Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Crwthod A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

coachayers I first watched this series after graduating from college. It was agonizing when Ellery turned and said "do you know who did it?" I'd scream NO! and quickly tear through my notes during the commercials to try to figure it out before the show returned. I recently bought the series on DVD and now, 35 years I am trying again to match wits with a little more success. This is the forerunner to Monk which repeated the concept of showing you all the clues and making you THINK instead of feeding you the answer. This is one of the most mind exercising series that has ever graced the tube. Too bad there were not dozens of episodes more than th one season. It was a jewel in what has been called a vast wasteland.

DKosty123 This is the best series to ever be axed in one season. The pilot ran as an episode of the NBC Mystery Movie. Ironically, the first regular season episode ran on September 11, 1975. The mystery of why a show so well produced got the axe so quickly.The producers, Richard Levinson & William Link got an inspiration for this series for a simple reason. They were producing another show, Columbo, where they always told the audience the murderer at the beginning of the show and then amazed the audience entertaining it by showing Columbo doggedly trying to find the person we already knew did it.This shows starts off by challenging the audience on who Kiele the victim. It starts with a teaser dangling the victim & the suspects. Then it goes through the show with Ellery issuing a final challenge near the end of the show, and then reveal the killer in the finale. It is as opposite of Columbo as you can get.The casting for this show is perfect. Jim Hutton is perfect as Ellery Queen. David Wayne is perfect and Inspector Richard Queen, his father. The interplay between these actors has an irresistible chemistry. The guest casts were major league. The stories were good. That leaves us with the mystery, why did the show fail? Did NBC hire a bumbling rating agency that gave this show low numbers to kill it? Did the NBC execs put it in a bad time slot trying to kill it? Did Levinson & Link just develop this as practice before they got Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) hired to take the same format to higher ratings on CBS? Was there somebody else trying to kill it? Did the Love Boat need to borrow the guest casts the show was using? Was it somebody else like Jimmy Carter or Gerald Ford? One thing the show does is recreate the 1940's atmosphere very well for a television show. What is left is a show that is great program that could have been more popular. Sadly, we are still looking for the killer.

bd64kcmo This is a prime example of what TV can be. I enjoy the mental puzzle it presents, instead of the mass feeding of special effects, over-driven color, and whatnot of CSI Miami and shows like it. The perps are portrayed as human beings with motives, not these diabolical one dimensional monsters you see so much.I just watched "The Adventure of the Eccentric Engineer" featuring the late Ed McMahon who played an inventor considered formerly brilliant, but now considered senile, working in his electric model train workshop in a quest to engineer automation into the economy. The dialogue spoke of "toy" trains (which hearkens back to another memorable quote in "The Flight Of The Phoenix" (1965) concerning "toy" airplanes). The engineer "programmed" (their words) the trains to stop for gate lowing and open switches, and used a spur to send messages with the main house.Anyway, my two cents.Brian

timothyadams1 Jim Hutton is one of the best actors to come out of Hollywood. His performance in the Green Berets with John Wayne is memorable and you come to connect with his character in a very intimate way. As Ellery Queen, Jim Hutton really became the character he played. His boyish good looks, mannerism, and characterizations where beyond measure. The show itself was very well written and the guest actors where also exceptional. I remember waiting in anticipation each week to watch the show. Every show was riveting and the plot superb. The series became the measuring stick I used to judge the quality of other mystery movies and series ever since. It was a great loss to the industry when he died from liver cancer.