InfoGeek

I read Adam Tyner's DVD review of Nero Wolfe - The Complete First Season at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=8001. What a great review! And I can personally verify every word. If you haven't seen a Nero Wolfe episode you are missing out on some great entertainment. Thank you Mr. Tyner, for taking the time to do such an in-depth review!

Randy Miller III

I'm glad it's such a great set...I ordered this for my dad for Christmas, as he's a huge fan of Nero Wolfe. In fact, the review is what attracted me to get it for him in the first place---I hadn't even heard of the DVD release prior to reading it.

Adam Tyner

Thank you both very much, and I'm extremely pleased to hear that my review prompted a purchase, Randy. As I wait for season two to hit DVD, I've been devouring Rex Stout's work, though not as quickly as I'd have liked. So far I've read "Fer-De-Lance", "Prisoner's Base", "Champagne for One", and "Eeny Meeny Murder Mo", and I have a pair of anthologies and "In the Best Families" on my nightstand that I'm very much looking forward to have the opportunity to tear into. I've gotten more e-mails for my review of Nero Wolfe than anything I've written in close to four years of writing, and the exceptionally positive response is the greatest compliment I could ever hope to receive.

Randy Miller III

My dad's collection is extensive, but I don't think he's seen the A&E show (like me, he doesn't watch a lot of current TV). Besides, last week's sale at DDD made the purchase a no-brainer...it was under $30 shipped.

Iceberg

Timothy Hutton really pulled one off with this series, and Mr. Tyner's review was spot on. What he couldn't have known at the time it was written was how superbly well the series captured the flavor of Rex Stout's work. Yeah, there are only 77 (or is it 78?) Wolfes that we know of, and of course I've read 'em all probably a dozen times apiece, so I'd naturally be enthusiastic about a Wolfe series, right?

Well, no. That one-off TV movie from back in, I think, '78, frankly stank. The characters weren't well enough drawn to engage my imagination and draw me into the story in the way I knew they should. When you already know the plot and the payoff, something else has to grab you; the quality of the characterizations, the cinematography, the music, lighting, sets, and perhaps most importantly, the timing and chemistry between characters has to be right.

Hutton got it right. The flavor is there, as I'm sure Mr. Tyner is now aware. Stout's writing was so superb in so many ways that only a very gifted filmmaker was going to be able to capture the nuances and feel of Rex's craft and present the characters and stories in such a manner that you really believe you're seeing something that's actually happening.

Adam, I'd like you to revisit this discussion now that you've had a few helpings of Stout in printed form and comment on the artistic, stylistic, and technical execution of the films (and DVDs, of course) and, if you could, specifically address the assertions I make here.

Adam Tyner

Revisiting some of these episodes after reading their print counterparts, it's interesting to see how effectively they've been condensed. So many movies/TV series with a novel as a source use them primarily as a launching pad -- they'll maintain the bare essence of the plot, but the writers can't resist the urge to relentlessly modify the material. Nero Wolfe stays close to its source, and I frequently noticed my favorite lines from each novel preserved syllable for syllable. The adapted material fits the allotted time perfectly as well -- nothing essential is gutted out, there's no meandering filler, and it never felt rushed or hurried. Nero Wolfe holds up remarkably well to repeat viewings <small>(and repeat readings, I'd imagine, though I still have so much of the corpus to sift through that I haven't yet had the opportunity to revisit any of the novels)</small>, even after watching an episode once, reading its print version, then rewatching the episode. Sometimes that sort of familiarity can be a detriment with mystery films/television series -- since I already know all of the twists and turns the plot will take, repeat viewings can drag as I wait for certain memorable, pivotal moments to arrive -- but this wasn't the case with Nero Wolfe. If anything, the episodes seemed to move faster following that initial viewing and reading the novel, though again, I don't mean that in a negative way. Many mysteries focus on those pivotal moments...on the twists, on the action...but Stout's skill with dialogue and characterization makes the journey more intriguing than what I'm accustomed to through formulaic Hollywood mysteries. That Nero Wolfe is so eminently rewatchable makes it a perfect series to pick up on DVD, and I'm glad to hear that season two is lurking in the wings.

(One of the complaints I've seen cited most frequently about the series is that Wolfe is frequently portrayed as too irascible on the series; I didn't get that impression, but my perception may have been colored having seen the first season before reading any of the books.)