“Elsbeth” stands out because it’s one of the only light-hearted suspense dramas on television, but it’s never been that way before.
This type of suspense novel was very popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis and Matlock were among the top-rated shows, a trend that continued into the early 2000s, when Monk and Paranormal Activity captivated audiences .
Modern television is more likely to feature realistic, brutal police procedurals than light-hearted suspense stories, but Elsbeth’s success suggests that trend may be reversing again.
CSI changed the television landscape
Its unexpected popularity makes light-hearted mysteries no longer a problem
While more head-turning suspense dramas are far from dead as a genre, they effectively disappeared from the airwaves after CSI premiered.
That may not seem to be the case now, as we’re inundated with police procedurals, but CSI was revolutionary in its early days.
CSI is the first series to depict police relying on scientific evidence to solve the case of the week. It provides interesting cases and the forensic tools police use to solve them, and the public is fascinated by them.
It’s understandable that people enjoy these shows. At the time, television was awash with light-hearted suspense stories, much like today’s police procedurals.
Big changes don’t happen overnight. For a while, light-hearted suspense dramas existed side by side with more serious shows like Homicide and Law & Order.
Some shows, like Bones , even try to combine a light-hearted format with serious procedural elements. Unfortunately, by the late 2010s, the television landscape had completely changed as the winning formula began to be repeated over and over again.
Series like “Law & Order” and “Chicago” are already in theaters, which means a slew of similar shows, crowding out lighter mysteries and family dramas.
Thanks to Elsbeth, light-hearted suspense novels may be making a comeback
‘The Good Wife’ spinoff could be the first of many to turn things around
Elsbeth is the first truly light-hearted suspense drama on TV in a while, and it’s surprisingly refreshing.
The show is a spin-off of The Good Wife but has little in common with its parent show.
The Good Wife focuses primarily on the political side of the legal profession.
The protagonist remains in a marriage of convenience to a powerful husband who is unfaithful to her, while the sprawling law firm where she works is rife with political conflict and morally questionable behavior.
Elsbeth is a goofy, occasionally seen lawyer who wins cases by being weird and annoying, but her skills come in handy on her own show.
Elsbeth’s winning formula is based on a classic light-hearted suspense story; in some ways, it’s a reboot of Columbo.
Both shows share a common premise: the audience sees a murder at the beginning and knows exactly who committed it before the detective shows up.
The fun of these shows is watching the protagonists try to solve mysteries and guess how they’re going to catch the bad guys.
In the case of Elsbeth, Season 1 also relied on the well-worn TV trope that the police thought Elsbeth was wrong and they were barking up the wrong tree.
This is understandable at first, but after Elsbeth defeats Captain Wagner for the third or fourth time, it’s time to admit that she knows what she’s talking about.
Still, Elsbeth deserves credit for making detective TV fun again.
Elsbeth isn’t the only light-hearted mystery
It took off in unexpected ways, but it’s neither the first nor the last company to follow the trend
It’s no surprise that Elsbeth became very popular.
Hallmark Channel has several light-hearted suspense movie series that consistently receive high ratings, including the Hannah Swenson movies starring Alison Sweeney.
Peacock is also releasing a “Monk” reunion movie in 2023, which shows there’s still a huge appetite for these types of light-hearted suspense films.
“Elsbeth” works because it has a lot in common with shows like “Monk” or “Murder, She Wrote.”
Each week a new case will be presented and solved by the end of the hour. The show doesn’t take itself too seriously, with the heroine being a non-cop detective whose weirdness is her superpower.
Even though it’s an older concept, it feels fresh and original because broadcast television hasn’t had a show like this in years.
There are some shows that maintain a balance between serious procedurals and light-hearted suspense, such as Irrational, but it’s much more common to find reruns of Law & Order or Chicago PD on TV these days than light-hearted suspense .
Elsbeth might change that.
How Elsbeth leads the way
Its popularity may spark interest in other light-hearted mysteries
Elsbeth’s popularity may lead to other light-hearted suspense novels being greenlit. Producers may consider rebooting other older shows for modern audiences.
It already does that to an extent, with Castle being a writer-turned-detective like Jessica Fletcher, but there are plenty of other shows that could modernize.
Diagnosis: Murder set in a modern hospital can be a cringe-worthy series, and CBS has lined up a reboot for the fall.
“Matlock” was greenlit before “Elsbeth” was released, but is only now hitting TV screens due to a writers’ and actors’ strike.
Whether the new version of Matlock is as light-hearted as the original (which itself was a bit like a Perry Mason reboot) remains to be seen. The trailer looks much more serious than the original Matlock.
Still, people are hoping for more light-hearted programming, which could be the perfect antidote to the plethora of police procedurals on the airwaves.
Over to you, light-hearted mystery lovers.
Do you think Elsbeth will set a new trend? What modern version of a lighthearted past mystery novel would you like?
Hit the comments and let us know!
