Fact, fiction, and mystery
15 Jan
If there is one thing Atlanta doesn’t have enough of, it is CRIME. Or at least that’s the only reason I can think of that would have made Jessica Fletcher wait until the very last season of Murder, She Wrote to visit Atlanta! In previous seasons she makes a few visits to the Deep South, but the characters she meets in these places are either missing teeth and only interested in lynching OR they dress and act like they are in Auntie Mame when Mame goes to meet Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside’s family. Finally, by 1996 the viewers of Murder, She Wrote had probably heard of Atlanta so it wouldn’t be too daring for J. B. Fletcher to solve a mystery there in the episode “Mrs. Parker’s Revenge.”
We are to believe that Jessica is a guest at the glamorous Gambier Hotel for the Georgia Amateur Mystery Writers Conference. All of the shots inside and outside of the hotel were definitely filmed in California. In fact, everything was filmed in California. The episode was not very faithful to maintaining accuracy about Atlanta. To begin with, the conflict in the story revolves around this place:
Uh, OBVIOUSLY that doesn’t exist. What is this, fiction? I’m not going to bore you with the details about the Atlanta Biological Research Institute or how that fits into the plot. Basically, Jessica Fletcher solves bioterrorism. But first: the opening shot, with sinister music:
There we are! That is the only correct detail of the whole episode. Even the Southern accents of the characters are just Australian accents spoken in a softer voice.
Now, let’s be honest about why this episode is really set in Atlanta. Murder, She Wrote was trying to ride on the coattails of SUMMER OLYMPIC FEVER. These banners are all over the Gambier Hotel lobby. Remember when this was the Olympics logo?
No? (Although I’m sure Billy Payne would have anyone thrown in jail who tried to use the real copyrighted logo.) They only half-heartedly try to fake it that this episode in ANY WAY takes place in Atlanta for those of us in the know. For example, you would THINK that the scientist driving this Acura is somewhere at least within driving distance of the state of Georgia, right?
But when Acura Navigation shows us the drop-off location for his virus that will kill everyone, we end up in L.A.
4th and Lucas? Never heard of that. But whatever! I can deal with that! We’ll always have Designing Women. But they still try to force this 4th and Lucas location on us by just drawing it onto a fake map of Atlanta.
I do want to say that the APD officers are definitely the good guy law enforcers in this episode. Lt. Bragg is the only one who believes Jessica when she tries to prove who murdered her friend and unravels the whole virus conspiracy.
And we do get a view of the real-life interstate at the close of the episode.
The real reason I was so critical of the inaccuracies in the episode was because they all add up to the fact that Angela Lansbury was probably never even in Atlanta in 1996. But for those of you also upset about this realization, here’s some consolation, found amid the pages of the welcome book put out by the Atlanta CVB in 1979.
SHE WAS HERE. And Mame > J.B. Fletcher. Sorry, Cabot Cove, Maine!
Great work Christa! You could out-sleuth Jessica Fletcher any day!
Jeph told me that the film Kalifornia (starring Brad Pitt and David Duchovny!) was supposed to take place in Kentucky, but was actually filmed in Atlanta. He said that you can spot a few buildings in the background and in the scenes where they film that give it away! Have you ever seen it? I haven’t yet, but I want to!