The Radioland Murders

The Radioland Murders is a whodunnit murder mystery produced by George Lucas and directed by Mel Smith.

It's the inaugural night for radio station WBN Chicago, and things absolutely must go as planned. The largest investor is threatening to pull his support, and a lot of others are threatening to follow suit. And what's worse, he wants half the scripts changed, even though the writers have gone on strike since they haven't been paid in weeks.

Enter Roger Henderson, the lead writer, and his wife, Penny, who is seeking to divorce him. Both are just trying to make sure everything goes well, but darnit, someone keeps killing people. And wouldn't you know it, Roger always manages to be the first on the scene of the crime. So while Penny tries to keep things from falling apart backstage, Roger has to clear his name, while running from the cops and single-handedly re-writing all of the scripts.

The Radioland Murders was in Development Hell for over 20 years before it finally got its debut, but was mostly panned and did very poorly at the box office. Which is a shame since it is absolutely hilarious.


 * Development Hell: Development began in the 70s. It didn't debut until 1994.
 * Hardboiled Detective: Lt. Cross. And he's just as angry as his name makes him sound.
 * Old Dark House: It fits the bill surprisingly well, despite taking place in a (mostly) well-light public skyscraper in downtown Chicago.
 * Really Gets Around: Claudette Katzenback has all but forced herself on pretty much every man who works at the radio station at one time or another. Roger seems to be the only one to have refused her advances.
 * Show Within a Show: This being about a radio station in the 30s, there are many, and most of them parallel what's going on with Roger surprisingly well.