Elsbeth stands out because it is one of the only lighthearted mysteries on television, but it never used to be that way.
These types of mysteries were extremely popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis: Murder, and Matlock were all top-rated shows, and that trend continued into the early 2000s when Monk and Psych captivated viewers.
Modern television is more likely to feature realistic, gritty police procedurals than lighthearted mysteries, but Elsbeth’s success suggests the tide could be turning back again.
CSI Changed The Television Landscape
Its Surprising Popularity Pushed Lighthearted Mysteries Out Of The Way
Although more lightheaded mysteries are far from dead as a genre, they virtually disappeared from the airwaves after CSI premiered.
It doesn’t seem like it now because we are drowning in police procedurals, but CSI was revolutionary in its early days.
CSI was the first series to depict police relying on scientific evidence to solve the case of the week. It offered interesting cases, and cops that used forensic tools to solve them, and the public went wild for it.
It’s understandable that people loved these shows. At the time, television was as oversaturated with lighthearted mysteries as it is with police procedurals today.
The sea change didn’t happen overnight. For a while, lighthearted mysteries co-existed with grittier shows like Homicide: Life On The Street and Law & Order.
Some shows, such as Bones, even tried to combine the more lighthearted format with serious procedural elements. Unfortunately, by the late 2010s, the TV landscape had changed entirely because winning formulas began being repeated over and over.
Franchises such as Law & Order and One Chicago were in, and that meant huge blocks of similar programming, squeezing out both lighthearted mysteries and family dramas.
Lighthearted Mysteries May Be Making a Comeback Thanks to Elsbeth
The Good Wife Spinoff May Be The First Of Many To Turn The Tide Back
Elsbeth is the first truly lighthearted mystery on television in a while, and it’s surprisingly refreshing.
The series is a spinoff of The Good Wife but has little in common with its parent show.
The Good Wife was mostly focused on the political side of the legal profession.
The title character stayed in a marriage of convenience with a powerful husband who cheated on her, and the huge law firm she worked for was full of political strife and ethically questionable behavior.
Elsbeth was a goofy, occasionally seen attorney who won cases by being quirky and annoying, yet her skill set comes in handy on her own show.
Elsbeth’s winning formula is based on a classic lighthearted mystery; in some ways, it is a reboot of Columbo.
Both shows share the premise that the audience sees the murder at the beginning of the hour and is fully aware of who did it before the detective is.
The fun of these shows comes from watching the title character trying to solve the mystery and guessing how they will catch the bad guys.
In Elsbeth’s case, the first season also relied on the tired TV trope of the cops thinking Elsbeth was wrong while they barked up the wrong tree.
That was understandable at first, but after the third or fourth time that Elsbeth bested Captain Wagner, it was time to admit she knew what she was talking about.
Still, Elsbeth deserves credit for making detective TV lighthearted and fun again.
Elsbeth Isn’t The Only Lighthearted Mystery Out There
It’s Taken Off In Unexpected Ways But Is Neither The First Nor The Last To Follow This Trend
It’s not surprising that Elsbeth has become extremely popular.
The Hallmark Channel has had several series of lighthearted mystery movies that consistently get high ratings, including the Hannah Swensen movies starring Alison Sweeney.
Peacock also had a Monk reunion movie in 2023, demonstrating that there was still a substantial appetite for these types of lighthearted mysteries.
Elsbeth works because it has a lot in common with shows such as Monk or Murder, She Wrote.
Every week, a new case is brought up that is solved by the end of the hour. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, and its heroine is a non-police detective whose quirkiness is her superpower.
Even though it’s an older concept, it feels fresh and original because broadcast TV hasn’t had shows like this in years.
There are a few shows that toe the line between serious procedural and lighthearted mystery, such as The Irrational, but it’s far more common to find a Law & Order or Chicago PD rerun than a lighthearted mystery on TV nowadays.
Elsbeth might be changing that.
How Elsbeth Could Start a Trend
Its Popularity Could Spark Interest In Other Lighthearted Mysteries
Elsbeth’s popularity could lead to other lighthearted mysteries being given the green light. Producers might look toward other older shows to reboot for a modern audience.
It already did this to an extent with Castle, who was a writer turned sleuth like Jessica Fletcher, but there are many other shows that could be modernized.
Diagnosis: Murder set in a modern hospital might be a formidable series, and CBS already has one reboot set for the fall.
Matlock, which was approved prior to Elsbeth beginning, is only hitting TV screens now because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes.
It remains to be seen whether this new version of Matlock is as lighthearted as the original (which itself was somewhat of a reboot of Perry Mason). The trailer looks far more serious than the original Matlock ever took itself.
Still, there’s hope for more lighthearted fare on the way, and that might be the perfect antidote to the overabundance of police procedurals on the air.
Over to you, lighthearted mystery lovers.
Do you think Elsbeth will set a new trend? What lighthearted mystery of the past would you like a modern version of?
Hit the comments and let us know!