Do you ever catch yourself doing the same thing over and over again and realize that this thing is a weird ass thing you are doing?  I mean, out of character?  I noticed just such a thing last weekend.  Whenever I am left alone with no preplanned entertainment programming I do what most American couch potatoes do and surf the cable guide for something to watch.  I found that I cannot pass a program on extreme RVs without stopping.  Unlike other shows, even the beloved bath/kitchen/yard/room crashers, Golden Girls and NCIS, there is never anything that encourages me to change the channel away from an extreme RV special.  There is even a good chance that I will pick an extreme RV show over another TV favorite.

I never want an RV.  I cannot picture any lifestyle change that might happen to me to change my mind about wanting an RV.  I find most RV designs on these shows overly extravagant and wrought with wasted space.  Can I pass the shows up?  No.

All right, after my first ruminations on Murder She Wrote,  Brad challenged me to pick my top 5 episodes.  It was hard, and maybe not completely accurate because I’ve only finished 7.5 of 12 seasons, but here we go!

1. “If It’s Thursday, It Must Be Beverly:”  wherein the Sheriff’s deputy services a different Cabot Cove female everyday of the week, and records it in the log book.
2. “Sticks & Stones:”  including the talents of John Astin (as in Gomez Addams) as the new town Sheriff, and a bunch of gossipy letters.
3. “Who Killed J.B. Fletcher:”  wherein a bunch of looney Fletcher Fan’s goad and gaggle Jessica through solving a case.
4. “The Sins of Castle Cove:” which is also awesome because it exposes the Cabot Cove residents as oversexed and underhanded yet somehow adorable persons.  (see “If It’s Thursday….”)
5. “Mr. Penroy’s Vacation:” which I liked immediately because of the plot and character references to Arsenic and Old Lace.

Another episode I liked for it’s familiar plot line was “Jessica Behind Bars” in which she has to solve a murder in a locked-down women’s prison before riot and police enforcement collided.  Though it didn’t so much harken back to something else I’d seen so much as establish that Jessica did it first.

Also a runner up was “Trouble in Eden” because of the shock and hilarity of sending Jessica as the hereditary replacement of the madame of a brothel.   See, if I have runners up, I still only picked a top five!

A couple worst of the worst:

1. “Sing a Song of Murder:”  because no, no Jessica!  a red headed identical twin Irish cousin!?!
2. “No Laughing Matter:”  aptly named.  Oh, Buddy Hackett…why?