Ellery Queen (1 Viewer)

[younger1968]

There are other threads on Ellery Queen, but none of them appear to discuss the show/espisodes. I picked up Ellery Queen when it first came out as blind buy as such I was quite impresssed with episodes/acting. The thing I like about the episodes is that you get to help figure out who did it the crime. I wonder in the 1970s if they had Ellery Queen parties where people sat around trying to figure out who did the crime!

 

[Matt Hough]

I wish I knew people then who were watching Ellery Queen. No one where I worked nor any of my friends watched it. No surprise when it didn't make it past its first year.

I think it might be the best mystery series ever done. I can't think of another where the puzzles were so intricate with so many viable suspects. And the period flavor of the show, the wonderful actors: it's a real gem.

 

[younger1968]

I wish I knew people then who were watching Ellery Queen. No one where I worked nor any of my friends watched it. No surprise when it didn't make it past its first year.

I think it might be the best mystery series ever done. I can't think of another where the puzzles were so intricate with so many viable suspects. And the period flavor of the show, the wonderful actors: it's a real gem.

Ellery Queen is a "GEM" and there are few shows in my collection that I would have to say are "GEMs" as well, like Naked City or Coronado 9 or Born Free or Harbor Command, etc. I search out oddball shows, especially those that I have never watched as a kid and those are some of the ones that I add to my collection!!

 

[Greg Chenoweth]

I was an avid Ellery Queen fan when the TV show came out. I think the pilot TOO MANY SUSPECTS is the best TV whodunnit story that has ever been written. I watched it every single week and recorded every one of them on audio cassette so I could listen to them later. Naturally I bought the boxed set when it came out and they did an excellent job. The only problem with the set is that in the pilot episode, they removed the Ellery Queen theme music and replaced it with the NBC Mystery Movie theme from Henry Mancini. This is not how it originally aired and I called the company to complain about it. the pilot ddi air on the NBC SUNDAY MYSTERY MOVIE. However, the pilot order went like this: Opening Whodunnit Question/NBC Mystery Movie Theme with the guy walking the beach/Commercials/Ellery Queen opening title with Ellery Queen theme. The Ellery Queen theme was longer than the one that played with the episodes. Also the title TOO MANY SUSPECTS was not on the pilot when it originally aired. It was added later when it went to syndication.

 

[FanCollector]

I love the show and I think one of the reasons it's so much fun is the tone is exactly right. It's self-aware, but not a spoof. Everyone is having some fun, but they take the structure seriously. The whole thing is done both affectionately and smartly, and the result is very entertaining. It's also completely immune to bein dated because it was a fantasy period piece even at the time.One flaw that emerges in watching the episodes in airdate sequence is that almost all of the "dying clue" episodes are clustered together at the beginning of the series, so first-time viewers can see it as a little repetitive.

 

[Jack P]

Ellery Queen is indeed a gem and much superior to Murder She Wrote which partly reinvented the idea. The chief difference is it made *sense* for Ellery to be around a murder in contrast to Jessica Fletcher!

Ironically, there is one Murder She Wrote episode that literally cannibalized an unshot Ellery Queen script years later. If you ever see the Murder She Wrote episode "Adventure of the Grand Lady" it has Jessica telling us a story of a crossword puzzle expert sleuth solving a case in the 1940s for his police inspector father aboard an ocean liner. The story even has a radio series detective which is obviously Simon Brimmer! Obviously the names had to be changed to remove a hint of connection to EQ but if you ever watch the episode and envision the dialogue as having been for Ellery, Inspector Queen and Brimmer you can see what might have been.

 

[Keith Cobby]

I am also a fan of the series and remember watching it in the mid 1970's on UK television. It had a memorable theme tune. I think the only more recent show of this type I have enjoyed was the Nero Wolfe series. I hope both find their way to blu-ray. The Nero Wolfe DVD set seems to be in the wrong AR.

 

[JohnMor]

The show was a favorite of my family at the time. We loved it and were very disappointed when it went off the air. Never heard about any viewing parties at the time though. Of course, we were the only ones we knew who watched it.

 

[Darby67]

I remember seeing a few episodes when I was younger and liking the show, so I've been toying with the idea of buying the complete series release. The price at Amazon right now is certainly enticing. As always, the positive comments of my fellow HTF members are also persuasive.

Darby

 

[Adam Gregorich]

I picked it up on sale as a blind buy a few months ago after reading the review here. It didn't disappoint...

 

[jimmyjet]

amazon shows season 1 in hd over amazon video.

does this indicate a future blu-ray release ?

 

[Roy Wall]

Superb little show....remember three episodes that made quite an impression on me...(1) my favorite...a New Years Party in a high roller hotel where Thayer David was the murder victim in a phone booth (2) Vincent Price was a movie director losing an actor and stunt man by murder (3) Edward Andrews was having a costume party where he was the murder victim. My wife introduced me to this one as she's a murder mystery fanatic.

P.S....I can't remember the star (the murder victim) in the episode but another classic was a murder surrounding a live radio broadcast series...I loved the live sound effects and how they were generated....another impressionable (great) episode. This one had the guy from Magnum PI that played an aloof character...as a semi regular and there was a goofy news reporter who was the other semi regular.

 

[FanCollector]

The victim was Rudy Vallee in The Adventure of the Tyrant of Tin Pan Alley.

 

[JoeDoakes]

I was an avid Ellery Queen fan when the TV show came out. I think the pilot TOO MANY SUSPECTS is the best TV whodunnit story that has ever been written. I watched it every single week and recorded every one of them on audio cassette so I could listen to them later. Naturally I bought the boxed set when it came out and they did an excellent job. The only problem with the set is that in the pilot episode, they removed the Ellery Queen theme music and replaced it with the NBC Mystery Movie theme from Henry Mancini. This is not how it originally aired and I called the company to complain about it. the pilot ddi air on the NBC SUNDAY MYSTERY MOVIE. However, the pilot order went like this: Opening Whodunnit Question/NBC Mystery Movie Theme with the guy walking the beach/Commercials/Ellery Queen opening title with Ellery Queen theme. The Ellery Queen theme was longer than the one that played with the episodes. Also the title TOO MANY SUSPECTS was not on the pilot when it originally aired. It was added later when it went to syndication.

For some reason, none of the Universal releases of Mystery Movie shows have the Mancini theme. My suspicion is that E2 is Universal's alter ego. However, when Universal licenses Mystery Movie shows outside of the U.S. (to Canada or Australia), the mystery movie theme is there. I think it has to do with the treatment of music rights in the U.S., and the lack of desire to pay Mancini to clear the theme. p.s. My favorite part in Too Many Suspects was at the beginning where the announcer is reviewing ths suspects, and then he adds something like, "Surely it wasn't Guy Lombardo," and we see Lombardo conducting on the bandstand.

 

[Greg Chenoweth]

For some reason, none of the Universal releases of Mystery Movie shows have the Mancini theme. My suspicion is that E2 is Universal's alter ego. However, when Universal licenses Mystery Movie shows outside of the U.S. (to Canada or Australia), the mystery movie theme is there. I think it has to do with the treatment of music rights in the U.S., and the lack of desire to pay Mancini to clear the theme. p.s. My favorite part in Too Many Suspects was at the beginning where the announcer is reviewing ths suspects, and then he adds something like, "Surely it wasn't Guy Lombardo," and we see Lombardo conducting on the bandstand.

Actually, the quote about Guy Lombardo is from the first regular season episode THE ADVENTURE OF AULD LANG SYNE, not from TOO MANY SUSPECTS. When I first saw the episode, I thought Mr. Lombardo was the real killer but then when Ellery explained everything, my speculation hit a sour note.

 

[JoeDoakes]

Actually, the quote about Guy Lombardo is from the first regular season episode THE ADVENTURE OF AULD LANG SYNE, not from TOO MANY SUSPECTS. When I first saw the episode, I thought Mr. Lombardo was the real killer but then when Ellery explained everything, my speculation hit a sour note.

Guess I don't remember it too well. So, I'll have to watch it again!