NBC to revive classic drama ‘Murder, She Wrote’ with Octavia Spencer

Quick, break out the typewriter. NBC is set to resurrect ‘80s crime procedural “Murder, She Wrote.�

The reboot will feature Oscar winner Octavia Spencer in the starring role of everyone’s favorite author/super-sleuth made iconic by Angela Lansbury, the network confirmed the news first reported by Deadline. In the contemporary version, Spencer is a hospital administrator and amateur detective who self-publishes (naturally!) her first mystery novel.

Though it was a CBS staple for 12 seasons, the peacock network is resuscitating the onetime Universal TV series and giving it a put pilot commitment, which means NBC will have to pay a penalty if the pilot does not air.

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Let’s just hope the re-imagining has better luck than the network’s most recent revival, “Ironside.� The cop drama, which featured Blair Underwood in the Raymond Burr role, was canceled after four episodes. And we all remember the fiasco with “The Munsters� reboot “Mockingbird Lane.� We’ll stop there.

David Janollari (“Six Feet Under�) and Alexandra Cunningham (“Desperate Housewives�) will serve as executive producers of the “Murder, She Wrote� reboot, which NBC describes as a “light, contemporary procedural, in the vein of ‘Bones’ or ‘Fargo.’ �

OK, cool. But on to more important matters: Can we keep the retro theme song?

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