A Nero Wolfe Mystery

I love this series passionately. A murder mystery set in the late 50s, with fast-paced wit and style. It gets you thinking not just about the murders, but about the people; how they really behave and how sharp one has to be to keep up with the threads of so many suspects lives and possible motives.

The books are just as fast paced and difficult to follow as the TV series can be. Definitely not for mothers who intend to get the knitting/ironing done while half concentrating on the TV.

But you've never seen such quality on American television - in fact, you'd almost swear it was British. The script is impeccable, the cast perfect, the performances true to the novel, and obviously Timothy Hutton is loving every minute of his role as Archie Goodwin. (a role which he has made successfully jump straight from the pages of Rex Stout's novels, onto the screen.)

But the best part; you can watch them over and over, because there'll always be an angle you missed, a glance, a witty line, a plot twist. And knowing how often TV shows are repeated isn't this a godsend? Haven't we had enough of the crud you can watch with your eyes closed, while-knitting-on-the-phone-doing-the-ironing?

The "Nero Wolfe" TV series (2001-2002) was brilliant, and if you missed it on TV or, like its myriad fans, want to see it again and again, "Nero Wolfe" is available on DVD. Producers Michael Jaffe, Timothy Hutton, and Howard Braunstein did everything right - the cast, the dialogue, the sets, the wardrobe, and the music. Everything that Rex Stout put into his stories can be seen on these DVDs. ("Nero Wolfe-The Complete Season One" and "Nero Wolfe-The Complete Season Two") And the quality of the DVDs, both the audio and the video, is superb.

The Doorbell Rang (the first episode on the Season One DVD set), starring Timothy Hutton as Archie Goodwin, and Maury Chaykin as Nero Wolfe, is an exceptional adaptation of Rex Stout's 1965 novel. Nero Wolfe, with the assistance of Archie Goodwin, his intrepid legman, takes on "the big fish," J. Edgar Hoover.

The Season Two DVDs are every bit as fine as the Season One set in audio and video quality. Season Two has the added fillip of bonus material which was sadly lacking in the Season One set. The Season Two set includes "The Golden Spiders," the 2000 TV movie which led to the series, and "The Making of Nero Wolfe," a short documentary which offers interviews with Timothy Hutton, Maury Chaykin, and others involved in the production of this marvelous series. Also included as a "bonus" is a widescreen version of "The Silent Speaker." (It is unfortunate that A&E did not see fit to offer all of the episodes in widescreen.) After enjoying Nero Wolfe Season One and Two you'll want more adaptations of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe done by Jaffe, Hutton et al. You'll also wonder what fit of nincompoopery came over A&E and made them cancel this exemplary series.

I was begining to wonder, with one boring TV season after another, and "Frasier" being the only show to watch. Now I have "Wolfe." I hope A & E will keep it around for awhile. Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin are brilliant in their roles as Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe. My dad is a big fan of the books, and he says they're excatly how he would have pictured them to be.

The show seems to air in segments of two-part episodes, that will most likely be marketed as movies. They're worth buying! Fast-paced and and full of fun, "Nero Wolfe" seems to be the best show that has come along to television in a long time! At first I thought it would just be an excuse to watch Timothy Hutton (SWOON) once a week, but it's got a whole lot more than just a really great actor.

Thank you, A & E, for this quality show.

I really love 4 am, because that's when Nero Wolfe movies turn up on Sky Satellite here in the UK. The logic of them is as impenetrable as the dialogue, the plots as murky as an old fog, but they're fun. Nero Wolfe, the character, absorbs me. He has wonderful taste in food, but likes canary yellow shirts, an impeccable library, a wonderful orchid room, and he lives totally in his head. I love the scenes where they show you all the delicious food and old Nero sets poor old Fritz impossible tasks - like finding Iranian coriander, or meat during the great meat shortage. I love old Cramer the detective and his sidekick, Curly. Those two are so full of malice, I'll bet they don't have to pull their guns out to kill anyone. Archie's pretty good too, though if he was my assistant I'd slap him for his cheek. The women are pretty exotic, along the lines of 'dames' or 'broads' in writers like James Hadley Chase.The sets are classy, the graphics incredible, the mis-en-scene terrific. But the best bit is the food. Only one thing, you never see old Nero drinking wine, his favorite tipple is beer. Personally, I like beer, I've got nothing against it, but for a real haute couture man, I feel red wine would be classier.John Olsson

Witty dialogue, accurate representation of original characters. Something to watch without all the smarmy content that is on much of TV. There is humor, mystery and an excellent ensemble cast. Timothy Hutton is the perfect Archie Goodwin and we are able to see how well he inherited his father's light touch with humor.