Women's Murder Club (TV Series)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Women's Murder Club'' is an American
police procedural The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...
and
legal drama Legal drama, also called courtroom drama, is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in wh ...
that aired on ABC from October 12, 2007, to May 13, 2008. The series is set in
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, and is based on the series of novels by the same name written by
James Patterson James Brendan Patterson (born March 22, 1947) is an American author. Among his works are the '' Alex Cross'', '' Michael Bennett'', '' Women's Murder Club'', '' Maximum Ride'', '' Daniel X'', '' NYPD Red'', '' Witch & Wizard'', '' Private'' and ...
. Series creators Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain also served as
executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...
s alongside Patterson, Joe Simpson,
Brett Ratner Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the Rush Hour (film series), ''Rush Hour'' film series, ''The Family Man'', ''Red Dragon (2002 film), Red Dragon'', ''X-Men: The Last Stand'', ''Tower Heist ...
, and R. Scott Gemmill. The latter also served as
showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...
, with Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts co-executive producing. The
pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
was directed by Scott Winant. Produced by
20th Century Fox Television 20th Television, Inc. (formerly known as TCF Television Productions, Inc., 20th Century-Fox Television and 20th Century Fox Television) is the television studio arm of 20th Century Studios, owned by Disney Television Studios, a division of the Di ...
, the series first aired on Friday nights at 9:00PM Eastern/8:00PM Central. On October 31, 2007, ABC ordered an additional three scripts. On March 31, 2008, it was announced that ''Women's Murder Club'' would return with three new episodes, beginning on Tuesday April 29, 2008, at 10:00PM Eastern/9:00PM Central, replacing ''
Boston Legal ''Boston Legal'' is an American legal comedy drama television series created by former lawyer and Boston native David E. Kelley, produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. The series aired from October 3, 2004, to Decem ...
''. On May 12, 2008, ABC confirmed that the series would not return for a second season.


Plot

Based on the best-selling series of books by
James Patterson James Brendan Patterson (born March 22, 1947) is an American author. Among his works are the '' Alex Cross'', '' Michael Bennett'', '' Women's Murder Club'', '' Maximum Ride'', '' Daniel X'', '' NYPD Red'', '' Witch & Wizard'', '' Private'' and ...
and Maxine Paetro, the series revolves around the lives of four women in San Francisco – a homicide
detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...
, an
assistant district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represe ...
, a
medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...
, and a
newspaper reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
– who come together to use their expertise and talents in their respective fields to solve murder cases. Though they lead distinctly different lives, they are bound together by a strong bond of friendship, which leads the women to realize that pooling their resources during investigations leads to undiscovered clues and answers in both work and their personal lives.


Cast and characters


Main cast

*
Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...
Lindsay Boxer Lindsay Boxer is the main character of the novel series '' Women's Murder Club'' written by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. The series is based on fictional characters and police cases in San Francisco. Character overview When the series begi ...
(
Angie Harmon Angela Michelle Harmon (born August 10, 1972) is an American actress and model. She won ''Seventeens modeling contest in 1987 at age 15, signed with IMG Models, and appeared on covers for magazines such as ''Cosmopolitan'' and ''Esquire''. ...
) – Lindsay is the principal character of the series. She is a transplant from her native Texas, as noted by Jacobi in "Play Through the Pain." She has a lingering obsession over the "Kiss-Me-Not" killer, whose case she worked for five years; that obsession led to the breakup of her marriage to Tom Hogan. At the end of the first episode, the "Kiss-Me-Not" killer returns, and though the FBI is now in charge of the case, Lindsay has a hard time letting go. In "FBI Guy", she reveals that her attic is full of information on Kiss-Me-Not's victims and that she considers the destruction of her personal life an acceptable exchange for capturing him. She had a miscarriage while she was married to Tom Hogan ("Maybe, Baby"). After having a
one-night stand A one-night stand is a single sexual encounter in which there is no expectation that there shall be any further relations between the sexual participants. It draws its name from the common practice of a one-night stand, a single night performanc ...
with Tom prior to his wedding to Heather, she has a pregnancy scare, though it turns out she is actually anemic. She owns a dog, Martha, who she adopted after her original owner was murdered. * Deputy District Attorney Jill Bernhardt (
Laura Harris Laura Elizabeth Harris (born November 20, 1976"Close-up: Laura Harris" by Jay Bobbin, ''Chicago Tribune'' (16 Dec, 2007) Retrieved from ) is a Canadian actress who has appeared in a variety of roles in movies and on television. She may be best ...
) – Jill is a successful deputy district attorney, who works at City Hall. Her father died when she was eight and she ended up in the foster system some time after her mother remarried ("Blind Dates and Bleeding Hearts"). She has a weak stomach when it comes to gore and vomits often enough at bloody crime scenes that Inspector Boxer usually leaves a barf bag for her. She has a fear of commitment, presumably due to her dislike of her stepfather and her constant shuffling in the foster system. * Dr. Claire Washburn ( Paula Newsome) – Claire is a medical examiner for the San Francisco Police Department. She is happily married, but there is some strain due to her husband's recent injury, which has left him needing a
wheelchair A wheelchair is a mobilized form of chair using two or more wheels, a footrest, and an armrest usually cushioned. It is used when walking is difficult or impossible to do due to illnesses, injury, disabilities, or age-related health conditio ...
. She has two sons. *Cindy Thomas ( Aubrey Dollar) – Cindy is the youngest member of the Women's Murder Club. She works as a crime reporter for the fictional ''San Francisco Register'', though she previously worked the metro section. Her father, whom she idolized, died eighteen months before the events of "Play Through the Pain." She has an
eidetic memory Eidetic memory ( ), also known as photographic memory and total recall, is the ability to recall an image from memory with high precision—at least for a brief period of time—after seeing it only onceThe terms ''eidetic memory'' and ''photogr ...
. A running joke through the series is whenever she says or does something that hints at her age, someone, usually Jill Bernhardt, asks if she was 12. *Inspector Warren Jacobi ( Tyrees Allen) – Lindsay's loyal partner. He was up for the lieutenant position that went to Tom, but has not expressed much disappointment that he didn't get the job, seeming to prefer field work to the politics of the higher position. He also seems to prefer the finer things in life, having an affinity for wine, 30-year-old whiskey, and opera. He is thrice-divorced and has a child from one of those marriages. *
Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
Tom Hogan ( Rob Estes) – Lindsay's ex-husband, who in the first episode was promoted to lieutenant and assigned as her boss. He is engaged in the pilot and has remarried by "To Drag and to Hold," but he still worries that Lindsay's obsession with her work will consume her. Tom was played by Christopher Wiehl in the unaired pilot. * Deputy District Attorney Denise Kwon (
Linda Park Linda Park (born July 9, 1978) is a South Korean-born American actress. She is best known for playing communications officer Hoshi Sato in the science-fiction series ''Star Trek: Enterprise.'' Early life Park was born in South Korea and raised ...
) - Jill's immediate superior at the DA's office, she clashes with her over her "bleeding heart" style. She is also antagonistic towards Jill due to her past romantic history with Hanson North. When the show returned after the writers' strike, the first episode credits no longer showed her name. But by the second episode, she was back in the credits as a series regular.


Recurring cast

*Luke Bowen (Coby Ryan McLaughlin) – Jill's ex-boyfriend. He is an ER doctor at the fictional Mission Cross North. Jill and Luke have recently broken up after he finds that she had slept with Hanson. *Hanson North ( Kyle Secor) – Defense attorney who has a romantic history with Jill and is currently seeing her boss, Denise Kwon. *Ed Washburn ( Jonathan Adams) – Claire's husband. Currently uses a wheelchair full-time after being shot while serving as a police officer. *Heather Hogan née Donnelly (
Ever Carradine Ever Carradine (born August 6, 1974) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Tiffany Porter and Kelly Ludlow on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television series ''Once and Again'' and ''Commander in Chief (TV series), Com ...
) – Tom's new wife. She is a kindergarten teacher who is eco-friendly, planning a green wedding. *Pete Raynor ( Joel Gretsch) – Lindsay's love interest in season 1, who is in town for only two weeks.


Episodes

The complete series was released on manufactured-on-demand
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
on 29 September 2014.


Reception

After reviewing the pilot and skipping the second advance episode, Tim Goodman, ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' TV critic, published a highly critical review assigning the paper's lowest possible rating. ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' TV critic Alessandra Stanley described many nuanced aspects of the show and concluded with, "''Women's Murder Club'' is all right, but not good enough." Robert Bianco, ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
'' critic, wrote a positive review titled "'Murder Club': A simple pleasure worth living for" and ending with, "Still, the actors are enjoyable, and their series in large part does what it sets out to do. It isn't nearly as good as '' Friday Night Lights'', of course - few shows are. But unlike so many fall clunkers, it's competent. This season, that's a rather select club." Mary McNamara, ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' critic, wrote a positive review titled "'Murder Club' is worth joining".


U.S. Nielsen ratings

Season 1: #57, 8.964m


Weekly ratings


International broadcasting

The series airs on and E! in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
,
Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...
in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and TV3 in
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
. Reruns of the show currently air on Mystery TV in Canada. In Portugal, the series also airs on
Fox Life Fox Life, now rebranded as Star Life and FX Life, was an international pay television network, launched by the Fox Networks Group in 2004. The network has been discontinued in several markets over time. The network's scheduling has varied wi ...
(first-run) and TVI, but the latter airs the series at prohibitive time slots (around 1 a.m.), causing major criticism. The series is also airs on America Plus which is a part of Orbit Network. In
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
, the show aired on June 30, 2008, on RTL Klub. As of September 5, 2008, WMC also started airing on the Belgian TV channel vtm. The channel officially announced that the show would "strengthen" their Friday Night programming on August 31. In Latin America, the series is airing on the Fox channel. In The Netherlands, the show airs on Net 5. In the Philippines, the series is airing on C/S 9. The Spanish Fox network also started airing in the beginning of September 2008 under the Spanish name "El Club Contra el Crimen". The show also airs in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
on MNET Series. It premiered on September 11, 2008. In Russia, the show aired on December 17, 2008, on TV-3. It has also been aired internationally to the U.S. Military on the
American Forces Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...
(AFN) in 2008. In Slovakia, the show began airing on January 7, 2009, on TV JOJ. In France, the first four episodes were aired on March 7, 2009, on M6. In Singapore, the show aired on November 11, 2009, on MediaCorp Channel 5. In Italy, the show is airing on
La5 La5 is an Italian entertainment television channel, launched on 12 May 2010, operated by the media company Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is broadcast in Italy on DTT channel 30 on mux ''Mediaset 4 ''and digital satellite telev ...
, but before on Canale 5 in July 2010. In Germany, the show airs on VOX.


Novels

The following
James Patterson James Brendan Patterson (born March 22, 1947) is an American author. Among his works are the '' Alex Cross'', '' Michael Bennett'', '' Women's Murder Club'', '' Maximum Ride'', '' Daniel X'', '' NYPD Red'', '' Witch & Wizard'', '' Private'' and ...
Women's Murder Club novels have been released: * '' 1st to Die'' * '' 2nd Chance'' * '' 3rd Degree'' * ''
4th of July Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...
'' * '' 5th Horseman'' * '' 6th Target'' * '' 7th Heaven'' * '' 8th Confession'' * '' 9th Judgement'' * ''10th Anniversary'' * '' 11th Hour'' * ''12th of Never'' * ''Unlucky 13'' * ''14th Deadly Sin'' * ''15th Affair'' * ''16th Seduction'' * 17th Suspect * 18th Abduction * 19th Christmas * 20th Victim * 21st Birthday * 22 Seconds • 23rd Midnight • 24th Hour


Video games

The show generated a series of spin-off games on the PC, Mac and Nintendo DS. For the PC and Mac, four hidden objects games were released: ''Death in Scarlet'' (2008), ''Darker Shade of Grey'' (2009), ''Twice in a Blue Moon'' (2009) and ''Little Black Lies'' (2010). '' Women's Murder Club: Games of Passion'' was released in 2009.


References


External links

* * * {{cite news , url = https://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2007-05-14-ABC-lineup_N.htm , title = It's a repeat: ABC to add 11 series next season , work =
USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
, date = 2007-05-15 , first=Gary , last=Levin 2000s American crime drama television series 2007 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings 2000s American legal drama television series 2000s American mystery television series American English-language television shows Fictional portrayals of the San Francisco Police Department Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television shows set in San Francisco American detective television series Television series about prosecutors American Broadcasting Company crime dramas