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Ellery Queen Series

Topics: Ellery Queen, Mystery

Item Size: 19.9G

Set in post-World War II New York City, the show closely followed the format of early Ellery Queen mystery novels where, before presenting the solution, a "Challenge To The Reader" was issued: the reader was challenged to guess the solution to the crime. In the series this tradition was followed by having Ellery Queen (Jim Hutton) "break the fourth wall," reviewing key clues and asking the audience if they knew the solution.

The final act always used the time-honored detective cliché of calling together all the suspects, with Ellery Queen presenting the solution (except in one episode where the elder Queen took over) to the group - often disproving the solution proposed by whichever rival sleuth happened to be in that episode.

The series departed from the original in two respects. An element of comedy was added by making the Ellery Queen character slightly physically clumsy, and the character of rival radio detective Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman) was created for the series.

Addeddate: 2015-08-25 16:59:04

Identifier: ElleryQueenSeries

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Reviewer: sircatniparchive - - January 12, 2025
Subject: Thanks!

Thank you for uploading!

Reviewer: tomwins - - July 12, 2024
Subject: Easy and Engaging

One of the best murder mystery shows from the 70s. Those who like to think and puzzle-out the mystery will enjoy it more than Murder She Wrote - although I enjoy it too.
John Hutton and David Wayne are excellent and guest stars range from Bette White and June Lockhart to the recurring John Hillerman.

Reviewer: alendar - - January 7, 2024
Subject: Simple Fare for Simple People

This was fun viewing, similar to Columbo and Murder She Wrote. It's one season, but back then seasons had 22 episodes.
I was surprised this didn't show up on any IMDB lists (or any other source) of 70s Mystery shows. It's fun and entertaining without much blood, and the Ellery and his Dad are great playing off each other. Some I actually guessed the culprit, which is rare for me. Others were written impossible to guess. The bumfuddly nature of Ellery was entertaining because his character is absent minded.
I don't think I'm giving anything away when I mention how Ellery always breaks the Fourth Wall, but only once and towards the end. It's a gimmick that you can let irritate you, or you can relax.
The main things about 70s detective shows is two things:
1) They are much stricter about police procedures, unlike 60s shows. I enjoy the rules of evidence, etc.
2) They don't delve deep into the main characters' backgrounds. I don't have to know about their mothers or how they were abused.
Move forward to the 90s and you'll still find the strict police rules, but then you'll start to get more backstory.

Reviewer: Samskara - - September 14, 2015
Subject: The Best Adapttion of Ellery Queen

Ellery Queen, both the fictional detective and the pseudonymous writer of the series has been one of the most successful American detective series, and going beyond the books and magazines, has been repeatedly adapted for radio, movies, and television. Because the character was created before World War II and continued into the 1960s, adaptations had to settle on one time period, with varying degrees of success. In most versions, the title character lacked any distinguishing traits, and was simply a generic detective.
These episodes are from the 1975 television series which starred Jim Hutton and David Wayne. Mr. Hutton's version of Ellery is a bit forgetful, a notoriously poor driver, and perhaps too inept to be fully faithful to the books, but the two principals have a great deal of charm, and the costumes and setting were excellent., reflecting the immediate post WW II period. The episodes were marked by having Ellery address the audience and challenge the viewer to identify the killer.

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