Ellery Queen

                  Yes, this is old.  Yes, people laugh at me.  No, I do not care.         

                Set in a time not long after World War II, Ellery Queen is a mystery writer.  He is a quite absent minded mystery writer.  His glasses are left all over the place and he constantly puts things in strange places, such as the refrigerator.  While Ellery is devoted to his writing, he is unable to resist becoming involved in the real life mysteries brought to him by his police inspector father.  Of course Ellery always solves the case.

                What is different about this series versus others is that right away the narrator tells us who is going to be killed and the possible suspects.  The audience can spend their time looking for clues and analyzing suspects instead of wondering who is going to be the victim.  Another unique thing is just before the answer is revealed, Ellery speaks to the viewers.  He asks us if we know who the culprit is based on what we have just seen and heard.          

                There is one glitch with this series.  In some of the episodes there is a character by the name of Simon Brimmer.  He is a man with a detective radio show, and quite pompous in my opinion.  For some reason he believes he can solve mysteries better than Ellery.  This leads him to often withhold information and become a nuisance for Inspector Queen.  Ellery handles Mr. Brimmer’s presence better than his father does.  Mr. Brimmer has a tendency to come to wrong conclusions and it is a good thing Ellery is usually right behind him to clear everything up.  The episodes flow much more smoothly without Mr. Brimmer, but even with him, I greatly enjoy this show.    

                One kind of quirky thing I get a kick out of is the height difference between Ellery and his father.  This probably comes off as strange, but something about that makes the relationship and the show even more charming.  I do not know if the reason for the height difference is because Jim Hutton (Ellery) is so tall, David Wayne (Inspector Queen) is that short, or a combination of the two.  No matter what the reason, I feel it adds to the show, even if it is subtly.  Another thing I like is I never know what celebrities I will see as guest stars.  It always makes me wonder where they were in their career then versus now.

                This show only lasted one season.  With only a few more discs to watch I will be sad when it ends.  But who is to say I cannot start the series over again?