"Hooray for Homicide" is a funny episode of "Murder, She Wrote". It begins with Jessica learning that one of her books is being made into a movie. But her joy is short-lived as she soon learns that the film is being produced by a creep who makes schlock movies (John Saxon). The script is so different from the book that she can't recognize any of it...and so she goes to Hollywood to voice her concern that her book is being bastardized. But soon she learns that the studio is well within its rights...and she had signed away her rights*. So, when the producer is found dead and Jessica is nearby, it's assumed she killed him due to the monstrosity they were making!
This is a cute story...with an ample dose of humor and a few nice twists. Sadly, however, Jessica DIDN'T kill him...though that isn't exactly a spoiler, as they went on to make 12 seasons of "Murder, She Wrote"...and this was only the third episode (not counting the two-part pilot).
*It actually is true that when most books are sold to Hollywood the writers retain no rights. They often even lose rights to the characters...meaning they cannot sell other books to any studio if they have any of the same characters in the original story! And, like many of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, sometimes the only thing the studio retained was the title!
This is a cute story...with an ample dose of humor and a few nice twists. Sadly, however, Jessica DIDN'T kill him...though that isn't exactly a spoiler, as they went on to make 12 seasons of "Murder, She Wrote"...and this was only the third episode (not counting the two-part pilot).
*It actually is true that when most books are sold to Hollywood the writers retain no rights. They often even lose rights to the characters...meaning they cannot sell other books to any studio if they have any of the same characters in the original story! And, like many of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, sometimes the only thing the studio retained was the title!