Category: media

264 Episodes, Decades Of Reruns, And 50 Spin-Off Novels — Why ‘Murder, She Wrote’ Endures

Sure, it’s because of Jessica Fletcher, both an independent woman and a nice old lady who fights crime with a sharp eye instead of a gun. And the TV scripts were solid. Yet, observes Jon Land (who wrote that 50th novel), what made the franchise different from earlier crime series was the setting of Cabot Cove, Maine, “the kind of cozy place where nothing bad ever should happen, but always seems to.” – CrimeReads

Reports Of ‘The Simpsons’ Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Composer Danny Elfman, who wrote the theme music for the long-running series, told an Irish podcaster that “from what I’ve heard, it is coming to an end. … I don’t know for a fact, but I’ve heard that it will be in its last year.” The Guardian picked the news up, and rumors spread quickly until showrunner Al Jean shut them down: “No disrespect to Mr. Elfman but we are producing season 32 starting next year and have no plans to end after that.” – Metro (UK)

Depressed? You Could Do Worse Than Watch Cheesy Holiday Movies On Netflix

Maybe not 29 movies in a row, of course. But. One writer explains that she opened Netflix in the depths of a serious depression and started watching Christmas Prince. “The movie was terrible. But it was also wonderful. Within a few minutes, I felt something bubbling in my chest. Something I hadn’t felt in weeks. A small spark of happiness. Soon it had grown enough that it actually burst from me in a smile, which became a laugh. I was actually laughing. Half an hour before that I’d been, to quote Anne Shirley (as I always try to do), in the depths of despair, and now I was laughing.” – BuzzFeed

A Decade After ‘The L Word’ Ended, It Returns To Get More Things Right This Time

Lesbians, the producers of The L Word thought after the show ended its run in 2009, would become more omnipresent in mainstream U.S. culture. Maybe true, but no queer women’s ensemble show arose in its wake (unlike the many, many, many, many, many ensemble shows about straight folks that have been on TV in the past decade). So, what the heck, it’s back – but new, fresh, and much more in tune with what it calls “Generation Q.” – The New York Times

The 100 Greatest Films Directed By Women (An International Critics’ Poll)

“[This] is BBC Culture’s biggest and most international poll yet: 761 different films were voted for by 368 film experts – critics, journalists, festival programmers and academics – who came from 84 countries, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. We asked the same number of women to contribute as men to create a gender-balanced poll.” (Click here to read why the number-one film on the list was chosen.) – BBC