Editing Murder, She Wrote (section)

==US television ratings==
''Murder, She Wrote'' maintained extremely high ratings, finishing in the top 15 of shows for eleven of its 12 seasons (eight of which it was in the top 10), even well into its late seasons. By its 11th season, ''Murder, She Wrote'' was still averaging 25 million viewers per week. At its very peak, the show even hit above 40 million US viewers. However, at the beginning of its 12th season in 1995, CBS moved the show from its extremely popular Sunday night time slot to Thursday night forcing it to compete with NBC's Must See TV line up, and as a result the ratings plummeted, during Season 11 and 12 CBS lost affiliates during the [[1994–1996 United States broadcast television realignment|television realignment]], meaning major markets could not find the network. The show rated as the following:

{| style="text-align:center;" class="wikitable"
|-
|+Television ratings
|-
!scope= "col" colspan="2" | Season
!scope= "col" | Episodes
!scope= "col" | Time slot (ET)
!scope= "col" | Season premiere
!scope= "col" | Season finale
!scope= "col" | Rank
!scope= "col" | Rating
|-
!scope= "row" | 1
| [[1984–85 United States network television schedule|1984–85]]
| 22
| Sunday at 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1, 3–22)</small><br/>Sunday at 9:00 pm <small>(Episode 2)</small>
| September 30, 1984
| April 21, 1985
| style="text-align:center" | #8<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1984.htm |title=TV Ratings: 1984–85 |publisher=Classictvhits.com |access-date=May 14, 2012 |archive-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815052553/http://classictvhits.com/tvratings/1984.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" | 20.1
|-
!scope= "row" | 2
| [[1985–86 United States network television schedule|1985–86]]
| 22
| rowspan="10"|Sunday at 8:00 pm
| September 29, 1985
| May 18, 1986
| style="text-align:center" | #3<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1985.htm |title=TV Ratings: 1985–86 |publisher=Classictvhits.com |access-date=May 14, 2012 |archive-date=August 2, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130802200649/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1985.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" | 25.3
|-
!scope= "row" | 3
| [[1986–87 United States network television schedule|1986–87]]
| 22
| September 28, 1986
| May 10, 1987
| style="text-align:center" | #4<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1986.htm |title=TV Ratings: 1986–87 |publisher=Classictvhits.com |access-date=May 14, 2012 |archive-date=February 6, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206054018/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1986.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" | 25.4
|-
!scope= "row" | 4
| [[1987–88 United States network television schedule|1987–88]]
| 22
| September 20, 1987
| May 8, 1988
| style="text-align:center" | #9<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1987.htm|title=TV Ratings: 1987–88|publisher=Classictvhits.com|date=July 26, 2002|access-date=May 14, 2012|archive-date=March 7, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040307143742/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1987.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" |20.2
|-
!scope= "row" | 5
| [[1988–89 United States network television schedule|1988–89]]
| 22
| October 23, 1988
| May 21, 1989
| style="text-align:center" | #8<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1988.htm |title=TV Ratings: 1988–89 |publisher=Classictvhits.com |access-date=May 14, 2012 |archive-date=December 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151215140945/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1988.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" |19.9
|-
!scope= "row" | 6
| [[1989–90 United States network television schedule|1989–90]]
| 22
| September 24, 1989
| May 20, 1990
| style="text-align:center" | #13<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1989.htm |title=TV Ratings: 1989–90 |publisher=Classictvhits.com |access-date=May 14, 2012 |archive-date=December 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209043417/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1989.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" |17.7
|-
!scope= "row" | 7
| [[1990–91 United States network television schedule|1990–91]]
| 22
| September 16, 1990
| May 12, 1991
| style="text-align:center" | #12<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1990.htm|title=TV Ratings: 1990–91|publisher=Classictvhits.com|access-date=May 14, 2012|archive-date=September 6, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120906044108/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1990.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" |16.4
|-
!scope= "row" | 8
| [[1991–92 United States network television schedule|1991–92]]
| 22
| September 15, 1991
| May 17, 1992
| style="text-align:center" | #8<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1991.htm|title=TV Ratings: 1991–92|publisher=Classictvhits.com|access-date=May 14, 2012|archive-date=November 19, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119034124/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1991.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" |16.9
|-
!scope= "row" | 9
| [[1992–93 United States network television schedule|1992–93]]
| 22
| September 20, 1992
| May 16, 1993
| style="text-align:center" | #5<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1992.htm|title=TV Ratings: 1992–93|publisher=Classictvhits.com|access-date=May 14, 2012|archive-date=January 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100115170154/http://classictvhits.com/tvratings/1992.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" |17.7
|-
!scope= "row" | 10
| [[1993–94 United States network television schedule|1993–94]]
| 21
| September 12, 1993
| May 22, 1994
| style="text-align:center" | #11<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1993.htm|title=TV Ratings: 1989–90|publisher=Classictvhits.com|access-date=May 14, 2012|archive-date=January 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106211654/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1993.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" |16.0
|-
!scope= "row" | 11
| [[1994–95 United States network television schedule|1994–95]]
| 21
| September 25, 1994
| May 14, 1995
| style="text-align:center" | #8<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1994.htm|title=TV Ratings: 1994–95|publisher=Classictvhits.com|access-date=May 14, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026022514/http://www.classictvhits.com/tvratings/1994.htm|archive-date=October 26, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" |15.6
|-
!scope= "row" | 12
| [[1995–96 United States network television schedule|1995–96]]
| 24
| Thursday at 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 1–12, 14–17, 19–20)</small><br/>Sunday at 8:00 pm <small>(Episodes 13, 18, 21–24)</small>
| September 21, 1995
| May 19, 1996
| style="text-align:center" | #58<ref>{{cite web|url=http://fbibler.chez.com/tvstats/recent_data/1995-96.html|title=Complete TV Ratings 1995-1996|access-date=April 5, 2012|archive-date=November 7, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107015936/http://fbibler.chez.com/tvstats/recent_data/1995-96.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center" | 9.50
|}