A TVXOHOF CENTENNIAL REMEMBERING JESSICA FLETCHER

 

I'm just taking this opportunity to remember one of the earliest members of the Television Crossover Hall of Fame....

JESSICA FLETCHER

I'm writing this and posting it on October 16, 2025.  Today would have been the 100th birthday of Angela Lansbury, the actress who played that amateur sleuth.

While her birth year was never mentioned in the show, it was established that she was a Pisces and it's possible her birthday was March 15.  As I usually do with TV characters, unless it's revealed to be otherwise, I think they were born the same year as the actor who played the role.

Jessica Fletcher was inducted in May of 2001, the third year of the TVXOHOF, and as the first official May Queen.  It was quite a year for inducting the Legends of Toobworld!  Others in her class were:

• Dr. Bob Hartley
• Sammy Davis, Jr.
• Archie Bunker
• (Willie) Gilligan
• Rowlf
• Suzie MacNamara
• Ernie Kovacs
• Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless
• Bart Maverick
• Norman Lear
• H.G. Wells
• Exigius 121/2
• Orson Welles
• Leonardo Da Vinci
• Walter Cronkite
• Mayor Rudy Giuliani
• The Twin Towers
• Walt Disney
• Bilbo Baggins

This was the first year in which I fully exercised my discretions in choice for the Birthday Honors List with Suzie McNamara (First crossover I'm aware of), Ernie Kovacs (the Wizard of early TV), Dr. Miguelito Loveless (My favorite TV character and the first example of Crossover Conflation on my part).

This was also the year I introduced the addition of Multiversals and Multidimensionals to the Hall for the Christmas Honors List. In this case: Bilbo Baggins represented by his Tooniverse and Skitlandia/Cineverse incarnations.

(As you can see, my focus in 2001 was on "The Lord of The Rings", "War of The Worlds" - and a certain Martian - and the overriding, tragic news story of the year....)

I am curious to not only see this movie "continuation" of 'Murder, She Wrote' (currently in production) and how it works for the Television Universe, but also for the reactions of others.

Thanks for providing a welcome diversion to end the weekends, Ms. Lansbury....