Episode 17: The Football One

TONIGHT ON MURDER, SHE WROTE, we're going into SUDDEN DEATH. In a bizarre turn of events, mystery novelist and busybody with a high success rate, Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), inherits 4% of a football team, and everyone wants her share. However, things get complicated when one of the primary shareholders that no one likes (Allan Miller) is found dead in a jacuzzi after a team and staff get-together, and now everyone is once again a suspect. Naturally, we have the wife (Elizabeth Savage), the other shareholder and coach (Warren Berlinger), the noble injured player with something to hide (Caitlyn Jenner), the beefy linebacker with something to prove (Dick Butkus), and any number of partygoers who would be happy to see the man who wants to move the team away, be done away with. The cast also includes John Beck, Jane Smithers, Gary Lockwood--and Tim Thomerson as our latest detective, whom Jessica needs to convince has got it all wrong, while also learning American Sign Language from a duplicitously acquired adopted child. Viktor and Petra are your guides as we try to understand football terminology tossed into the mix, somewhat distracted by lots of guys in sweatpants, towels, and bathing suits. Call for holding! (See, there's one!)