This Murder, She Wrote episode got ''a lot of heat'' for parodying a popular '90s sitcom

Sometimes you have to think outside the box to compete, especially if you're a show that's been on for more than a decade and now faces your fiercest competition yet: a sitcom about six friends in their twenties living in New York City.

In 1996, Murder, She Wrote was still thriving 12 years after its premiere. Its network moved the series from Sundays to Thursday nights, so it had to compete with Friends, which brought in millions of viewers per episode. Angela Lansbury, the star, did not like this change.

"At the beginning of the season, we did a planning session with the writers, and we thought, because Angie had had a bit of an attitude, as you know, about moving to Thursday night from Sunday, that this would be a good idea. After all, 'Friends' is the toughest competition we've faced in 12 years," Lansbury's brother, Bruce, who was a supervising producer of the murder mystery series, said in an interview with the Orange County Register.

He was referring to Murder, She Wrote's episode "Murder Among Friends," which spoofed the series. In the episode, the producer of a hit TV show called "Buds," featuring an ensemble cast, is about to kill off one of the characters when she is found dead in her office. The characters in "Buds" resemble the Friends characters. Vince is Joey, Timothy is Chandler, and Carly is like Rachel.

"It's a friendly set-up, no mean-spiritedness," Bruce added.

Supposedly, the episode got a lot of press, which is exactly what Angela Lansbury expected. "We never get as much publicity as we want (from CBS). This is one of the reasons we did it, because we thought we'd get a lot of heat and we have.”