Murder Most Memorable — Television

Mysteries have not been trapped between the bindings of books since the invention of film. In the 1960s when I was still a kid, we watched a few of the crime shows that were on television. The ones I remember are 77 Sunset Strip, Route 66, Adam-12, Dragnet, and The Mod Squad.

These were pretty good shows, but it was the 1970s and 80s that ushered in the heyday of television murder mysteries in the United States. It’s kind of funny to think about this because, at the same time, situation comedies were getting smarter, funnier, and more socially conscious. This was also the time I was coming of age.

Dad usually worked nights, so it would be Mom, me, and my siblings watching television in the evenings. We watched a lot of those crime shows. I can remember watching Barnaby Jones, Kojak, The Rockford Files, Quincy ME, and more.

Later, I watched Law & Order — every one of its iterations. My favorite was always the original. By the time L&O hit the airwaves, television crimes were more violent, more visible, and more realistic. Today, most crime shows on American television are a far cry from the somewhat innocent perspectives on crime depicted in those earlier shows.

My mom eventually stopped reading crime fiction and murder mysteries. She became interested in true crime, eventually even shifting her television viewing to true crime and World War II documentaries. Before she completely changed her ways, though, she introduced me to a television show where people in one county in England were dying three-per-episode in the most interesting ways. Not only that, but the characters were living and dying in picturesque villages that made me homesick for a place I’d never been.

Just like with the books, it doesn’t matter to me that I know whodunit in these stories. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored with them. These shows feel cozy to me. Some of them feel cozy because they make me reminisce about the days when I first encountered them. Others, especially the newer ones, take place in the most beautiful locations. No matter how many people are killed in an episode, the landscape continues to instill an inviting sense of hominess.

Twenty Television Shows

• Midsomer Murders
• Death in Paradise
• Brother Cadfael
• Murder She Wrote
• Columbo
• Hart to Hart
• Father Brown
• McMillan & Wife
• Murdoch Mysteries
• Marple
• Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
• Poirot
• Rosemary & Thyme
• Foyle’s War
• Grantchester
• Doctor Blake Mysteries
• Vera
• Partners in Crime
• NCIS
• Bones

Often when I’m writing, I put on a television series in the background. I always want something I’ve seen before so I don’t have to pay attention to that story while writing my own. When I need to stop thinking about what I’m writing for a moment, I can look up at the show and know what’s been going on.

There is a sort of comfort in the familiarity, in the sound of voices, and in the visual I get when I lift up my eyes to the TV screen. Like with books, I don’t always choose a murder mystery. Whatever I choose, though, I’m going to play through the series until it’s done before moving to something else. I’m currently on maybe my 4th time with Midsomer Murders.

Which reminds me. Midsomer is the series my mom introduced me to before her complete shift to True Crime as her genre of preference. When my dad moved in with us in 2020, he and I watched through it together. We reminisced about how we once watched the show with Mom. Now that Dad is gone as well, there’s an added layer of coziness added to my experience.

What television shows do you return to again and again?

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This article first appeared in Bouncin and Behavin Blogs on Medium