Mr. & Mrs. North

As a fan of old time radio, I've observed that early television was often simply radio drama with pictures slapped on. "Mr. & Mrs. North" follows that pattern. Richard Denning and Barbara Britton are charming in the lead roles and the mysteries themselves aren't bad. My major beef is the pacing of the show. It spends an inordinate amount of time on opening and closing credits, builds an intriguing mystery, and then because of the 30-minute length (reduced by the need to include commercials) hurriedly wraps things up in the last 30-60 seconds without a satisfying denouement. Somehow, many radio mysteries of the same length managed to be more complete. A solution might have been two-part episodes, but that innovation apparently was uncommon at the time "Mr. & Mrs. North" was made. Still, it's a pleasant and wholesome diversion, superior to many other early TV shows available on dollar DVD.