The sixth and final season of Murder, She Wrote is set in the fictional town of Cabot Cove, which is home to a number of famous characters. Jessica Fletcher, the show's protagonist, continues to investigate murder cases throughout the year, but this season introduces a new element: guest detective episodes.
These episodes are introduced by Jessica herself, who writes them or tells stories about them to her friends. They feature a variety of quirky investigators, including an ex-football player (Ken Howard, The White Shadow), a television crime-show producer (Diana Canova, Soap), an Irish detective (Pat Hingle), an aggressive homicide cop (Barry Newman, Vanishing Point), and recurring Murder, She Wrote characters like Dennis Stanton (Keith Michell) and Michael Haggerty (Len Cariou).
Executives hoped that the popularity of Murder, She Wrote would lead to spin-off new series, but nothing from this season took off and viewer resistance soon brought the practice to an end. Still, these one-off episodes are of a consistent quality with Lansbury's, and viewers open to variety will enjoy them just as much.
The rest of the season features the usual astonishing array of guests, including movie stars old (Donald O'Connor, Singin' in the Rain) and recent (Elliott Gould, The Long Goodbye), television stalwarts (Shirley Jones, The Partridge Family; Jerry Stiller, The King of Queens; Doris Roberts, Everyone Loves Raymond; Kevin Tighe, Battlestar Galactica; and Gavin McLeod, The Love Boat), and D-list celebrities to die for (Dack Rambo, Morgan Brittany, Susan Anton, and more).
