Editing Murder, She Wrote (section)

===Move from Sundays in 1995===
''Murder, She Wrote'' was renewed for a twelfth season after finishing the [[1994-95 United States network television schedule|1994-95 season]] as the eighth-most watched program on television, tied with [[NBC]]'s new sitcom ''[[Friends (TV series)|Friends]]'' for the spot. Despite the continued popularity of the program, Lansbury was considering retirement again after the upcoming season as she would be nearing seventy years of age at its conclusion. The decision, ultimately, would not be left up to her as CBS would make a decision regarding the series that would prove problematic for the network on two separate nights of programming.

''Murder, She Wrote'' was, at the time, the most popular scripted series on CBS; in fact, it had been one of only two series on the network to garner a rating in the top ten (''[[60 Minutes]]'' was the other). Meanwhile, over at NBC, their Thursday night [[Must See TV]] lineup had been a ratings powerhouse for years and CBS decided to use ''Murder, She Wrote'' in an effort to cut into their viewership. So, after eleven years on Sunday night, the series moved to Thursday for the 1995–1996 season. It would keep the same time slot (8:00&nbsp;p.m.) on its new night, leading off a lineup that included the new drama ''[[New York News]]'' and the long-running news magazine ''[[48 Hours (TV program)|48 Hours]]''.

The move was met with protests from fans, and the entire Thursday night lineup for CBS proved to be no match for NBC's lineup. Going up against ''Friends'' and a pair of freshman comedies in its time slot, ''Murder, She Wrote'' saw its ratings drop significantly on Thursday; in fact, the series dropped below a 10.0 rating when the final season ratings were tabulated. (Its follow-up, ''New York News'', continued the downward trend and did even lower ratings, with CBS cancelling the new drama before December 1995.)

Meanwhile, in the Sunday time slot that ''Murder, She Wrote'' was vacating, CBS elected to try a situation comedy block. Leading off the 8 o'clock hour, CBS went with ''[[Cybill]]'', which starred [[Cybill Shepherd]] and had finished its abbreviated first season just outside the top 20 in the Nielsen ratings. The second half of the hour featured the new series ''[[Almost Perfect]]'', which starred [[Nancy Travis]] as a television producer. Neither series performed well; ''Cybill'', which had relocated from Monday night, saw its ratings drop to the point where it nearly fell out of the top 50. ''Almost Perfect'' found itself relocated to Monday night in the hopes of improving its ratings; its replacement, a retooled ''[[Bonnie (TV series)|Bonnie]]'', lasted five episodes on Sunday before it was cancelled.

Ultimately, ''Murder, She Wrote'' finished in 58th place in the final ratings and CBS opted not to renew the series for a thirteenth season. The network did, however, eventually reverse itself on the scheduling. Two episodes were scheduled for Sunday nights as 1996 began, with the first airing on January 7 and the second on February 25. Both of these episodes pulled in significantly higher ratings than the show had been garnering on Thursday, approaching nearly twenty million viewers for each of the two airings. CBS elected to return ''Murder, She Wrote'' to Sundays for the last four episodes of the series, which began on April 28. Three of the four episodes drew over sixteen million viewers and the finale, which aired on May 19, 1996, finished in the top 20 of that week's ratings.