Murder by Death is teh fab! I watched it with a friend not that long ago, and we just fell about at all the parodies. You're right though, if you don't know your classic mysteries, then it's just not going to work for you.

Life on Mars is also much fun, although I still have to watch the dvd which I rushed out and bought on release.

Fort Apache I probably saw in childhood, since my dad loved all westerns. Not something I would choose to watch though.