Father Dowling Mysteries

I wish I had DVDs of the early years, I would use them in my Sunday School curriculum. Yes, I know that Sister Steve had some odd undertakings, but I don't think they detracted from the day-to-day exploration of Catholic Christian theology. The site requests additional lines so I'll commend Tom Bosley's warm performance as Father Dowling. Tracy Nelson had the look and personality of a young woman settling into the religious life. I enjoyed the Chicago setting as well. Around the time this show was canceled, I pretty much quit watching television as so much of it was so offensive. This show was substantive without being corny.

Father Dowling Mysteries is a who-done-it series in the vein of Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, Ellery Queen, Nick and Nora Charles, Miss Marple, et al. The "gimmick" or "twist" here is that our protagonist is a Catholic priest and the pastor of an inner-city parish.

Tom Bosley plays Father Frank Dowling, an amateur sleuth who just "happens to be around" when someone is murdered, abducted, disappears, etc. He then takes it upon himself to investigate the crime and prove that the police department's number one suspect is innocent. Tracy Nelson plays Sister Stephanie (a.k.a. Sister Steve), a young streetwise nun and Father Dowling's partner in crime-solving.

The show is formulaic of the genre:

1. Obvious clues that the police overlook.

2. The police, anxious to "wrap it up," arrest an innocent person based on flimsy circumstantial evidence.

3. Only Father Dowling and Sister Steve possess the analytical minds and cunning to solve crimes.

4. Our sleuths get into all sorts of life-threatening situations only to escape/be rescued at the last minute.

5. Someone makes a benign eleven-o'clock-hour statement about potato salad that triggers a lightbulb moment within our crack sleuths. Father Dowling says something like, "That's it's! Marie, call the police, and tell them to meet us at the loading dock. Come on Steve."

6. The guilty party is subjected to a Father Dowling monologue at the denouement about how he pieced all of the evidence together.

7. Crimes are solved based on hunches and enigmatic clues (and a lot of snooping) rather than forensic evidence (e.g. DNA, fingerprints, trace evidence).

Despite the cliches, however, the show boasts likable characters, interesting plots, and a top-notch cast, particularly Tracy Nelson, who gets to play a wide range of undercover characters who are on the other side of the moral spectrum of Sister Steve's religious beliefs (e.g. Prostitute, pool hustler, card shark, beauty contestant, etc.).

Rounding out the cast of series regulars is the wonderful character actress Mary Wickes as the wisecracking parish rectory housekeeper (a role she's played many times before), and James Stephens, who provides just the right amount of comic relief as a young befuddled priest forever looking for ways to suck up to the (unseen) diocese Bishop.

This is a really great detective show,I have watched all the other ones aswell and have found Father Dowling to be the most enjoyable to watch.It has humour,a serious side at times and shows a side to religion that many people may not have seen or known.Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson are excellent in this,both are funny with how they act and the looks that Tom's character Father Frank gives to Tracy character Sister Steve are brilliant,makes me laugh.I also think that James Stephens is brilliant as Father Prestwick.

okay, the theme to this series was a bit far fetched (a priest and a nun investigating the goings on in the criminal underworld indeed!) but nevertheless, it was enjoyable, funny and easy going to watch. It was first shown on British TV around 1989/90 and I instantly became hooked! To me Father Dowling himself was the inspiration I had been looking for. When I was a teenager I had only two ambitions in life; to become a priest or a criminal investigator. Father Dowling was both these rolled up in one! brilliant! Although I must admit, he didn't seem to take Mass all that often considering what his job was. As for Sister Stephanie, she too is the perfect model any young woman could want to follow if they were thinking about becoming a nun. Dressing up like a penguin does not necessarily you won't look pretty, as Stephanie managed to show! It's a pity the Catholic Church can't churn out more people like these two in real life. If it did, its future may look a bit more rosey too!

The mystery solving parish priest Father Brown who was the creation of converted Catholic G.K. Chesterton got an American makeover in that most American of cities Chicago for the Father Dowling Mysteries. That man did get himself involved in more situations that were not necessarily related to his calling which made for interesting episodes. Tom Bosley as Father Dowling was a trial to both the Catholic Archdiocese and the Police Department which he was always showing up.

That's usually the way it is with most television series, the private detective or the amateur is constantly showing up professional law enforcement. As viewers we enjoy that.

Unlike Chesterton's detective Dowling did not dwell too much on Catholic dogma, the better to get a universal audience. Tracy Nelson was a young nun who shared Dowling's taste for mystery and adventure and her being a nun and all that that entailed put her in some interesting situations as a Dowling operative so to speak.

Sad to say the show did run out of creative ideas and that was probably due to the parameters imposed by making a priest your lead character. When Dowling confessed to really fathering a child before taking his vows of celibacy you knew the jig was up for this show.

Still it was a pleasant series to watch and Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson gave a good account of themselves in the series.