Murder, She Wrote (TV Series) If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly (1987) User Reviews

Gossip at the beauty parlor

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 1 August 2017]

Back in the day any film that would have had all the women in featured roles would have busted any given studio's budget. But Angela Lansbury gathered several of them together for a nostalgic reunion as the denizens of Cabot Cove's beauty parlor owned by Julie Adams.

Between the group that consists of Kathryn Grayson, Ruth Roman, Dody Goodman, and Gloria DeHaven events locally in Cabot Cove are dissected with the wisdom of Sunday news station talking heads.

When one of them is murdered the doings of this group become police business as Tom Bosley discovers his night patrol deputy has been providing extra attention to these women on a regular basis. Rick Lenz is sure looking good for the murder, the Lothario.

The reason for the murder as eventually discovered is greed and jealousy. Committed by someone who has an ear for gossip and blends right into the Cabot Cove background with the individual's comings and goings.

William Windom in edition to helping with the forensics is doing a little experimenting with his cooking. Looks like he could have taken that up as a profession as well as medicine.

Nice nostalgia show.

Murder and gossiping at the beauty parlour

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 21 August 2017]

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.

After a disappointing previous episode in "It Runs in the Family", "If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly" is a step in the right direction for Season 4. It's not quite as good as "Witness for the Defense" and "Old Habits Die Hard" when it comes to previous episodes of the season, but it's a terrific episode and one of the most entertaining ones humour-wise.

The mystery, while still clever, plausible and engaging, is not quite as interesting as the humour, gossiping at the beauty parlour and the character interaction with a fairly easy to figure out final solution.

Strictly speaking, this is not so huge a problem. It's still solid stuff, there were elements of the episode that were just done better that's all. "If It's Thursday It Must Be Beverly" is one of the funnier early 'Murder She Wrote', just love the beauty parlour setting and the gossip and banter with Eve and the other ladies is sheer comic joy while still saying a lot. The character interaction is delightful.

Production values are slick and stylish as ever with 'Murder She Wrote', can't get enough of the Cabot Cove setting or its strong sense of close-knit community. 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.

Writing is thought-provoking, light-hearted and amiable and the story doesn't have a dull moment and engages throughout.

Casting is great all round, can't say anything bad about Angela Lansbury, while Tom Bosley and William Windom are more than able support. Julie Adams, Gloria DeHaven, Kathryn Grayson, and Ruth Roman are enormous fun, especially Adams, and Dody Goodman is no less undaunted.

In conclusion, terrific episode and much improved over the previous episode. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Night Patrol Deputy Jonathan's Little Black Casebook Overbooked!

[WeatherViolet · 7/10 · 24 January 2010]

This risqué entry presses the envelope of the Television Code when Sheriff Amos Tupper's night deputy cannot explain his whereabouts on the evening of the murder, and Eve Simpson won't explain hers, as the trail of suspects turns up a string of hidden secrets involving the regulars at Loretta's Beauty Salon, in the episode which introduces several recurring Cabot Cove characters.

One Tuesday morning, Mrs. Audrey Martin (Antoinette Bower) patronizes Cabot Cove's Loretta's Beauty Salon, as Loretta Speigel (Ruth Roman) also styles hair for customers Eve Simpson (Julie Adams), Phyllis Grant (Gloria DeHaven) and Ideal Molloy (Kathryn Grayson), with Coreen (Sally Klein) as Manicurist.

As Loretta completes the finishing touches for Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury), Postal carrier George Tibbits (Ray Girardin) delivers the morning mail, as he also solicits customers with one-dollar tickets toward the drawing of the New Hampshire lottery, for which the result of weekly drawing would arrive in Maine via classified tabloids to circulate along with the mail around Cabot Cove.

After Loretta spends ten dollars for a strip of lottery tickets, the others exchange a round of merriment regarding the connection between the last two digits of their numbers' corresponding to their ages, such as thirty through thirty-three, except for the humorless Audrey, who exits the salon to confront husband Jonathan Martin (Rick Lenz), a night deputy, who rushes around the community to begin his day.

Doctor Seth Hazlitt (William Windom) meets Jessica outside the salon, to witness the lack of amiability between Audrey and Jonathon, Jessica commenting that being a night deputy must be a demanding job, and that Audrey must have an empty life herself, a notion which she later confirms by noticing a lack of photographs around the Martin kitchen.

Seth's office Nurse/Receptionist of twenty years, Beverly Hills (Dody Goodman), then walks by on her way into Loretta's, she and Seth exchanging a barb or two of their own, as she promises to return to work punctually.

Before Deputy Jonathan Martin exits his residence to relieve Sheriff Amos Tupper (Tom Bosley) at the station that evening, Audrey announces that she hasn't had time all day to prepare dinner, but the bottle of wine from which she sips will do fine, as Jonathan receives a telephone call from Eve Simpson, reporting that her cat has climbed a tree and will not return when she calls for her.

But when Amos, Seth and Jessica discover a body that night, Jonathan discovers himself the prime suspect, after Amos has been unable to reach his patrol car via radioing for some ninety minutes.

Amos hesitates to ask for the badge of his dependable deputy, but suggests this advisable while he and Jessica investigate the murder committed with Jonathan's off-duty pistol, they then turning their attention to the denizens of Loretta's Beauty Salon, some of whom are able to alibi one another, and some of whom are not.

But what Jessica discovers is that, according to Jonathan's log reports, Eve's cat has been climbing that tree every Tuesday evening at the same time for a very long period of time, and that Ideal hears a prowler outside every Monday evening, and that Phyllis encounters difficulties every Wednesday evening, and as for Beverly....

Well, before they catch Jonathan with Coreen in a skimpy outfit, and without her eyeglasses, let's just say that Seth is taken aghast when Amos informs him about his young deputy and several of the town's upstanding citizens, including Seth's Assistant, as Amos tells Seth, "If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly."

This episode marks the first of two "MSW" guest roles for Rick Lenz, the third of three for Ray Girardin, the first of three for Ruth Roman's Loretta, Kathryn Grayson's Ideal, Gloria DeHaven's Phyllis, and Sally Klein's Coreen, and the and the first of ten for Julie Adams's Eve Simpson, the most appearances by a "MSW" guest actress.

Ruth Roman, acting in film and on television since 1943, and Dody Goodman, acting since 1955, have unfortunately since passed.

The episode title parodies the 1969 United Artists road Comedy "If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium," which has been, in this year, 1987, followed by the made-for-television film "If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium." The original stars Suzanne Pleshette and Ian McShane, and several performers who go on to guest in various "MSW" episodes, including Mildred Natwick, Michael Constantine, Norman Fell, Murray Hamilton, Marty Ingels and Robert Vaughn.

I was getting collagen treatments

[desertmonk-805-867964 · 10/10 · 12 June 2018]

I remember watching this as a kid and thinking how scandalous it was. Amazing how that officer got around to every beauty parlor woman in town. Love to rewatch even though I know the killer. Also love to see the on location filming in Mendocino, and remember happy times picnicking across the street from Jessicas house and other Cabot Cove landmarks.

First One I Solved

[richard.fuller1 · 8/10 · 12 September 2008]

Well, who can really solve these things? Still, it was an intriguing mystery and set up.

Angela Lansbury would recruit a virtual plethora of her old buddies to appear in this episode, rather amusingly too. Among them, Julie Adams, Kathryn Grayson, Dodie Goodman, Gloria DeHaven, Antoinette Bower and Ruth Roman, perfectly working as the owner and operator of the hair salon.

I used to think Roman would have made an ideal Dr. Watson as Jessica Fletcher's personal hair stylist for when she made TV appearances to promote her books. Ah well.

Anyway, one of the ladies is murdered, and it is learned her husband has been having affairs with all the other women, all single by widowhood or other means (husband left her).

So did he kill his wife to get one of his mistresses permanently, or did one of the mistresses do it? As I watched this episode, it was by now evident to me and my slow-moving grey matter that a minor background character was going to be the killer, seen only twice before the revelation of the crime.

Upon watching it again, I now see we are given another secondary background character, no doubt as a distraction, but nothing came of that.

The revelation of the murder is actually quite good, extremely simplistic, but plausible, in a TV crime sort of way.

Had a simple conversation about lying about their ages not occurred with the women in the beauty salon, then Jessica would have had no way of solving this one.

Jessica, you've chosen to go for the poodle perm?

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 7 March 2021]

The Night Deputy has been a busy boy, out and about ticking off names in his little Cabot Cove black book, only one of his ladies ends up dead.

I loved this episode, Cabot Cove comes to life, and we see this case from The local beauty Parlour, which is full of characters, curlers and gossip.

It's a good enough mystery, but it's more the wonderful characters, and tone that makes this so good. You should perhaps be able to solve this one.

What a collection of talent on display here, the first time we meet this group of ladies, we'll see them again in the future. Just look at the careers they've all had, remarkable.

It's very good, 9/10.

Great mix of comedy and drama

[FlushingCaps · 10/10 · 6 February 2023]

We open in Cabot Cove's Beauty Parlor where several women are conversing while getting their hair done, including Jessica. The conversations were rather lively and if they don't really reflect what a typical beauty parlor, they certainly would seem accurate to the typical male.

We are introduced to a new night deputy moments later as Jessica and Amos observe Jonathan Martin on the street. Jonathan was played by Rick Lenz who made his debut on Green Acres, in four episodes as a young man who talks Oliver into opening a law office in Hooterville with him as his partner. I remember him better from the NBC Mystery Movie series Hec Ramsey, as police chief Oliver Stamp who works with Richard Boone as his prime detective. That was set about the turn of the 20th Century and Hec amazed the young chief by being knowledgeable about modern police techniques, not just the old-style Wyatt Earp sheriff Stamp thought he was.

His wife, Audrey was one of the women in getting her hair done. We move to a scene in her kitchen, where Jonathan comes in and we are moved to greatly dislike Audrey in just a few minutes. She's obviously been drinking, tells her husband she has no idea of what they should have for dinner, and complains about having to live in this little town where there's nothing to do. He is shown being as nice as can be-even offering to take her dancing the next night-his night off-but she seems to want nothing to do with her.

OK, thought I, it seems obvious who's going to be killed. Sure enough, Audrey is found dead, and of course Jonathan is the number one suspect. She was shot with his spare handgun, kept upstairs and his whereabouts at the time of the killing cannot be verified.

Jessica and Amos notice in the police call records that for several weeks in a row, Jonathan has responded to a phone call for help with a certain beauty-shot lady's cat climbing up a tree. Always on Tuesday night.

Before long, they learn he is having an affair with the lady. Then they learn that on other nights of the week, he keeps responding to calls from selected other customer's of Loretta's Beauty Shop. He seems to be having affairs with a different lady each night of the week.

That explains the title, which was spoken by Sheriff Tupper, "If it's Thursday, it must be Beverly" a clear takeoff on a late 1960s movie If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium" about travelers in Europe on a whirlwind tour that starred Suzanne Pleshette and a young Ian McShane, long before he was the star of the Lovejoy mysteries.

Our heroes marvel at the stamina of Jonathan, handling all of these women, night after night, and somehow keeping them from learning about the others. He explains how they all started innocently with him helping them in some way and being too kind to turn them down when they wanted something more. They were all lonely, single women-widows or divorcees, etc.

Every lead Jessica and Amos have gets shot down before Jessica figures out where they have gone wrong and solves the mystery. I reveal nothing here except to say it was a logical conclusion in which there were a few subtle clues for the viewers who were paying attention to the right details.

What was great about this episode is that, more so than perhaps any other in the series, its emphasis was on humor. We got Amos two times knocking on Mrs. Fletcher's back door just as she and her "chef" Seth were about to enjoy a gourmet dinner Seth prepared. Seth was also delightful in his office when his secretary was away, answering the phone grumpily, and telling the caller, "No, I can't take a message because I can't find any of those little pink slips of paper." The women of the beauty parlor were also quite amusing both in the beginning scene and later when they admitted their relationship with the young deputy.

As much as I enjoyed Murder, She Wrote when it first aired, I always liked Matlock and Diagnosis Murder more primarily because there was more humor, week to week. Jessica's adventures usually gave us one or two chuckles, but was mostly just a good drama.

I think the dramatic part was fine here-no glaring errors in logic-and the humor was quite funny, thus earning it a rare score of 10 from this fan.

A very funny comedic episode.

[planktonrules · 10/10 · 19 November 2022]

"If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly" is one of the best episodes of "Murder, She Wrote", as although it's yet another Cabot Cove episode, it's a funny one...and a nice change of pace.

This episode is unusual. While having various stars from old Hollywood in the show isn't unusual, this one features a huge number of old stars...old female stars. Think about it...Julie Adams, Ruth Roman, Gloria DeHaven, Kathryn Grayson and quite a few other starlets are on hand to provide LOTS of color.

When a local lady (Antoinette Bower) is found murdered, her husband, who happens to be the town Deputy, is jailed on suspicion. Surprisingly, during the course of the investigation, Jessica and Sheriff Tupper both discover that the Deputy had a double life. It seems that all sorts of older women, Jessica NOT included, were very close to the Deputy...VERY close! It seems he was quite the lover and this, at first, makes him look MORE guilty...as his wife is dead and he's now free to carry on his affairs and not have to conceal it any more. What's next? See the show and you'll find out.

Not only is the show NOT typical, it also doesn't feature the usual confession without any sort of solid evidence you so often see in other episodes. Very funny...and very different...I think this one is a must-see.

Comedy-mystery

[coltras35 · 7/10 · 26 May 2022]

The night deputy, who has been paying attention to various Cabot Cove ladies, needs Jessica's help when he becomes the prime suspect in his wife's murder. Comedy is emphasised in this fun episode that has plenty of gossip in the hairdressers and features a lothario deputy that has probably dated every woman in Cabot Cove. Check out Sheriff Amos' expression when he learns about his ability to charm the ladies. The deputy even tries to make his move on Jessica.