.

reply

You know I agree with you on the fairly clever and professional way the Diagnosis Murder folks have worked in other series's stars and characters- and it is almost always a pleasure to see these old favorites on the Van Dyke show. I also enjoy the way they use guest actors who are portrayed in the context of the Diagnosis series without any references to the guest actors former roles - I believe it is superior to the way the Murder She Wrote series would use guest stars. Specifically - not in the idea of a cross-over, but in terms of it almost seemed as if Murder She Wrote was an employment agency for out of work actors either retired or just not in a current series. Although I applauded and still feel good about the practice- the roles were not as good as one might have hoped- and the the whole practice seemed that it was somewhat formulaic and predictable . But for me at least it was always fun to see an old favorite- such as Robert Vaughn or John Saxon . Although the need to create situations for Jessica to be visiting some other city or to have an opportunity to be exposed to a murder mystery was after the second season for me - tedious and led me to see if I could figure out how many nephews nieces and other relatives she could possibly have as a side game when watching the shows. I never have that feeling with the Diagnosis Murder show although it does stretch credulity that a doctor and his colleagues at a hospital - even one with the excuse of being a consultant for the LAPD - have so many new and different ways of getting involved with murders.

reply