NBC Axes 'Murder, She Wrote' Reboot

Credit: CBS

As the fine folks behind CBS's intended Beverly Hills Cop TV reboot learned last year, basing a new show around a once-popular TV property doesn't guarantee a network will pick it up. It's a lesson that the creative minds behind NBC's Murder, She Wrote reboot are now learning.

NBC has axed its planned reboot of the iconic, long-running CBS drama. The network reportedly wants to find a different way to utilize the concept of an amateur detective, although NBC apparently isn't against bringing the property back in the future. Upon its announcement several months back, the Murder, She Wrote was described as “light, contemporary procedural in the vein of Bones or Fargo, it follows a hospital administrator and amateur sleuth who self-publishes her first mystery novel … [and her] avid fascination with true crime leads her to become an active participant in the investigations.”

The reboot had lined up Oscar winner Octavia Spencer for the lead role of Jessica Fletcher, once inhabited by multi-time Tony winner Angela Lansbury, who was nominated for an Emmy for each of the 12 consecutive seasons of the original series (though she failed to ever win for the role, unfortunately).

Lansbury, of course, will likely be relieved by this news, as the actress was among the most vocal critics of the proposed reboot. “I think it’s a mistake to call it Murder, She Wrote, because Murder, She Wrote will always be about a Cabot Cove and this wonderful little group of people who told those lovely stories and enjoyed a piece of that place, and also enjoyed Jessica Fletcher, who is a rare and very individual kind of person.”

So what do you think? Did NBC make the right move in canning the project? Or is NBC missing the boat on a potential hit? Sound off in the comments!

Via: Entertainment Weekly