Town Father

Some greedy developers want to make massive changes to Cabot Cove...which will take away the nice small-town feel the residents love. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but these outside interests are full of dirty tricks...and create a scandal involving the current mayor (Richard Paul) and some mistress...complete with HIS kids! Amazingly, the townsfolk believe this lie very quickly and it makes the mayor's reelection seem very uncertain. As a result, folks start scrambling...looking for another candidate. And, repeatedly, they try to get Jessica to run for mayor.

While this is an enjoyable episode and all involving the group of gossips from the beauty shop are good, the show did have one problem. It simply made everyone in the town MUCH stupider than usual. No one questions if the woman is lying and no one bothers to check out the details of her allegations! This just seemed, well, like a big oversight to say the least. Still, it is worth your time.

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

"Town Father" is an entertaining episode from Season 6 and of the episodes up to this point in the season (which has been solid so far, with the weakest episodes being the three bookend episodes and the strange "Night of the Tarantula", which were disappointing but watchable) it is one of the better ones alongside "The Error of Her Ways", "Dead Letter" and "When the Fat Lady Sings".

With that being said, "Town Father" is not one of my favourite 'Murder She Wrote'. The mystery is pretty good and a sleazily nasty one but there could have been more focus on it, one actually remembers the comic relief and the chemistry between the Cabot Cove regulars much more, and far more suspects that we could have gotten to know more.

Final solution to me was also rather clunky, despite the identity of the killer luckily not being an obvious one the motive just felt too ordinary and considering the nastiness of the concept it felt a bit tacked on.

Credit is due however for finally giving Richard Paul something to do other than bumbling comic relief and make him more interesting by giving him a mystery cantered around him. Paul makes the most of this and does a good job within his own limitations. Loved the comedy and the gossiping, and cannot get enough of especially Julie Adams and Ruth Roman who are both so funny and charming.

Angela Lansbury is terrific in one of her justifiably best-remembered roles, Ron Masak has settled in very nicely and William Windom is amusing and delights as a charming curmudgeon. Orson Bean and Holland Taylor are just two of the solid guest cast, the two most famous names of the non-recurring characters cast.

Production values as ever are slick and stylish. The close knit community and picturesqueness of Cabot Cove is timeless. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune. The writing is thought-provoking, light-hearted and amiable.

Overall, entertaining and good episode. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This is one of my favorite episodes, if not my absolute favorite. It's a lot of fun, involves a lot of Cabot Cove citizens, and spotlights Richard Paul's hilarious Mayor Sam Booth character.

A young woman from Wyoming shows up at Cabot Cove when Mayor Booth is running for re-election. She accuses him of being the father of her five children, and breaking his promise of going back to her when his current term was over.

Big scandal in such a small town! Lots of never-ending gossip, especially at Loretta's beauty shop. Is it true or is it a plot to get a new person elected mayor? A really funny episode from start to finish.

As a Wyoming native, the producers and scriptwriters have staged a rather typical ignorance of the facts about Wyoming, and Casper in particular

First, Annie Mae's accent is a kind of Appalachian hill folk dialect. Wyoming folk do not have such an accent.

Second, , Casper has a population of between 55-60 thousand, is the financial and Business capital of Wyoming's oil and natural gas industries, has a fine university and boasts a regionally acclaimed symphony orchestra; all of which would make IT the "Big City" vs. Sleepy Cabot Cove...

Another crude put-down of my home state by coastal fools.

A young woman is murdered when she arrives at a mayoral election claiming that Mayor Sam Booth is the father of her five children. Another comedic MSW with the usual gossip girls from the hairdressers, and bumbling mayor - it's an entertaining episode. I think Jessica should run for Mayor, too.