A Nero Wolfe Mystery
Encyclopedia
A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a television series adapted from Rex Stout
's classic series of detective stories that aired for two seasons (2001–2002) on the A&E Network
. Set in New York City in the early 1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin
as Nero Wolfe
and Timothy Hutton
as Archie Goodwin
. A Nero Wolfe Mystery was one of the Top 10 Basic Cable Dramas for 2002.
A Nero Wolfe Mystery creates the world of the brownstone on Manhattan's West 35th Street through high production values and a jazzy score by Michael Small
. The language and spirit of the Stout originals are preserved in the teleplays, most of them written by consulting producer Sharon Elizabeth Doyle and the team of William Rabkin
and Lee Goldberg
(whose "Prisoner's Base" was nominated for an Edgar Award
by the Mystery Writers of America
).
The wardrobe, cars, furnishings and music place A Nero Wolfe Mystery somewhere in the 1950s. It is technically a whodunit series, but like the original Rex Stout stories Nero Wolfe is less concerned with plot than with the interplay between its characters.
"I think that's something that's appreciated by Nero Wolfe fans," said Maury Chaykin, who stars as Nero Wolfe. "If you become focused on the crime, I think you're kind of in the wrong place. It's more the enjoyment of the characters and their eccentricities, and the reality of those characters."
, a Jaffe/Braunstein Films production that aired on the A&E Network March 5, 2000. Veteran screenwriter Paul Monash
adapted Rex Stout's 1953 novel
, and Bill Duke
directed. A&E initially planned that The Golden Spiders would be the first in a series of two-hour mystery movies featuring Nero Wolfe. The high ratings (3.2 million households) and critical praise garnered by The Golden Spiders prompted A&E to consider a one-hour drama series.
"We were so pleased with the reception of the movie that we said, 'Maybe there's a one-hour show (here),'" said Allen Sabinson, A&E's senior vice president for programming, in June 2000. "I don't believe we were thinking, or Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton were thinking, there's a series here. These are not people who do series. What happened was they had such a good time, I think they fell in love with their characters. And I think they saw there was a level of respect and care about the filmmaking that they were open when we approached them and asked them, 'Would you be willing to do this as a one-hour show?'"
is the brilliant, eccentric detective Nero Wolfe
, a man with little patience for people who come between him and his insatiable passions for food, books and orchids. Timothy Hutton
is Wolfe's hardworking and cheeky assistant Archie Goodwin
, whose voice narrates the stories. In addition to starring in the series, Hutton directed four episodes and served as an executive producer.
Other members of the principal cast are Colin Fox
as Fritz Brenner, Wolfe's master chef; Conrad Dunn
(Saul Panzer), Fulvio Cecere
(Fred Durkin) and Trent McMullen
(Orrie Cather) as the 'Teers, three freelance detectives who frequently assist Wolfe; Bill Smitrovich
as Inspector Cramer, head of Manhattan's Homicide Bureau; and R.D. Reid as Sergeant Purley Stebbins. Saul Rubinek
, who portrayed Saul Panzer in The Golden Spiders, took the role of reporter Lon Cohen in the series.
, Kari Matchett
http://www.themakeupgallery.info/character/multi/nw.htm, Debra Monk
, Boyd Banks
, George Plimpton
, Ron Rifkin
, Francie Swift
, James Tolkan
and many other accomplished Canadian and American actors — to play non-recurring roles.
"If a stylized, period series based solely on books wasn't enough to separate Nero Wolfe from other TV shows," reported Scarlet Street
magazine, "[executive producer Michael] Jaffe decided to employ a returning repertory cast in the guest roles for each episode. He felt that it was necessary to find actors who understood and fit in with the show's unique approach. 'Every other show agonizes about casting,' Jaffe says. 'We don't. We have 20, 30 people in our repertory company and we get great actors to play bit roles. ... We found an enormous number of very talented actors in Canada.'"
Kari Matchett has the distinction of playing a recurring role (Archie Goodwin's sometime girlfriend Lily Rowan) and a non-recurring role (nightclub singer Julie Jaquette) in the same episode, "Death of a Doxy." Nicky Guadagni has the distinction of playing two non-recurring characters (a secretary and Mrs. Cramer) in the same episode, "The Silent Speaker." Its ensemble cast gives A Nero Wolfe Mystery the effect of a series of plays put on by a repertory
theatre company.
A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a production of A&E Television Networks
and Jaffe/Braunstein Films, Ltd., in association with Pearson Television International
. The series was shot in Toronto, with select Manhattan exteriors filmed for the series premiere, "The Doorbell Rang," and seen in subsequent episodes including "Prisoner's Base."
When the series was announced in June 2000, Variety reported that A&E had been licensed to own Nero Wolfe in the U.S. and Canada for an undisclosed fee. Jaffe/Braunstein Films, which retained ownership of the series in the rest of the world, licensed distribution outside the U.S. to Pearson International Television (now FremantleMedia
, Ltd.). Producer Michael Jaffe told Variety that the Nero Wolfe episodes would cost $1 million each; sources said the full production cost would be covered by A&E's and Pearson's licensing fees.
"Jaffe/Braunstein was one of the first to experiment with HD
for television," reported the industry publication HiDef Magazine. "Their landmark series 100 Centre Street
... was one of the first hour dramas to use HDCam as the capture medium. ... Jaffe/Braunstein was also producing the A&E series Nero Wolfe with Timothy Hutton in 35mm film. After the success with HD, Michael [Jaffe] decided that he'd like to try it on the single camera hour drama. At first Hutton was a little nervous about it, but after Jaffe brought experienced DP John Berrie to the program, Hutton was convinced. The entire second season was shot in HD, with 15 one hour programs and three two hours. Jaffe says that in addition to saving money, HD also allowed fewer lens changes, no magazine changes, smaller lighting instruments and near instant re-loading of stock. All this added to increased time working with the actors."
A Nero Wolfe Mystery features production design by Lindsey Hermer-Bell
http://web.archive.org/web/20010818042921/www.aande.com/tv/shows/nerowolfe/int4.html, and costume design by Christopher Hargadon http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20010818042303/www.aande.com/tv/shows/nerowolfe/int3.html. Illustrator Aurore Giscard d'Estaing designed title sequence
s unique to each episode.
The feature-length series pilot, The Golden Spiders, is included on two of A&E's DVD box sets — "Nero Wolfe: The Complete Classic Whodunit Series" and "Nero Wolfe: The Complete Second Season." These two box sets also include a 22-minute behind-the-scenes film, "The Making of Nero Wolfe," as well as a bonus 16:9
widescreen
version http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=21386#ws of "The Silent Speaker," written and directed by Michael Jaffe. All of the other episodes are offered in 4:3 pan and scan
format.
"The episodes look excellent — clear and colorful — in their broadcast full-frame presentation," wrote Scarlet Street
magazine. "The extras are skimpy to the point of frustration, however. ... For that matter, why is "The Silent Speaker" the only episode presented in widescreen
format?"
As DVD Talk's 2006 review of Nero Wolfe reported, "longer versions aired overseas (several were literally twice as long)." Nero Wolfe saw its first international DVD release in August 2008, when "Nero Wolfe – Collection One" was offered for sale in Australia by FremantleMedia
Enterprises. Distributed by Magna Pacific
, "Nero Wolfe — Collection Two" (December 2008) was the first release of an episode containing scenes not available on the A&E Home Video release. The Pearson Television International version presents "Prisoner's Base
" as a 90-minute film with a single set of titles and credits, and it includes three scenes (3.5 minutes) found on pp. 3–5, 21 and 27–28 of the script written by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin.
A Nero Wolfe Mystery began to be released on Region 2 DVD in December 2009, marketed in the Netherlands by Just Entertainment. Like the collections that were sold in Australia, these DVD sets presented the episodes in 4:3 pan and scan
rather than their 16:9
aspect ratio for widescreen
viewing. The third collection released in April 2010 made the 90-minute features "Wolfe Goes Out" and "Wolfe Stays In" available on home video for the first time; until then, the linked episodes "Door to Death"/ "Christmas Party" and "Eeny Meeny Murder Moe"/"Disguise for Murder" were available only in the abbreviated form sold by A&E Home Video.
, and I had ever been involved with," wrote screenwriter Lee Goldberg
in the November 2002 issue of Mystery Scene magazine. "Because Nero Wolfe, starring Maury Chaykin as Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie, was unlike any other series on television. It was, as far as I know, the first TV series without a single original script — each and every episode was based on a Rex Stout novel, novella, or short story. That's not to say there wasn't original writing involved, but it was Stout who did all the hard work."
Goldberg and Rabkin adapted four Nero Wolfe stories — Champagne for One
, Prisoner's Base
, "Murder Is Corny" and "Poison à la Carte" — for A Nero Wolfe Mystery. In his article "Writing Nero Wolfe," Goldberg provides a unique inside look at the process of adapting Rex Stout for the A&E TV series:
"There's something so dynamic and wonderful about Wolfe and Archie, Fritz and their whole world," Sharon Elizabeth Doyle told Scarlet Street
magazine in 2002. Consulting producer for A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Doyle was the show's only full-time writer — overseeing the work of freelance screenwriters, and writing 11 of the teleplays herself:
"That Nero Wolfe should be so pleasing has at least as much to do with the casting as the scripts," wrote cultural critic Terry Teachout
in the National Review
:
BookFinder.com
— a web-search service that reports the most-sought out-of-print titles — documents that the production of A Nero Wolfe Mystery coincides with Rex Stout's becoming a top-selling author some 30 years after his death. In March 2003, the top four most-wanted mysteries listed by BookFinder.com were all Nero Wolfe novels: Where There's a Will (1940), The Rubber Band
(1936), The Red Box
(1937) and The League of Frightened Men
(1935). The Red Box was the most-searched mystery title in August 2003, and the novel remained as number two on the list in 2004. In 2006, Too Many Women
(1947) was fifth on BookFinder.com's list of most-sought out-of-print thrillers, whodunits, classics and modern mystery titles. In 2007, The Black Mountain
was in the number five position.
Most of the Nero Wolfe stories adapted for A Nero Wolfe Mystery are available through Bantam's
Rex Stout Library, a series of paperbacks featuring new introductions by today's best writers and never-before published Rex Stout memorabilia. Some Bantam volumes, like Prisoner's Base, are emblazoned with the words, "as seen on TV." The Audio Partners Publishing Corporation promoted its bestselling line of Rex Stout audiobooks, unabridged on CD and audiocassette, "as seen on A&E TV."
in the United States and Canada, A Nero Wolfe Mystery first aired on the A&E Network
April 22, 2001. The second season premiered April 14, 2002. The series ran Sundays at 8 p.m. ET and was rebroadcast at midnight. The last original broadcast was Sunday, August 18, 2002. Nero Wolfe continued to air regularly in repeat through 2002 and sporadically in early 2003 before leaving the A&E schedule altogether.
From March 2004 to May 2006, Nero Wolfe appeared Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET on another of the A&E Networks, The Biography Channel
.
, Ltd., distributes A Nero Wolfe Mystery outside the U.S. and Canada. The series has been broadcast on public and commercial networks, cable television and satellite systems throughout the world, and was presented throughout Europe and Africa on the Hallmark Channel
.
, A Nero Wolfe Mystery averaged a 1.9 rating. The first three weeks (April 14–28, 2002) of the second season of Nero Wolfe averaged a solid 1.9 rating in cable homes, Variety
reported. Broadcasting and Cable
reported that Nero Wolfe had averaged a 1.7 rating for the month of May 2002, while viewing levels for the A&E Network overall were 1.1. In mid-June 2002 Multichannel News
wrote, "Nero Wolfe, in its second cycle of episodes, is drawing solid ratings in the 1.5 to 2.0 Nielsen Media Research range."
A Nero Wolfe Mystery was one of the Top 10 Basic Cable Dramas for 2002.
ended the series was due to high production costs. To address the cancellation, A&E took the unusual step of posting an "Important Message" on its Web site:
The New York Times recalled that television climate, and A&E's response to it, in June 2004: "Two years ago Nick Davatzes
, president and chief executive of A&E Television Networks, called his executives to a retreat, to 'wallow in the mud,' as he described the exercise. From that wallowing emerged an overhaul in management and outlook, including the conclusion that reality television could not be ignored if the network wanted younger viewers."
Maury Chaykin
reflected on the cancellation of Nero Wolfe in a 2008 interview. "I'm a bit jaded and cynical about which shows succeed on television. I worked on a fantastic show once called Nero Wolfe, but at the time A&E was transforming from the premiere intellectual cable network in America to one that airs Dog the Bounty Hunter
on repeat, so it was never promoted and eventually went off the air."
Rex Stout
Rex Todhunter Stout was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. Stout is best known as the creator of the larger-than-life fictional detective Nero Wolfe, described by reviewer Will Cuppy as "that Falstaff of detectives." Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin recorded the cases of the...
's classic series of detective stories that aired for two seasons (2001–2002) on the A&E Network
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
. Set in New York City in the early 1950s, the stylized period drama stars Maury Chaykin
Maury Chaykin
Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...
as Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's...
and Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
as Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (fictional detective)
Archie Goodwin is a fictional character and detective in Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries. The witty voice of all the stories, he recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 to 1975 . He lives in Nero Wolfe's brownstone in New York City.Archie was born on October 23 in Chillicothe, Ohio,...
. A Nero Wolfe Mystery was one of the Top 10 Basic Cable Dramas for 2002.
A Nero Wolfe Mystery creates the world of the brownstone on Manhattan's West 35th Street through high production values and a jazzy score by Michael Small
Michael Small
Michael Small was an American film score composer best known for his scores to thriller movies such as The Parallax View, Marathon Man, and The Star Chamber. Relatively few of his scores are available on compact disc...
. The language and spirit of the Stout originals are preserved in the teleplays, most of them written by consulting producer Sharon Elizabeth Doyle and the team of William Rabkin
William Rabkin
William Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Monk and many other series.Nearly all of his television work has...
and Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk...
(whose "Prisoner's Base" was nominated for an Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
by the Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
).
Plot
Archie Goodwin introduces Nero Wolfe as "a man who thinks he's the world's greatest detective. Truth being, he is." Grandly obese and famously eccentric, Wolfe is a genius who lives in — and rarely leaves — a large and comfortably furnished brownstone he owns on West 35th Street in Manhattan. Wolfe maintains an inflexible schedule of reading, tending his 10,000 orchids in the rooftop plant rooms, and dining on the fine cuisine of his master chef, Fritz. To support his opulent lifestyle and meet the payroll of his live-in staff, Wolfe charges high fees for solving crimes that are beyond the abilities of the police, most often the cigar-chewing Inspector Cramer of Manhattan Homicide. Wolfe sometimes calls upon freelance detectives Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather; but he depends upon his assistant Archie Goodwin, the street-smart legman whose wisecracking, irreverent voice narrates the stories.The wardrobe, cars, furnishings and music place A Nero Wolfe Mystery somewhere in the 1950s. It is technically a whodunit series, but like the original Rex Stout stories Nero Wolfe is less concerned with plot than with the interplay between its characters.
"I think that's something that's appreciated by Nero Wolfe fans," said Maury Chaykin, who stars as Nero Wolfe. "If you become focused on the crime, I think you're kind of in the wrong place. It's more the enjoyment of the characters and their eccentricities, and the reality of those characters."
The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery
The series was preceded by the original film The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe MysteryThe Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery
The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a made-for-television film based on the 1953 novel by Rex Stout. Set in 1950s Manhattan, the A&E Network production stars Maury Chaykin as the heavyweight detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton as Wolfe's assistant, Archie Goodwin, narrator of...
, a Jaffe/Braunstein Films production that aired on the A&E Network March 5, 2000. Veteran screenwriter Paul Monash
Paul Monash
-Life and career:Paul Monash was born in Harlem, New York, in 1917, and grew up in The Bronx. His mother, Rhoda Melrose, acted in silent films. Monash earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a master's degree in education from Columbia University...
adapted Rex Stout's 1953 novel
The Golden Spiders
The Golden Spiders is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. It was first published in 1953 by The Viking Press.-Plot introduction:...
, and Bill Duke
Bill Duke
William Henry "Bill" Duke, Jr. is an American actor and film director with over 30 years of experience. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke's work frequently dwells within the action/crime and drama genres but also includes comedy.-Early life:Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the...
directed. A&E initially planned that The Golden Spiders would be the first in a series of two-hour mystery movies featuring Nero Wolfe. The high ratings (3.2 million households) and critical praise garnered by The Golden Spiders prompted A&E to consider a one-hour drama series.
"We were so pleased with the reception of the movie that we said, 'Maybe there's a one-hour show (here),'" said Allen Sabinson, A&E's senior vice president for programming, in June 2000. "I don't believe we were thinking, or Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton were thinking, there's a series here. These are not people who do series. What happened was they had such a good time, I think they fell in love with their characters. And I think they saw there was a level of respect and care about the filmmaking that they were open when we approached them and asked them, 'Would you be willing to do this as a one-hour show?'"
Cast
Principal
Maury ChaykinMaury Chaykin
Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...
is the brilliant, eccentric detective Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe
Nero Wolfe is a fictional detective, created in 1934 by the American mystery writer Rex Stout. Wolfe's confidential assistant Archie Goodwin narrates the cases of the detective genius. Stout wrote 33 novels and 39 short stories from 1934 to 1974, with most of them set in New York City. Wolfe's...
, a man with little patience for people who come between him and his insatiable passions for food, books and orchids. Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton
Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy...
is Wolfe's hardworking and cheeky assistant Archie Goodwin
Archie Goodwin (fictional detective)
Archie Goodwin is a fictional character and detective in Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries. The witty voice of all the stories, he recorded the cases of the detective genius from 1934 to 1975 . He lives in Nero Wolfe's brownstone in New York City.Archie was born on October 23 in Chillicothe, Ohio,...
, whose voice narrates the stories. In addition to starring in the series, Hutton directed four episodes and served as an executive producer.
Other members of the principal cast are Colin Fox
Colin Fox (actor)
Colin Fox is a Canadian actor. His acting credits include playing Jean Paul Desmond and Jacques Eloi Des Mondes in Strange Paradise , as well as voice work in various animated series, and in other roles in film, television and on the stage...
as Fritz Brenner, Wolfe's master chef; Conrad Dunn
Conrad Dunn
Conrad Dunn is an American actor. He began his screen career with the role of Francis "Psycho" Soyer in Stripes . Working for some ten years under the name George Jenesky, he achieved soap-opera stardom in Days of our Lives as Nick Corelli, a misogynistic pimp who evolved from bad guy to romantic...
(Saul Panzer), Fulvio Cecere
Fulvio Cecere
-Early life:Born to Italian parents, he attended Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, but after one year he realized that acting, not law, was his true calling. He took acting classes at UCLA and starred in a wide array of television and feature film parts over the next few years...
(Fred Durkin) and Trent McMullen
Trent McMullen
Trent McMullen is a Canadian actor known for his portrayal of freelance detective Orrie Cather in the A&E TV original series, A Nero Wolfe Mystery , and the series pilot, The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery . In 2010 McMullen starred in Ed Gass-Donnelly's second feature film Small Town Murder...
(Orrie Cather) as the 'Teers, three freelance detectives who frequently assist Wolfe; Bill Smitrovich
Bill Smitrovich
-Personal life:Bill Smitrovich was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Anna and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a tool and die maker. Bill is a graduate of the University of Bridgeport and holds an MFA from Smith College . He is married to Shaw Purnell from Pittsburgh, PA...
as Inspector Cramer, head of Manhattan's Homicide Bureau; and R.D. Reid as Sergeant Purley Stebbins. Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek
Saul Rubinek is a Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright, known for his work in TV, film and the stage.-Early life:...
, who portrayed Saul Panzer in The Golden Spiders, took the role of reporter Lon Cohen in the series.
Repertory
A distinguishing feature of the series is its use of a repertory cast — Nicky GuadagniNicky Guadagni
Nicky Guadagni is a Canadian actress who has worked on stage, radio, film and television.-Career:Originally from Montreal, Nicky Guadagni majored in drama at Dawson College and went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Her first role after graduation was playing Miranda, with...
, Kari Matchett
Kari Matchett
Kari Matchett is a Canadian television and film actress. She played Mariel Underlay in Invasion, Lisa Miller in 24, and Kate Filmore in the cult favorite science fiction movie Cube 2: Hypercube. She currently appears in the USA television series Covert Affairs.-Early years:Matchett was born in...
http://www.themakeupgallery.info/character/multi/nw.htm, Debra Monk
Debra Monk
Debra Monk is an American actress, singer, and writer.Monk was born in Middletown, Ohio. She was voted "best personality" by the graduating class at Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, Maryland. She graduated from Frostburg State University in 1963...
, Boyd Banks
Boyd Banks
Boyd Banks is a Canadian stand-up comedian known for doing edgy material, and actor.-Biography:Banks has appeared in such films as Bruiser , Wild Iris , Dawn of the Dead , Phil the Alien , Land of the Dead , Cinderella Man , Diary of The Dead and Pontypool...
, George Plimpton
George Plimpton
George Ames Plimpton was an American journalist, writer, editor, and actor. He is widely known for his sports writing and for helping to found The Paris Review.-Early life:...
, Ron Rifkin
Ron Rifkin
Ron Rifkin is an American actor. He is best-known for his roles as Arvin Sloane on the spy drama Alias and as Saul Holden on the American family drama Brothers & Sisters.-Personal life:...
, Francie Swift
Francie Swift
Francie Swift is an American actress best known for her versality and the wide variety of roles she has played.Swift was born in Amarillo, Texas and attended Tascosa High School...
, James Tolkan
James Tolkan
James S. Tolkan is an American actor, often cast as a strict, overbearing, bald-headed authority figure.-Personal life:He was born in Calumet, Michigan, the son of Ralph M. Tolkan, a cattle dealer, and attended the University of Iowa, Coe College, the Actors Studio and Eastern Arizona College...
and many other accomplished Canadian and American actors — to play non-recurring roles.
"If a stylized, period series based solely on books wasn't enough to separate Nero Wolfe from other TV shows," reported Scarlet Street
Scarlet Street (magazine)
Scarlet Street was an American film magazine that primarily specialized in the genres of horror, mystery and film noir. Its initial concentration was on Sherlock Holmes and related film and television productions, but later its subject matter expanded to include a variety of other genres.The title...
magazine, "[executive producer Michael] Jaffe decided to employ a returning repertory cast in the guest roles for each episode. He felt that it was necessary to find actors who understood and fit in with the show's unique approach. 'Every other show agonizes about casting,' Jaffe says. 'We don't. We have 20, 30 people in our repertory company and we get great actors to play bit roles. ... We found an enormous number of very talented actors in Canada.'"
Kari Matchett has the distinction of playing a recurring role (Archie Goodwin's sometime girlfriend Lily Rowan) and a non-recurring role (nightclub singer Julie Jaquette) in the same episode, "Death of a Doxy." Nicky Guadagni has the distinction of playing two non-recurring characters (a secretary and Mrs. Cramer) in the same episode, "The Silent Speaker." Its ensemble cast gives A Nero Wolfe Mystery the effect of a series of plays put on by a repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
theatre company.
Production
A&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad...
and Jaffe/Braunstein Films, Ltd., in association with Pearson Television International
FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...
. The series was shot in Toronto, with select Manhattan exteriors filmed for the series premiere, "The Doorbell Rang," and seen in subsequent episodes including "Prisoner's Base."
When the series was announced in June 2000, Variety reported that A&E had been licensed to own Nero Wolfe in the U.S. and Canada for an undisclosed fee. Jaffe/Braunstein Films, which retained ownership of the series in the rest of the world, licensed distribution outside the U.S. to Pearson International Television (now FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...
, Ltd.). Producer Michael Jaffe told Variety that the Nero Wolfe episodes would cost $1 million each; sources said the full production cost would be covered by A&E's and Pearson's licensing fees.
"Jaffe/Braunstein was one of the first to experiment with HD
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
for television," reported the industry publication HiDef Magazine. "Their landmark series 100 Centre Street
100 Centre Street
100 Centre Street is an American legal drama created by Sidney Lumet and starring Alan Arkin.-Premise:The show takes its name for the street address of the criminal division of the New York Supreme Court for New York County. The show aired in the United States on the A&E Network cable television...
... was one of the first hour dramas to use HDCam as the capture medium. ... Jaffe/Braunstein was also producing the A&E series Nero Wolfe with Timothy Hutton in 35mm film. After the success with HD, Michael [Jaffe] decided that he'd like to try it on the single camera hour drama. At first Hutton was a little nervous about it, but after Jaffe brought experienced DP John Berrie to the program, Hutton was convinced. The entire second season was shot in HD, with 15 one hour programs and three two hours. Jaffe says that in addition to saving money, HD also allowed fewer lens changes, no magazine changes, smaller lighting instruments and near instant re-loading of stock. All this added to increased time working with the actors."
A Nero Wolfe Mystery features production design by Lindsey Hermer-Bell
Lindsey Hermer-Bell
- Career :Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Lindsey Hermer-Bell moved to Canada in 1977. She received a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Toronto, and began her career as designer on the 1983 HBO drama Between Friends...
http://web.archive.org/web/20010818042921/www.aande.com/tv/shows/nerowolfe/int4.html, and costume design by Christopher Hargadon http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20010818042303/www.aande.com/tv/shows/nerowolfe/int3.html. Illustrator Aurore Giscard d'Estaing designed title sequence
Title sequence
A Title Sequence is the method by which cinematic films or television programs present their title, key production and cast members, or both, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound...
s unique to each episode.
Episodes
| Title | Season | Director | Teleplay | First Broadcast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Golden Spiders The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery is a made-for-television film based on the 1953 novel by Rex Stout. Set in 1950s Manhattan, the A&E Network production stars Maury Chaykin as the heavyweight detective genius Nero Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton as Wolfe's assistant, Archie Goodwin, narrator of... |
Pilot | Bill Duke Bill Duke William Henry "Bill" Duke, Jr. is an American actor and film director with over 30 years of experience. Known for his physically imposing frame, Duke's work frequently dwells within the action/crime and drama genres but also includes comedy.-Early life:Duke was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, the... |
Paul Monash Paul Monash -Life and career:Paul Monash was born in Harlem, New York, in 1917, and grew up in The Bronx. His mother, Rhoda Melrose, acted in silent films. Monash earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a master's degree in education from Columbia University... |
March 5, 2000 |
| The Doorbell Rang | 1.1 | Timothy Hutton Timothy Hutton Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy... |
Michael Jaffe | April 22, 2001 |
| Champagne for One | 1.2 | Timothy Hutton Timothy Hutton Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy... |
William Rabkin William Rabkin William Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Monk and many other series.Nearly all of his television work has... + Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk... |
April 29 + May 6, 2001 |
| Prisoner's Base | 1.3 | Neill Fearnley | William Rabkin William Rabkin William Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Monk and many other series.Nearly all of his television work has... + Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk... |
May 13 + 20, 2001 |
| Eeny Meeny Murder Moe | 1.4 | John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer is a Canadian film and television director. He is the younger brother of Gerald L'Ecuyer, a noted Canadian film and television director. L'Ecuyer studied at Ryerson University in Toronto, where his classmates included screenwriter Brad Abraham.His first feature, Curtis's Charm , was... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | June 3, 2001 |
| Disguise for Murder | 1.5 | John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer is a Canadian film and television director. He is the younger brother of Gerald L'Ecuyer, a noted Canadian film and television director. L'Ecuyer studied at Ryerson University in Toronto, where his classmates included screenwriter Brad Abraham.His first feature, Curtis's Charm , was... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | June 17, 2001 |
| Door to Death | 1.6 | Holly Dale Holly Dale Holly Dale is a Canadian film and television director and film producer. She received a Gemini Award in 2008 for Best Direction in a Dramatic Series .... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | June 24, 2001 |
| Christmas Party | 1.7 | Holly Dale Holly Dale Holly Dale is a Canadian film and television director and film producer. She received a Gemini Award in 2008 for Best Direction in a Dramatic Series .... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | July 1, 2001 |
| Over My Dead Body | 1.8 | Timothy Hutton Timothy Hutton Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy... |
S.E. Doyle + Janet Roach | July 8 + 15, 2001 |
| Death of a Doxy | 2.1 | Timothy Hutton Timothy Hutton Timothy Tarquin Hutton is an American actor. He is the youngest actor to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, which he won at the age of 20 for his performance as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People . He currently stars as Nathan "Nate" Ford on the TNT series Leverage.-Early life:Timothy... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | April 14, 2002 |
| The Next Witness | 2.2 | James Tolkan James Tolkan James S. Tolkan is an American actor, often cast as a strict, overbearing, bald-headed authority figure.-Personal life:He was born in Calumet, Michigan, the son of Ralph M. Tolkan, a cattle dealer, and attended the University of Iowa, Coe College, the Actors Studio and Eastern Arizona College... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | April 21, 2002 |
| Die Like a Dog | 2.3 | James Tolkan James Tolkan James S. Tolkan is an American actor, often cast as a strict, overbearing, bald-headed authority figure.-Personal life:He was born in Calumet, Michigan, the son of Ralph M. Tolkan, a cattle dealer, and attended the University of Iowa, Coe College, the Actors Studio and Eastern Arizona College... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | April 28, 2002 |
| Murder Is Corny | 2.4 | George Bloomfield | William Rabkin William Rabkin William Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Monk and many other series.Nearly all of his television work has... + Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk... |
May 5, 2002 |
| Motherhunt | 2.5 | Alan Smithee Alan Smithee Alan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | May 12 +19, 2002 |
| Poison à la Carte | 2.6 | George Bloomfield | William Rabkin William Rabkin William Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Monk and many other series.Nearly all of his television work has... + Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk... |
May 26, 2002 |
| Too Many Clients | 2.7 | John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer is a Canadian film and television director. He is the younger brother of Gerald L'Ecuyer, a noted Canadian film and television director. L'Ecuyer studied at Ryerson University in Toronto, where his classmates included screenwriter Brad Abraham.His first feature, Curtis's Charm , was... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | June 2 + 9, 2002 |
| Before I Die | 2.8 | John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer is a Canadian film and television director. He is the younger brother of Gerald L'Ecuyer, a noted Canadian film and television director. L'Ecuyer studied at Ryerson University in Toronto, where his classmates included screenwriter Brad Abraham.His first feature, Curtis's Charm , was... |
Sharon Elizabeth Doyle | June 16, 2002 |
| Help Wanted, Male | 2.9 | John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer John L'Ecuyer is a Canadian film and television director. He is the younger brother of Gerald L'Ecuyer, a noted Canadian film and television director. L'Ecuyer studied at Ryerson University in Toronto, where his classmates included screenwriter Brad Abraham.His first feature, Curtis's Charm , was... |
Mark Stein | June 23, 2002 |
| The Silent Speaker | 2.10 | Michael Jaffe | Michael Jaffe | July 14 + 21, 2002 |
| Cop Killer | 2.11 | John R. Pepper | Jennifer Salt Jennifer Salt Jennifer Salt is an American producer, screenwriter, and former actress.-Life and career:Salt was born in Los Angeles, California. Her parents were screenwriter Waldo Salt and actress Mary Davenport; her stepmother was the writer Eve Merriam... |
August 11, 2002 |
| Immune to Murder | 2.12 | John R. Pepper | Stuart Kaminsky Stuart M. Kaminsky Stuart M. Kaminsky was an American mystery writer and film professor. He is known for three long-running series of mystery novels featuring the protagonists Toby Peters, a private detective in 1940s Hollywood; Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, a Moscow police inspector; and veteran Chicago... |
August 18, 2002 |
Awards
- 2002, Nominee, Edgar AwardEdgar AwardThe Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
Best Television Episode
Lee GoldbergLee GoldbergLee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk...
and William RabkinWilliam RabkinWilliam Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Monk and many other series.Nearly all of his television work has...
, "Prisoner's BasePrisoner's BasePrisoner's Base is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1952.-Plot introduction:...
"
Mystery Writers of AmericaMystery Writers of AmericaMystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.... - 2002, Nominee, DGC Craft Award
Outstanding Achievement in Direction
Holly DaleHolly DaleHolly Dale is a Canadian film and television director and film producer. She received a Gemini Award in 2008 for Best Direction in a Dramatic Series ....
, "Christmas Party"
Directors Guild of CanadaDirectors Guild of CanadaThe Directors Guild of Canada is a Canadian labour union, founded in 1962, which represents more than 3,700 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. The DGC represents directors, assistant directors, location managers, production assistants and... - 2002, Nominee, DGC Craft Award
Outstanding Achievement in Picture Editing
Stephen Lawrence, "The Doorbell RangThe Doorbell RangThe Doorbell Rang is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1965.-Plot introduction:Nero Wolfe is hired to force the FBI to stop wiretapping, tailing and otherwise harassing a woman who gave away 10,000 copies of a book that is critical of the Bureau and...
"
Directors Guild of CanadaDirectors Guild of CanadaThe Directors Guild of Canada is a Canadian labour union, founded in 1962, which represents more than 3,700 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. The DGC represents directors, assistant directors, location managers, production assistants and... - 2003, Nominee, Golden Reel Award
Best Sound Editing in Television Long Form – Music
Kevin Banks and Richard Martinez, "Death of a DoxyDeath of a DoxyDeath of a Doxy is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1966.-Plot introduction:Orrie Cather, one of Wolfe's operatives, has been secretly seeing a wealthy man's kept mistress at her secret lovenest...
"
Motion Picture Sound EditorsMotion Picture Sound EditorsFounded in 1953, Motion Picture Sound Editors is an honorary society of motion picture sound editors. The society's goals are to educate others about and increase the recognition of the sound editors, show the artistic merit of the soundtracks, and improve the professional relationship of its... - 2003, Nominee, ACTRA Toronto Award
Maury ChaykinMaury ChaykinMaury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...
, Outstanding Performance – Male
Kari MatchettKari MatchettKari Matchett is a Canadian television and film actress. She played Mariel Underlay in Invasion, Lisa Miller in 24, and Kate Filmore in the cult favorite science fiction movie Cube 2: Hypercube. She currently appears in the USA television series Covert Affairs.-Early years:Matchett was born in...
, Outstanding Performance – Female
Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists
United States and Canada
"Nero Wolfe is a beautifully shot series, and its release on DVD is frequently stunning," wrote DVD Talk's Adam Tyner in his comprehensive review http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=21386 of A&E Home Video's "Nero Wolfe: The Complete Classic Whodunit Series":- Boxed sets of TV series take up quite a bit of space on my DVD shelves, but the majority of them — even series I deeply enjoy — have been watched once and only once. Nero Wolfe is certainly an exception. Not only did I feel compelled to rewatch these episodes, I started to feel that urge as soon as the end credits would flash on the screen. There were several cases where I'd read the original Rex Stout novel and then immediately rewatch the episode while the story was still fresh in my mind. I didn't watch Nero Wolfe so much as devour it, and that this is such a rewatchable series makes it especially worth owning on DVD.
- It's rare for any form of entertainment — be it a television series, a film, or a novel — to so immediately and unrelentingly seize my attention, and I'm left fumbling for the right adjectives to fully describe how much I've enjoyed Nero Wolfe. ... It's worth mentioning that these DVDs present the episodes as they appeared on A&E, and although longer versions aired overseas (several were literally twice as long), none of that additional footage is offered here. ...
- Expertly crafted, masterfully acted, and unlike much of anything else on television, this collection of the entire two season run of Nero Wolfe is very highly recommended.
The feature-length series pilot, The Golden Spiders, is included on two of A&E's DVD box sets — "Nero Wolfe: The Complete Classic Whodunit Series" and "Nero Wolfe: The Complete Second Season." These two box sets also include a 22-minute behind-the-scenes film, "The Making of Nero Wolfe," as well as a bonus 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
version http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=21386#ws of "The Silent Speaker," written and directed by Michael Jaffe. All of the other episodes are offered in 4:3 pan and scan
Pan and scan
Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects...
format.
"The episodes look excellent — clear and colorful — in their broadcast full-frame presentation," wrote Scarlet Street
Scarlet Street (magazine)
Scarlet Street was an American film magazine that primarily specialized in the genres of horror, mystery and film noir. Its initial concentration was on Sherlock Holmes and related film and television productions, but later its subject matter expanded to include a variety of other genres.The title...
magazine. "The extras are skimpy to the point of frustration, however. ... For that matter, why is "The Silent Speaker" the only episode presented in widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
format?"
| Title | Media Type | Release Date | Approximate Length | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nero Wolfe: The Complete Classic Whodunit Series |
Region 1 DVD Eight-disc box set |
April 25, 2006 | 24 hours, 56 minutes + extras |
ISBN 076708893X |
| The Doorbell Rang: A Nero Wolfe Mystery |
Region 1 DVD+R (A&E Store exclusive) |
October 2004 | 100 minutes | ISBN 0767067215 |
| The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery |
Region 1 DVD+R (A&E Store exclusive) |
October 2004 | 94 minutes | ISBN 0767067193 |
| Nero Wolfe: The Complete Second Season |
Region 1 DVD Five-disc box set |
June 28, 2005 | 13 hours, 20 minutes |
ISBN 076705508X |
| Nero Wolfe: The Complete First Season |
Region 1 DVD Three-disc box set |
July 27, 2004 | 10 hours | ISBN 0767054997 |
| The Doorbell Rang: A Nero Wolfe Mystery |
VHS videotape (NTSC) |
August 20, 2001 | 100 minutes | ISBN 0767037669 |
| The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery |
VHS videotape (NTSC) |
May 30, 2000 | 94 minutes | ISBN 0767025512 |
International
FremantleMedia
FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...
Enterprises. Distributed by Magna Pacific
Magna Pacific
Magna Pacific is a leading independent film and home entertainment distributor headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, operating within Australia and New Zealand...
, "Nero Wolfe — Collection Two" (December 2008) was the first release of an episode containing scenes not available on the A&E Home Video release. The Pearson Television International version presents "Prisoner's Base
Prisoner's Base
Prisoner's Base is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1952.-Plot introduction:...
" as a 90-minute film with a single set of titles and credits, and it includes three scenes (3.5 minutes) found on pp. 3–5, 21 and 27–28 of the script written by Lee Goldberg and William Rabkin.
A Nero Wolfe Mystery began to be released on Region 2 DVD in December 2009, marketed in the Netherlands by Just Entertainment. Like the collections that were sold in Australia, these DVD sets presented the episodes in 4:3 pan and scan
Pan and scan
Pan and scan is a method of adjusting widescreen film images so that they can be shown within the proportions of a standard definition 4:3 aspect ratio television screen, often cropping off the sides of the original widescreen image to focus on the composition's most important aspects...
rather than their 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
aspect ratio for widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
viewing. The third collection released in April 2010 made the 90-minute features "Wolfe Goes Out" and "Wolfe Stays In" available on home video for the first time; until then, the linked episodes "Door to Death"/ "Christmas Party" and "Eeny Meeny Murder Moe"/"Disguise for Murder" were available only in the abbreviated form sold by A&E Home Video.
| Title | Media Type | Release Date | Approximate Length | Numeric Identifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nero Wolfe — Collection One | Region 4 DVD Three-disc set |
August 13, 2008 | 276 minutes | ISBN 9316797427038 |
| Nero Wolfe — Collection Two | Region 4 DVD Two-disc set |
December 5, 2008 | 178 minutes | ISBN 9315842036140 |
| A Nero Wolfe Mystery — Serie 1 | Region 2 DVD Three-disc set |
December 11, 2009 | 270 minutes | EAN 8717344739221 |
| A Nero Wolfe Mystery — Serie 2 | Region 2 DVD Two-disc set |
February 11, 2010 | 180 minutes | EAN 8717344739801 |
| A Nero Wolfe Mystery — Serie 3 | Region 2 DVD Two-disc set |
April 13, 2010 | 180 minutes | EAN 8717344739481 |
Adapting the stories for the A&E series
"It was a screenwriting assignment unlike any other that my writing partner, William RabkinWilliam Rabkin
William Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Monk and many other series.Nearly all of his television work has...
, and I had ever been involved with," wrote screenwriter Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk...
in the November 2002 issue of Mystery Scene magazine. "Because Nero Wolfe, starring Maury Chaykin as Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as Archie, was unlike any other series on television. It was, as far as I know, the first TV series without a single original script — each and every episode was based on a Rex Stout novel, novella, or short story. That's not to say there wasn't original writing involved, but it was Stout who did all the hard work."
Goldberg and Rabkin adapted four Nero Wolfe stories — Champagne for One
Champagne for One
Champagne for One is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1958.The back matter of the 1995 Bantam edition of this book includes an exchange of correspondence between Stout and his editor at Viking Press, Marshall Best...
, Prisoner's Base
Prisoner's Base
Prisoner's Base is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by Viking Press in 1952.-Plot introduction:...
, "Murder Is Corny" and "Poison à la Carte" — for A Nero Wolfe Mystery. In his article "Writing Nero Wolfe," Goldberg provides a unique inside look at the process of adapting Rex Stout for the A&E TV series:
- Everyone who wrote for Nero Wolfe was collaborating with Rex Stout. The mandate from executive producers Michael Jaffe and Timothy Hutton (who also directed episodes) was to "do the books," even if that meant violating some of the hard-and-fast rules of screenwriting. Your typical hour-long teleplay follows what's known as a four-act structure. ... But Nero Wolfe ignored the formula, forgoing the traditional mini-cliffhangers and plot-reversals that precede the commercial breaks. Instead, we stuck to the structure of the book, replicating as closely as possible the experience of reading a Rex Stout novel...
- "It's amazing how many writers got it wrong," says Sharon Elizabeth Doyle, who was head writer for Nero Wolfe. "I mean very good writers, too. Either you get it or you don't. It's so important to have the relationships right, and the tone of the relationships right, to get that it's about the language and not the story. The characters in these books aren't modern human beings. You have to believe in the characters and respect the formality of the way they are characterized. ... There is a pleasure in Wolfe's speeches, what we call the arias," says Doyle. "Wolfe has lots of them, the trick is isolating that one aria you can't live without."
"There's something so dynamic and wonderful about Wolfe and Archie, Fritz and their whole world," Sharon Elizabeth Doyle told Scarlet Street
Scarlet Street (magazine)
Scarlet Street was an American film magazine that primarily specialized in the genres of horror, mystery and film noir. Its initial concentration was on Sherlock Holmes and related film and television productions, but later its subject matter expanded to include a variety of other genres.The title...
magazine in 2002. Consulting producer for A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Doyle was the show's only full-time writer — overseeing the work of freelance screenwriters, and writing 11 of the teleplays herself:
- "I do the most work on the dialogue," she says. "What Stout writes actually sounds good when you say it out loud, but the stuff that makes you laugh out loud and fall on the floor in the books doesn't work most of the time when you transpose it directly into actors' mouths. Frequently I end up moving words — tenderly and respectfully — but retaining as much of the language as possible. I feel a great belief in Rex Stout. I see the script process as writing his second draft."
Relationship to literary source
In the preface to the second edition of his book At Wolfe's Door: The Nero Wolfe Novels of Rex Stout, J. Kenneth Van Dover assessed the fidelity of A Nero Wolfe Mystery to its literary source:- A quarter century after his death, the Nero Wolfe books remain in print (on, it is reported, "a rotating basis") and, as a result of a very popular A&E television series which premiered in 2000, their continuing presence seems assured. ... The success of the series is significant especially because the scripts remained remarkably faithful to the novels. The programs are set in the period, and much of the dialogue is lifted directly from the novel. Effective novelistic dialogue is not usually effective screen dialogue, as Raymond Chandler discovered when he worked on the script for the 1944 film of James M. Cain's Double Indemnity. The A&E series was able to adopt verbatim both the sharp exchanges between Wolfe and Archie, and as well Archie's narration in voiceover. Credit certainly goes to the skills of the repertory actors who played the roles, and especially to Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton; but it was Stout who supplied the language and the characters who speak it. And it was Stout who created in words the real pleasures of the novels: the voices and ideas, the rooms and the routines. Producer Michael Jaffe realized this, and with great care recreated those pleasures on film.
"That Nero Wolfe should be so pleasing has at least as much to do with the casting as the scripts," wrote cultural critic Terry Teachout
Terry Teachout
Terry Teachout is a critic, biographer and blogger. He is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, the chief culture critic of Commentary, and the author of "Sightings," a column about the arts in America that appears biweekly in the Friday Wall Street Journal...
in the National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
:
- Timothy Hutton plays Archie Goodwin, and I can't see how anyone could do a better job. Not only does he catch Archie's snap-brim Thirties tone with sharp-eared precision, but he also bears an uncanny physical resemblance to the dapper detective-narrator I've been envisioning all these years. No sooner did Hutton make his first entrance in The Golden Spiders than he melded completely with the Archie of my mind's eye. I can no longer read a Stout novel without seeing him, or hearing his voice.
- Still, Archie could have wandered out of any number of screwball comedies; Nero Wolfe is a far more complicated proposition. ... Maury Chaykin has doubtless immersed himself in the Wolfe novels, for he brings to his interpretation of the part both a detailed knowledge of what Stout wrote and an unexpectedly personal touch of insight. He plays Wolfe as a fearful genius, an aesthete turned hermit who has withdrawn from the world (and from the opposite sex) in order to shield himself — against what? Stout never answers that question, giving Chaykin plenty of room to maneuver, which he uses with enviable skill.
BookFinder.com
BookFinder.com
BookFinder.com is a vertical search website that helps readers buy books online. The site's meta-search engine scans the inventories of over 100,000 booksellers located around the world. Users can find the lowest price for a book of their choice from over 125 million volumes available for sale, and...
— a web-search service that reports the most-sought out-of-print titles — documents that the production of A Nero Wolfe Mystery coincides with Rex Stout's becoming a top-selling author some 30 years after his death. In March 2003, the top four most-wanted mysteries listed by BookFinder.com were all Nero Wolfe novels: Where There's a Will (1940), The Rubber Band
The Rubber Band
The Rubber Band is the third Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its publication in 1936 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was serialized in six issues of The Saturday Evening Post...
(1936), The Red Box
The Red Box
The Red Box is the fourth Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. Prior to its first publication in 1937 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., the novel was serialized in five issues of The American Magazine...
(1937) and The League of Frightened Men
The League of Frightened Men
The League of Frightened Men is the second Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout. The story was serialized in six issues of The Saturday Evening Post under the title The Frightened Men. The novel was published in 1935 by Farrar & Rinehart, Inc...
(1935). The Red Box was the most-searched mystery title in August 2003, and the novel remained as number two on the list in 2004. In 2006, Too Many Women
Too Many Women
Too Many Women is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, published in 1947 by the Viking Press. The novel was also collected in the omnibus volume All Aces .-Plot introduction:...
(1947) was fifth on BookFinder.com's list of most-sought out-of-print thrillers, whodunits, classics and modern mystery titles. In 2007, The Black Mountain
The Black Mountain
The Black Mountain is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1954. The story was also collected in the omnibus volume Three Trumps ....
was in the number five position.
Most of the Nero Wolfe stories adapted for A Nero Wolfe Mystery are available through Bantam's
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
Rex Stout Library, a series of paperbacks featuring new introductions by today's best writers and never-before published Rex Stout memorabilia. Some Bantam volumes, like Prisoner's Base, are emblazoned with the words, "as seen on TV." The Audio Partners Publishing Corporation promoted its bestselling line of Rex Stout audiobooks, unabridged on CD and audiocassette, "as seen on A&E TV."
United States and Canada
Distributed by the A&E Television NetworksA&E Television Networks
A&E Television Networks is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad...
in the United States and Canada, A Nero Wolfe Mystery first aired on the A&E Network
A&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
April 22, 2001. The second season premiered April 14, 2002. The series ran Sundays at 8 p.m. ET and was rebroadcast at midnight. The last original broadcast was Sunday, August 18, 2002. Nero Wolfe continued to air regularly in repeat through 2002 and sporadically in early 2003 before leaving the A&E schedule altogether.
From March 2004 to May 2006, Nero Wolfe appeared Saturdays at 8 p.m. ET on another of the A&E Networks, The Biography Channel
The Biography Channel
The Biography Channel is an American digital cable television channel owned by A&E and based on the television series of the same name. A version of the channel also airs on ONO and Telefónica in Spain and on Sky Digital and cable television in the United Kingdom, a version of the channel also...
.
International
FremantleMediaFremantleMedia
FremantleMedia, Ltd. is the content and production division of Bertelsmann's RTL Group, Europe's second largest TV, radio, and production company...
, Ltd., distributes A Nero Wolfe Mystery outside the U.S. and Canada. The series has been broadcast on public and commercial networks, cable television and satellite systems throughout the world, and was presented throughout Europe and Africa on the Hallmark Channel
Hallmark Channel
The Hallmark Channel is a cable television network that broadcasts across the United States. Their programming includes a mix of television movies/miniseries, syndicated series, and lifestyle shows that are appropriate for the whole family...
.
- Australia, Australian Broadcasting CorporationABC TelevisionABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/guide/netw/200404/programs/ZY5824A008_26.htm - Australia, Movie Plus
- Estonia, Kanal 2Kanal 2Kanal 2 is a privately owned Estonian television channel. Its literal name in English is "Channel 2".First broadcasts were aired on October 1, 1993.- Television series :Daytime* Victoria * Julia – Wege zum Glück ...
, as Nero Wolfe http://www.kanal2.ee/?perform=saade&saatekava_saade_id=74278 - Finland, as Nero Wolfe http://yle.fi/ulkomaiset/sarjat_ao2.php?id=648
- France, Paris PremièreParis PremièreParis Première is a French TV channel, available on cable, satellite and the digital terrestrial service, Télévision Numérique Terrestre. It was launched on December 15, 1986 and is now wholly owned by M6.-External links:*...
, as Les Enquêtes de Nero Wolfe http://www.paris-premiere.fr/cms/display.jsp?id=p2_68896 http://www.ina.fr/pub/medias-et-editions/video/PUB2919026119/paris-premiere-nero-wolfe-version-ce-soir.fr.html - Israel, HotHot (Israel)HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. is a company that provides cable television, last-mile Internet access, broadband and telecommunication services in Israel. It also provides various data transmission services and network services at different rates, services to the business sector and other...
- Italy, MediasetMediasetMediaset S.p.A., known as Gruppo Mediaset in Italian, is an Italian-based media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country...
(Rete 4Rete 4Rete 4 is an Italian television station belonging to the Mediaset network. It is an Italian private commercial TV channel. Rete 4's main news programme is TG4, whose editor-in-chief is Emilio Fede since 1992.-TV Series:...
), as Nero Wolfe http://www.mediaset.it/brand/rete4/programma/schedaprogramma_759.shtml - Japan, Movie Plus, AXNAXNAXN is a Pay television, cable and satellite television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was first launched on May 22, 1997. The network is now spread across several regions in the world, including Japan, Europe, other parts of Asia and Latin America...
Mystery http://mystery.co.jp/program/nero_wolfe/ - Japan, WOWOWWOWOWWOWOW was the first private satellite broadcasting and pay TV station in Japan. It has its headquarters on the 21st floor of the Akasaka Park Building in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo...
(March 2004 schedule PDF) - Lithuania, Lietuvos TelevizijaLithuanian National Radio and TelevisionLithuanian National Radio and Television is the national public broadcasting company of Lithuania. The company operates the two national public television channels LTV, LTV2 and LTV World . LRT also broadcasts three national public radio stations...
, as Detektyvas Niras Vulfas - Mexico, TelevisaTelevisaTelevisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest mass media company in Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
, as Un Misterio de Nero Wolfe http://www.esmas.com/televisa/programacion/programas/XEQ-TV-9-2006-MAY-22.html http://www.esmas.com/televisa/programacion/programas/XEQ-TV-9-2006-MAY-29.html - Poland, PolsatPolsatPolsat is Poland's second biggest television channel, founded on December 5, 1992 and owned by Zygmunt Solorz-Żak.Polsat belongs to the Polsat Group , which also owns other channels:*Polsat HD*Polsat 2 International*Polsat News*TV Biznes...
(Echo Miasta June 26, 2006, schedule PDF) - Portugal, Rádio e Televisão de PortugalRádio e Televisão de PortugalRádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....
, as Um Mistério de Nero Wolfe http://tv.rtp.pt/programas-rtp/index.php?p_id=18758&e_id=&c_id=4&dif=tv - Romania, Naţional TVNational TVNaţional TV is the first TV channel of the Centrul Naţional Media, owned by the Micula brothers....
http://programtv.ele.ro/National_TV--Nero_Wolfe_(A_Nero_Wolfe_Mystery)_color__engleza_drama--e2070783.html (Pro TV December 2006 schedule PDF) - Turkey, DigiturkDigiturkDigiturk is a Turkish Satellite television provider, founded in 1999, with services starting in mid-2000. They offer, both national cable TV channels and their own channels, national radio, and music streams of different genres. Digiturk is also the current owner of the broadcasting rights of...
http://www2.digiturk.com.tr/sonuclar.aspx?cx=012423125440101287371%3Ab6vpswxm-xs&cof=FORID%3A11&q=Nero+wolfe#762 - UK, BBC TwoBBC TwoBBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
, as The Nero Wolfe Mysteries http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007t14p/upcoming - UK, Sky MoviesSky MoviesSky Movies is the collective name for the premium subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, and later British Sky Broadcasting. It has around 5 million subscribers, via satellite, cable and IPTV in the UK and Ireland...
http://www.skymovies.com/skymovies/article/0,,-12977552,00.html
Reception
In its debut season on A&EA&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
, A Nero Wolfe Mystery averaged a 1.9 rating. The first three weeks (April 14–28, 2002) of the second season of Nero Wolfe averaged a solid 1.9 rating in cable homes, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported. Broadcasting and Cable
Broadcasting & Cable
Broadcasting & Cable magazine is a television industry trade magazine published by NewBay Media. Previous names included Broadcasting/Telecasting, Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising, and Broadcasting...
reported that Nero Wolfe had averaged a 1.7 rating for the month of May 2002, while viewing levels for the A&E Network overall were 1.1. In mid-June 2002 Multichannel News
Multichannel News
Multichannel News is a magazine and Web site published by NewBay Media that covers multichannel television and communications providers, such as cable operators, satellite television firms and telephone companies, as well as emerging Internet video and communication services.Multichannel News was...
wrote, "Nero Wolfe, in its second cycle of episodes, is drawing solid ratings in the 1.5 to 2.0 Nielsen Media Research range."
A Nero Wolfe Mystery was one of the Top 10 Basic Cable Dramas for 2002.
Reviews and commentary
- John Leonard, New York MagazineNew York (magazine)New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
(April 16, 2001) — Imperious and mysterious, Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe was always a natural for television. Finally, A&E got him right. - Diane Holloway, Cox News ServiceCox CommunicationsCox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...
(April 20, 2001) — The music is big-band smooth, the cars are shiny with tail fins and the dialogue is snappy, almost musical. At times conversations sound like fingers rhythmically popping. ... The antithesis of today's gritty cop dramas, A&E's new Nero Wolfe series is slick and classy. Nobody spinning the dial will mistake the lavish sets, fabulous period costumes and moody lighting for NYPD Blue. The camera doesn't jiggle; it glides. - John Levesque, Seattle Post-IntelligencerSeattle Post-IntelligencerThe Seattle Post-Intelligencer is an online newspaper and former print newspaper covering Seattle, Washington, United States, and the surrounding metropolitan area...
(April 20, 2001) — Like so many characters in noir-ish films of the 1940s and 1950s, Wolfe and Goodwin are ebulliently over the top: loud, proud and full of themselves. It's a bit much for anyone expecting the less theatrical performances of today. And yet it fits remarkably well with today's reality programming. Wolfe, after all, is ruder than anyone on Survivor. - Howard RosenbergHoward RosenbergHoward Rosenberg is a retired TV critic for the Los Angeles Times. He worked there for 25 years and won a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. In recent years he has written the book No Time to Think: The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-Hour News Cycle with Charles S. Feldman and compiled an anthology of...
, Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
(April 20, 2001) — Style is exactly what drives Nero Wolfe. That and deft acting by Chaykin and executive producer Hutton — who also grandly directs the first two episodes — make it the greatest of fun. - Julie SalamonJulie SalamonJulie Salamon , is an American journalist, critic and author.She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and raised in Seaman, a rural village located in Adams County, Ohio, where her father was the town doctor. After graduating from Tufts University, she moved to New York City, where she received her law...
, The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
(April 20, 2001) — The charming A&E series is an expansion of last year's Nero Wolfe movie special, starring Maury Chaykin as the massive Wolfe and Timothy Hutton as skinny Archie Goodwin, his investigator and sidekick. ... This actor has retained his lanky boyishness. Sometimes his big-shouldered, baggy suits seem to be gliding along by themselves. - Alan Johnson, The Columbus DispatchThe Columbus DispatchThe Columbus Dispatch is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since The Columbus Citizen-Journal stopped printing in 1985....
(April 22, 2001) — The series is actually better than the movie — stylish, well-acted and backed by a compelling retro-jazz theme ... What it lacks in shoot'em-up action, Nero Wolfe makes up for in style. - David Kronke, The Daily News of Los AngelesLos Angeles Daily NewsThe Los Angeles Daily News is the second-largest circulating daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a branch of Colorado-based MediaNews Group....
(April 22, 2001) — Nero Wolfe, alas, is undone by uneven performances and a sense that it's more witty and urbane than it really is. Hutton is too antic — he seems to be playing the sassy newsroom copy boy in a '30s B-picture — and his narration tries far too hard to push jokes that just aren't funny. Maury Chaykin, a normally reliable character actor, is alternately flat or rudderlessly blustery as Wolfe. - Laura Urbani, Pittsburgh Tribune-ReviewPittsburgh Tribune-ReviewThe Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, also known as "the Trib," is the second largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
(April 22, 2001) — Hutton has found a series of which he can be proud. Most actors would kill to be a part of such a witty and classy production. - James Vance, Tulsa WorldTulsa WorldTulsa World is the daily newspaper for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the primary newspaper for the northeastern and eastern portions of Oklahoma, and is the second-most widely circulated newspaper in the state, after The Oklahoman. It was founded in 1905 and remains an independent newspaper,...
(April 22, 2001) — Stout's books are mysteries, but they're invariably more about the people involved than the mysteries themselves. Hutton, an Academy Award–winning actor (for 1980's Ordinary PeopleOrdinary PeopleOrdinary People is a 1980 American drama film that marked the directorial debut of Robert Redford. It stars Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Judd Hirsch and Timothy Hutton....
), is ideal casting for Archie, and the lesser-known Chaykin is a surprisingly satisfactory choice to flesh out the combination of growls and tics that make up Nero Wolfe. To that mix Hutton and his partners in production have added the concept of repertory casting that will see the same nucleus of performers returning in different roles each week. - Frazier Moore, Associated PressAssociated PressThe Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
(May 3, 2001) — Fast-paced and stylish, there's no mystery why it's so much fun to watch. ... The series' look is bright and plushly appointed. The music swings like a night at the Stork Club. - Gene Amole, Rocky Mountain NewsRocky Mountain NewsThe Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
(May 11, 2001) — Maury Chaykin is perfect as Wolfe, and Timothy Hutton, who also produces and directs the series, is the ideal Archie. Somehow, they have reproduced with unerring accuracy Wolfe's four-story brownstone mansion ... What wonderful, campy scripts! - Don Dale, Style WeeklyStyle WeeklyStyle Weekly is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Richmond, Virginia, United States. The paper is distributed for free and covers a variety of topics on popular culture, entertainment, and the arts. It is owned by Landmark Media Enterprises, the same company that owns the...
(May 21, 2001) — Maury Chaykin makes an excellent Nero Wolfe in A&E’s new series based on Stout’s books. And Timothy Hutton is nicely cast as Goodwin. ... The soundtrack of the series gets an A+: It’s full of hot '30s and '40s club jazz. So do the writers, especially for capturing the exquisite subtleties of the complex relationship between Wolfe and Goodwin, most often expressed in the conversational games they’re so fond of — and so good at. - Molly HaskellMolly HaskellMolly Haskell is an American feminist film critic and author. Her most influential book is From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in the Movies...
, The New York Observer (December 23, 2001) — The A&E television show based on Rex Stout's mystery novels, with Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin, is a class act, a witty and playful take on the 30's that never overdoes it. - Martin Sieff, United Press InternationalUnited Press InternationalUnited Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
(December 25, 2001) — The great veteran actor Maury Chaykin was born to play Nero. And Timothy Hutton is equally perfect as his leg-man and always squabbling employee/amanuensis/Dr. Watson/Captain Hastings sidekick, Archie Goodwin. ... Hutton, an Oscar winner, and Chaykin are at the heart of it all. They have done many prestigious things in their careers and no doubt will do many more. But it is clear they know they will never have more fun than doing this. - Robert Bianco, USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
(April 12, 2002) — For reasons I can't explain, A&E is dedicated to preserving Nero Wolfe, its thuddingly mediocre series starring Timothy Hutton and Maury Chaykin as Rex Stout's famed detective team. The stars are miscast, the production is chintzy and the books defy adaptation, but A&E keeps plugging. - S. T. Karnick, National ReviewNational ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
(May 10, 2002) — Timothy Hutton, who also serves as executive producer for the show, is just brilliant as Archie Goodwin, managing to express the gumshoe's toughness (which I had been rather skeptical of his ability to do) as effectively as he shows his moral strength and emotional complexity. ... Chaykin quite simply is Nero Wolfe, playing the role with impressive confidence and subtlety. - Jonathan Storm, Pittsburgh Post-GazettePittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:...
(June 11, 2002) — One of TV's most stylish shows. - John Doyle, The Globe and MailThe Globe and MailThe Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
(July 12, 2002) — An absolute delight ... What's fun here is that everybody is having a great time with the arch dialogue, fabulous clothes and general silliness. It's all done with such flair and good humour that you can't help being absorbed. Most of the guys are "saps," all of the women are "dames" and, as Archie Goodwin, Timothy Hutton obviously adores saying things like, "The hell of it was, she was beautiful." - Terry TeachoutTerry TeachoutTerry Teachout is a critic, biographer and blogger. He is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal, the chief culture critic of Commentary, and the author of "Sightings," a column about the arts in America that appears biweekly in the Friday Wall Street Journal...
, National ReviewNational ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
(August 12, 2002) — Chaykin and Hutton are as good in tandem as they are separately, for they understand that the Wolfe books are less mystery stories than domestic comedies, the continuing saga of two iron-willed codependents engaged in an endless game of one-upmanship. ... At least half the fun of the Wolfe books comes from the way in which Stout plays this struggle for laughs, and Chaykin and Hutton make the most of it, sniping at each other with naughty glee. - Carey Henderson, Speakeasy (November 5, 2002) — Timothy Hutton, along with the ever pompous Maury Chaykin, stars in — and directs — this amazing weekly 'who done it' on A&E. ... Wolfe takes us back to a time (or maybe just transports us to a new one) where television could be good. The bad guys lose, the good guys win, and the suits are sharper than a razor.
- Robert Fidgeon, Herald SunHerald SunThe Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
(November 12, 2003) — For those who enjoy stylish, well-written and superbly performed television, you won't get much better than this series. - Tom Keogh, Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
(2004) — The Complete First Season includes all the pleasures and surprises of the show's first mysteries, above all the tempestuous, symbiotic, and highly entertaining relationship between Wolfe (Maury Chaykin), a corpulent recluse who grows orchids and analyzes clues from a distance, and the acerbic knight-errant, Goodwin (Timothy Hutton, also an executive producer on the series), Wolfe's underpaid eyes and ears on the world. Hutton also directs the two-part "Champagne for One" with a snap and verve reminiscent of old Howard Hawks comedies, but it is on "Prisoner's Base" that all of the series' best elements are firing at once … All in all, Nero Wolfe refreshes the television detective genre. - Stephen Lackey, Cinegeek (2004) — Take one part Crime Story, one part Sherlock Holmes, and a lot of smart quick-witted and sarcastic humor and you have A&E's gone-before-its-time television adaptation of Nero Wolfe. I can't recommend this series enough.
- Michael Rogers, Library JournalLibrary JournalLibrary Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
(December 2004) — A&E’s Nero Wolfe is so good, it’s criminal. Highly recommended. - Stuart Kaminsky, Publishers WeeklyPublishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
(December 19, 2005) — I ended up writing the last episode, "Immune to Murder," based on one of Rex Stout's short stories. I thought it was a terrific series, by the way. I don't know for sure why it didn't continue. - Steve Lewis, Mystery*File (February 5, 2009) — The finest TV series ever based on the works of an American mystery writer.
Cancellation
The cancellation of Nero Wolfe was announced in August 2002. Although nothing official was ever said, it is rumored that the reason the A&E NetworkA&E Network
The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched...
ended the series was due to high production costs. To address the cancellation, A&E took the unusual step of posting an "Important Message" on its Web site:
We at A&E remain extremely proud of Nero Wolfe. It is a high quality, beautifully produced and entertaining show, unlike anything else currently on the television landscape. Although it performed moderately well amongst tough competition for two seasons, it simply did not do well enough for us to be able to go on making it, given the current television climate.
The New York Times recalled that television climate, and A&E's response to it, in June 2004: "Two years ago Nick Davatzes
Nickolas Davatzes
Nickolas "Nick" Davatzes is an American television executive who is CEO Emeritus of A&E Network. He created and developed two cable television networks: The A&E Network and The History Channel...
, president and chief executive of A&E Television Networks, called his executives to a retreat, to 'wallow in the mud,' as he described the exercise. From that wallowing emerged an overhaul in management and outlook, including the conclusion that reality television could not be ignored if the network wanted younger viewers."
Maury Chaykin
Maury Chaykin
Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...
reflected on the cancellation of Nero Wolfe in a 2008 interview. "I'm a bit jaded and cynical about which shows succeed on television. I worked on a fantastic show once called Nero Wolfe, but at the time A&E was transforming from the premiere intellectual cable network in America to one that airs Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter
Dog the Bounty Hunter is a reality television show on A&E which chronicles Duane "Dog" Chapman's adventures as a fugitive recovery agent, or bounty hunter...
on repeat, so it was never promoted and eventually went off the air."
External links
- A Nero Wolfe Mystery at The Wolfe Pack, official site of the Nero Wolfe Society
- Writing Nero Wolfe by Lee Goldberg, on Mystery*File
- Small-screen version of the great man, consultant Winnifred Louis' reflections on a visit to the set of The Golden Spiders (September 1999)
- Doorbells Ringing, consultant Winnifred Louis' notes on the A&E TV series and "The Doorbell Rang" (September 2000)
- Three scripts (PDF) for A Nero Wolfe Mystery that were written by Lee GoldbergLee GoldbergLee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk...
and William RabkinWilliam RabkinWilliam Rabkin is an American television producer, television writer and author.He has written for a number of notable television series namely Spenser: For Hire, Murphy's Law, Hunter, Baywatch, Diagnosis Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Monk and many other series.Nearly all of his television work has...
: "In Bad Taste," combining "Poison a la Carte" and "Murder Is Corny"; "Champagne for One"; and "Prisoner's Base," nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. - Nero Wolfe: An A&E Original Series, official site at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...