I Love a Mystery - Mystery TV Shows (2 Viewers)

[Matt Hough]

Never saw Griff, Bronk, or Jigsaw John. I guessed Hawk instead of Dan August, too! Great minds and all....

 

[Mysto]

Hmm. for some reason, that photo and Burt's look just didn't say Dan August to me. Whiffed that one.

Should have known Toma, but am not sure that I've even heard of Jigsaw John!

Fun quiz, Marv!

Well - I was doing Dan August but Hawk could also be correct. I doubled on the last quiz - should have on this one. I give you extra credit. Some for you too Matt. (Just saw your post)
Cheers

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Here's another TV detective quiz, just for fun.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. (I'll accept either the British or U.S. version of the title).

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

 

[Mysto]

Hey Jeff - I'm not doing as good a you are.
1-Hec Ramsey

2-I know this one for sure but my brain isn't working

3-

4-Man Undercover (and I wish I could forget this one)

5-

6-Mr. & Mrs. North

7-City of Angels

8-Richard Diamond

9-Thin Man(we already did this one)

10-Mark Saber (one of three versions)

 

[Jeff Flugel]

Good work, Marv, thanks for playing! There were some toughies in there.

1. Hec Ramsey (Richard Boone)
2. City Detective (the first of Rod Cameron's three syndicated TV shows)
3. Cool Million (James Farentino)
4. David Cassidy, Man Undercover
5. Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - Original UK title
a.k.a. My Partner the Ghost - US title (Mike Pratt/Kenneth Cope)
6. Mr. & Mrs. North (Richard Denning/Barbara Britton)
7. City of Angels (Wayne Rogers)
8. Richard Diamond, Private Detective (David Janssen)
9. The Thin Man (Peter Lawford/Phyllkis Kirk) Sorry for the repeat!
10. Mark Saber (Tom Conway)

 

[Mysto]

Good work, Marv, thanks for playing! There were some toughies in there.

1. Hec Ramsey (Richard Boone)
2. City Detective (the first of Rod Cameron's three syndicated TV shows)
3. Cool Million (James Farentino)
4. David Cassidy, Man Undercover
5. Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) - Original UK title
a.k.a. My Partner the Ghost - US title (Mike Pratt/Kenneth Cope)
6. Mr. & Mrs. North (Richard Denning/Barbara Britton)
7. City of Angels (Wayne Rogers)
8. Richard Diamond, Private Detective (David Janssen)
9. The Thin Man (Peter Lawford/Phyllkis Kirk) Sorry for the repeat!
10. Mark Saber (Tom Conway)

I should have gotten City Detective. Randall and Hopkirck I only watched one a long time ago and never My Partner the Ghost. I guess I need to check them out.
Cheers

 

[Jeff Flugel]

I should have gotten City Detective. Randall and Hopkirck I only watched one a long time ago and never My Partner the Ghost. I guess I need to check them out.

Just in case there's any confusion, Marv...Randall and Hopkirk is My Partner the Ghost. The latter was the name the show went by when it aired in the States.

Wish Timeless (or somebody) could've released City Detective on DVD. I really enjoy Rod Cameron's subsequent series, State Trooper and Coronado 9.

 

[Matt Hough]

3 - I knew the series name Cool Million, but I didn't remember the name of the adventurer James Farentino played. I had to look it up.

 

[Mysto]

The Mrs Bradley Mysteries – 1998

Yea! It’s Emma Peal, O.K. Dame Diana Rigg, as Adela Bradley along with George Moody her faithful chauffeur played by Neil Dudgeon. Dr. Who Peter Davison even has a go as the official police presence, Inspector Christmas.

This is yet another of these delightful period pieces with the 1920’s in all its glory. Adela is wealthy, and dripping with style and class. Not to mention a wonderful sense of wit.

Chauffeur George is a wonderful companion with a dose of sarcasm keeping it all real. He makes a great counterpoint.

Dame Diana has a romp as she breezes through some pretty good mystery plots all the while not ever getting a run in her stockings. These have somewhat the feel of the later Miss Fisher mysteries but Adela Bradley is a little older, a little wiser, but still a force to be reckoned with as a liberated woman in a world of men. She will even break the fourth wall and share some of her wisdom from time to time. Wonderful sets, good acting and interesting puzzles in this altogether too short series of 5 mysteries. Now if we could only get them in Blu-Ray.

 

[Matt Hough]

Another series to be on the lookout for!

 

[Mysto]

Another series to be on the lookout for!

It's on Prime, Britbox, and Roku all for a charge. Used dvd sets are going for around $15. Here is a copy on dailymotion just to check it out. It is not very good quality.

 

[Jeff Flugel]

The Mrs Bradley Mysteries – 1998

Dame Diana has a romp as she breezes through some pretty good mystery plots all the while not ever getting a run in her stockings. These have somewhat the feel of the later Miss Fisher mysteries but Adela Bradley is a little older, a little wiser, but still a force to be reckoned with as a liberated woman in a world of men. She will even break the fourth wall and share some of her wisdom from time to time. Wonderful sets, good acting and interesting puzzles in this altogether too short series of 5 mysteries. Now if we could only get them in Blu-Ray.

Nice overview, Marv!

This is another case where the books are much better than the resulting series (author Gladys Mitchell wrote a whopping 66 Mrs. Bradley novels!) That said, the first movie-length episode, "Speedy Death," is a pretty good adaptation. I don't think the move to one-hour episode length did the plots of the subsequent episodes (which were all adapted from some of the best of Mitchell's novels) any favors. And Dame Diana, even at her advanced age, is far too good-looking to fit the "cackling old crocodile" character of Mrs. Bradley. Nice period detail, though, and I did like George the chauffeur. It's a curiously short-run series...I wonder why they only made five? Perhaps Ms. Rigg wanted to move onto something else?

BTW, did you notice that Mrs. Bradley's chauffeur George is played by Neil Dudgeon, better known for taking over from John Nettles as the lead detective on Midsomer Murders?

 

[Mysto]

Beyond Paradise Debut

Well finally Beyond Paradise debuts. Five years ago D.I. Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) left the Paradise of St. Marie to be with his true love Martha Lloyd (Sally Bretton). Now we meet him again as they start their new life on the Devonshire coast in Jolly Olde.

He is joined by:
DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi) not too sure about his methods but slowly becoming a fan.

PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn) not the brightest bulb in the station but physically fit.

Office support Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu) - the no nonsense, don't give her any crap helper.

This outing a lady falls and is seriously injured while changing a light bulb and winds up in hospital. She claims she was pushed by a witch that died hundreds of years ago. Everyone has an alibi and the security footage shows no one coming or going. But Humphrey suspects foul play.

The good news. Fun to see Kris Marshall back in the saddle again. Fun to see more of the locked room style, impossible mysteries again. The puzzle was fair and they are using character projecting into the room as he solves the mystery instead of the grand denouncement.

Bad news. The scenery is nice but not paradise (doesn't add to the show as we already have a lot of shows with wonderful British countryside) so the writing has to be a bit sharper to keep up with the original Death in Paradise. But so far it hasn't. The comedy is a bit contrived even adding fart jokes to the mix and the cast chemistry has yet to gel.

They are developing more on the relationship with Humphrey and Martha and hopefully that will add to the story. It looks to have the potential to be a winner and I do love the impossible type mysteries so we will tune in next week hoping that the cast finds its footing. The preview said an entire family will just vanish.

 

[Mysto]

My Life is Murder - 2019-

If Emma Peal can play a detective, then so can Xena Warrior Princess.

That’s right – Lucy Lawless stars as Alexa Crowe ex-detective. She has left the force, perhaps because her husband died, but the police can’t let her be. D. I. Kieran Hussey (Bernard Curry) convinces her to work on some unsolved cases. Alexa is reluctant but can’t resist a mystery. She has help in the form of Madison Feliciano (Ebony Vagulans) a Police data analyst providing puzzle pieces to help crack the case in addition to her smart comments and advice.

This show started in Australia and then moved to New Zealand for the second season and makes good use of the city and country backgrounds. Each episode is a complete mystery but a lot of the appeal is the ongoing struggles of Alexa with life problems and a fair dose of light comedy.

I would qualify this as a cozy mystery. They are lightweight but enjoyable and appear to be getting better as we watch them. So far there have been three seasons, a season four has not yet been announced.

 

[Mysto]

It is official - Death in Paradise will return for seasons 13 and 14, with two feature-length Christmas specials. episodes also on their way.

From the BBC
"With its sparkling blend of mystery, humour and heart, Death in Paradise continues to delight the millions of us who make the return trip to Saint Marie with every sun-drenched episode," said Lindsay Salt, director of BBC drama. "It is a programme that goes from strength to strength, and I could not be happier that it will return for another two series and specials on BBC One and iPlayer."

If the past holds true the Christmas Special will be on boxing day and the series will start in Jan 24.

Cheers

 

[Rustifer]

C.B. Strike
5 Seasons--PBS, HBO Max

Normally I gravitate to the more gentle, cozy British mysteries. This ain't one of those, but I've been binging on it nonetheless. If you like complex detective mysteries, this might be your cup of Earl Grey.

Written by J.K. Rowling under her nom de plume Robert Galbraith, the series centers around Cormoran Strike (Tom Burke), an Oxford dropout, Afghanistan vet who lost his leg to an IED, divorcee and current London private eye who's shabby office makes Sam Spade's look like John D. Rockefeller's den. To make this mixed breed even more obtuse, he's the son of a famous rocker who's well past his prime (we never meet him), refusing the cushier life afforded to him. Cormoran has an assistant, Robin (Holliday Grainger) who develops into a formidable detective herself, often out-detecting her boss and acting as an acute counterpoint to Strike.

The scripts are okay, although I responded to the show more at the beginning when I could binge several episodes at a time on HBO Max, it waned as it progressed into me having to follow on PBS each week. Of the five stories presented, all are done in a series of episodes that begin to drag somewhat with too many details and a number of suspects that become hard to remember who's who.

Tom Burke, a sort of Nathan Fillian-looking guy, plays his character with a certain sad darkness that somehow makes him more likeable. Holliday Grainger as Robin is initially chirpy but eventually settles into a more staid companion despite marital problems and an obvious over-affection towards Strike. The series reminds me of Morse with its no-nonsense approach to solving the crime, exposing all the street level grit and grime in the process. When humor does peek out, it's even more pronounced because of the straight-forwardness of the writing.

All in all, I give the show a B+ for leaving me with a haunting sense of wanting another season to be developed--if only for eventually meeting Cormoran's aging rocker dad, hopefully played by Mick Jagger or Pete Townsend.

 

[Rustifer]

Sorry, Marv, for not visiting your thread more often. I seem to lay fallow lately--only to spring forth with a few spurts of thinly-distributed commentaries. I attribute this to nothing more than severe laziness and an overt waste of time exploring menus on Door Dash.

 

[Mysto]

Sorry, Marv, for not visiting your thread more often. I seem to lay fallow lately--only to spring forth with a few spurts of thinly-distributed commentaries. I contribute this to nothing more than severe laziness and an overt waste of time exploring menus on Door Dash.

As you can see - I've fallen behind as well. Busy planning a trip. My daughter is getting married later this year. (At least that is my excuse and I'm stickin' to it)

Thanks for the great commentary.
Cheers

 

[Mysto]

Frankie Drake –2017-2021

This series, at first glance, seems to be a Canadian version of Australia’s Miss Fisher’s Mysteries. Both Frankie and Phryne are liberated females in the 1920’s. Both solve mysteries. But then the comparisons fail. Miss Fisher is a rich amateur. Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) comes from poorer stock. Her mother is a con artist and frequently shows up. Frankie is not an amateur but owns a detective agency – the first female detective in Canada. She is tough and can duke it out when necessary.

She is also not too bad to look at. Here she is in a modern time.

The Cast:

Frankie’s partner and best friend is Trudy Clarke (Chantel Riley) a black woman trying to assert her rights in the early 1920’s Canada. The next cast member is Flo Chackowitz (Sharron Matthews) a morgue attendant that gives Frankie the data she needs. Flo is an older widow and supports with the science and has a few surprises up her sleeve. Finally, we have the connection to the police force Mary Shaw (Rebecca Liddiard) who is a morality officer. The police force or most anyone else doesn’t take her seriously so she becomes the inside helper. We last saw Rebecca in the short lived Houdini and Doyle series.



Frankie Drake is in the same time frame as Murdoch Mysteries and there was somewhat of a crossover in a web series. Like Murdoch Mysteries, they use famous people from the past in the stories (an early one has a young Ernest Hemmingway), but while Murdoch is all about the science, Frankie is all about relationships and society in the early 1920’s.

The mysteries are of the procedural type and move along at a pretty good pace with a fair amount of action. Miss Fisher is a favorite of ours but Frankie is a fun watch.

 

[Rustifer]



Nicely written, Marv!