Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

girvsjoint The concept of a Priest who spends his spare time solving murders and crimes is nothing new of course, Father Brown had been doing it for decades before Father Dowling arrived on the scene, but this is an American slant on the thing, and good leads like Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson make it work, back before crime shows got too dark and gruesome, this one has plenty of humour, and plays like some of those wonderful old 'B' movies of the 30's & 40's, in other words, just plain old fashioned good entertainment. How many people I wonder realize that 20 years before this, Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson appeared in the same movie together? 'Yours, Mine and Ours' with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball, of course Tracy was only about 4 years old at the time, neither could have imagined one day they'd co-star in the same series.

sankey48 I decided to buy this DVD as a result of seeing Tracy Nelson in another old Movie alongside Ernest Borgnine, where she starred as a single Mum. I then traced her connection as I suspected to Ricky Nelson. I guess readers have figured out I am an 'early-days-of-tv in Australia' person. Tom Bosley does well in this. Sad there are no Subtitles but the sound is not too bad in spite of the lack of them.Plots, and the solving of the mysteries are often equally as surprising. This was a set of DVD's that included a lower quality TV episode at the start that was probably originally NTSC converted to PAL for Australian and English viewers. Imagine my surprise when one of the later episodes also featured Tracy Nelson's Grandmother Harriet Nelson from the Harriet and Ozzy Nelson TV shows. I won't give away which role she played. So all in all apart from all the other fine actors a real family affair with 2 generations of Nelsons playing in one episode together. I could see some similarities, in a few places, in this to perhaps Peter Faulk's Murder Mysteries in the Columbo series.

bkoganbing The mystery solving parish priest Father Brown who was the creation of converted Catholic G.K. Chesterton got an American makeover in that most American of cities Chicago for the Father Dowling Mysteries. That man did get himself involved in more situations that were not necessarily related to his calling which made for interesting episodes. Tom Bosley as Father Dowling was a trial to both the Catholic Archdiocese and the Police Department which he was always showing up.That's usually the way it is with most television series, the private detective or the amateur is constantly showing up professional law enforcement. As viewers we enjoy that.Unlike Chesterton's detective Dowling did not dwell too much on Catholic dogma, the better to get a universal audience. Tracy Nelson was a young nun who shared Dowling's taste for mystery and adventure and her being a nun and all that that entailed put her in some interesting situations as a Dowling operative so to speak.Sad to say the show did run out of creative ideas and that was probably due to the parameters imposed by making a priest your lead character. When Dowling confessed to really fathering a child before taking his vows of celibacy you knew the jig was up for this show.Still it was a pleasant series to watch and Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson gave a good account of themselves in the series.

jpinney245 A delightfully refreshing mystery in the spirit of Miss Marple. The character of Father Dowling, as portrayed by Tom Bosley,,,was a real caring individual, giving a partial absolution to the horrible portraits painted about a few of the clergy, figured in the tabloids. My feeling is that it might help to eradicate some of the distressingly graphic illustrations of priests literally promoted by the media. True or not the mention of a catholic priest in some circles causes an unusual amount of animosity and disdain, for a group who preach that control is one of the responsibilities of every partitioner, their lack thereof is astonishing,,,in conclusion, I enjoyed the series.