Death by Demographics

"Death by Demographics"

"Death by Demographics" is the twenty fourth and last episode in season 12 of Murder, She Wrote. It is also the last episode in the series, first airing May 19 1996 on CBS. Jessica’s farewell appears as a voiced-over letter at the very end of this episode. "Death by Demographics" ranked 16th in the ratings and was most watched CBS program for that week.

Synopsis

A San Francisco radio-station owner decides to convert the station's classical format to rock and roll. He keeps one announcer who's an expert on classical music, and casts him in a dog-and-pony show where the old guy verbally spars with a young colleague who is an expert on rock ... all this to get a younger audience for the station. The experiment seems to be working fine with audiences, but tensions rise at the station and soon the owner is disemboweled by a stab wound by his own fireplace poker. With the classical-music person, also her good friend, as the obvious suspect, Jessica Fletcher must try to find another motive and another suspect for the murder.

Cast

• Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher
• Diana Canova as Annie Lawson
• Paul Linke as Eddie Mapes
• David Ogden Stiers as Howard Deems
• Kenneth Tigar as Dave Pittman
• Christian Bocher as T.T. Baines
• Robin Riker as Coleen Sellers
• Robert Curtis Brown as Bud Forbes
• James Acheson as Russ Connell
• Seth Jaffe as Lt. Everett

Trivia

• This episode was followed by four Murder, She Wrote TV movies – South by Southwest, A Story to Die For, The Last Free Man and The Celtic Riddle.