User reviews

I read a Nero Wolfe story as a kid and found this series intriguing. It starred William Conrad who was better known from his previous TV role as the portly detective Frank Cannon.

This is another QM production made in the early 1980s but the series was short lived. Nero Wolfe is a clever detective but would rather eat and tend to his orchids than hit the streets doing detective work.

For that he has his assistants to do the legwork such as Lee Horsley who played Archie Goodwin who also provides the muscle to go with Nero's brains. The episodes were enjoyable and its a shame we did not see more. Maybe US viewers were still pining for Frank Cannon.

This was my introduction to Nero Wolfe, starting a happy 3+ decade relationship with Rex Stout's detective fiction. While this series didn't use the period settings that the later A&E series did, it has my affection for a number of reasons.

First, William Conrad. He is certainly a less gifted actor than Maury Chaikin, but his voice is marvelous, and he uses the declarative, falling cadence that Stout's punctuation indicates. "Archie. I read it because it is a book. And I read books." Chaikin too often uses a rising cadence, which took getting used to, for me.

Second, most, if not all (I am going from memory here) the episodes were, as with the A&E series, adaptations of actual Stout stories and novels, which was also welcome for me as a new reader.

Sure, one could say I like the series because it set the tone of the characters for me, and that likely has a good bit of truth. But I've noticed that, among my acquaintance, the greatest fans of the books are the least enthusiastic about the A&E series, and more tolerant of this series. My husband won't watch the old series when we find it on TV, and doesn't like the books. He loves the A&E series. I also am fond of the A&E series, mostly for the affection with which it was so obviously made, for the period sets, and for the wonderful repertory-ensemble cast, with best acting honors to Kari Marchett, who makes every episode she is in sing.

But see this series for a different and valid take, and the best-voiced Nero Wolfe I know of.

This is a competent, if mediocre, detective show, but it is not Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe. The 2001 A&E series with Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton came closer to the spirit of the novels, although ultimately failing. I have read all of the Nero Wolfe novels and stories at least twice and am on my third go 'round. As a huge Wolfe fan, I am happy to view and even purchase all the cinematic Wolfe attempts, just because. But if anyone is looking for the true Nero Wolfe on film, he hasn't appeared yet.

Lee Horsley was the perfect Archie Goodwin. I'm a big fan of the books & when I read them I can see only Horsley as that character. He can come & rescue me anytime!!! William Conrad was also very good as Wolfe. I wish that they still showed them on tv so I would have a chance to tape them .

I have very warm memories of this short lived Nero Wolfe TV series starring William Conrad and Lee Horsley. I was a kid when this TV program aired and it really made an impact on my youthful imagination. I was hooked from the moment I first saw it. William Conrad and Lee Horsley were both highly enjoyable and made a great team. I never missed an episode and enjoyed all of them. Nero Wolfe was fun and exciting stuff! Because of the TV series I began reading the excellent Nero Wolfe stories of the great Rex Stout. I'd love to see this TV series again. Just thinking about it makes me smile! It's too bad it isn't available on DVD.

I grew up on mystery novels, and loved Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe from the moment I read my first of his books. This show is not that Nero Wolfe - it is a softer, more pleasant, and kinder one. William Conrad's Nero is not terse and rude enough and does not keep his cards as close to his chest, Lee Horsley's Archie does not get to show his intelligence as often as he should, etc. Etc. The mysteries are also muted and simplified.

However, I can love it for what it is. William Conrad was the first actor I saw portray Wolfe, and he will always be the way I visualize Wolfe in my head, beard or no. The actors are fun to watch, and it was clear they loved getting a chance to play this role.

For those who want to check it out for themselves, you can watch the entire series on the Internet Archive - just search the archive's media files for Nero Wolfe (1981).

I enjoy this series over the latter series with timothy Hutton. I found this series to have more texture than the latter series. It was and is fun to see all the actors interacting with each other. There was also a fun sense of humor to this series. Watching inspector Cramer getting out of a chair without using his hands and Wolfe's reaction each time to it. Also all of the actors in this version seem to enjoy their roles. I do like the latter series also but I prefer the first series most. I wish the series would have lasted longer. It seems that series such BONES, NCIS, CSI can go on and on add nauseuem. I prefer detective series were you have to think to find the guilty without major shoot outs, car chases etc. . I find that well written series do not last long at all on TV: Nero Wolfe,(both series), Ellery queen, Probe, Spenser: for hire to name the major ones. It was a good series. Luckily I can watch both versions whenever I want to at my leisure.

Nero Wolfe was an amateur detective character created by novelist Rex Stout in the 1930s and Stout continued to write novels, novellas and short stories featuring that character through 1975, four decades of stories.

Originally, the producers of this program wanted Orson Welles to be its star. That made sense because Welles fit the character like a glove. But Mr. Welles was too much of a Diva to be cast in the part and the demands he was going to put on the production would have skyrocketed their costs. So they went looking for another actor and came upon William Conrad.

There are two programs that TV historians would remember William Conrad for. The first is "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle," a low budget cartoon series that featured a flying squirrel that made jet engine noises and sonic booms while in the air and a moose who walked on hind legs, was often mentally challenged and who constantly needed Rocky's support. The narrator of that show was Conrad's distinctive voice.

The second would likely be "Cannon" (A Quinn Martin Production) where Conrad spent the better part of the 1970s playing the titular character, a private detective based in Los Angeles, a former cop out to solve cases before the LAPD could. It's interesting to note that during that series, Conrad packed on an additional 30 pounds from the start of the program to its conclusion.

Conrad, much like Welles, was a good fit. He had the body type, as Wolfe was, shall we say, a Stout man? Wolfe was a wealthy gent who lived in a brownstone on West 35th Street, according to the printed material, and he absolutely wanted to stay at home, tending to his orchids and being served fanciful dishes prepared by his chef, Fritz (George Voskovec).

Since Wolfe generally eschewed doing the legwork needed to solve the crime, his assistant Archie (Lee Horsley) handled the bulk of that. Between Archie and Nero, you had one nearly perfect P. I.

Oddly, though, most of the scripts for this adaptation were not taken from the Rex Stout stories (occasionally a title was used, but then the plot didn't fit or varied greatly from the original story), and many fans of the book series were disappointed in how that was being handled.

Another issue was that this Nero Wolfe was set in the contemporary 1980s, rather than any time between the Stout writings of 1934 to 1975. Fans were split on the concept of having Wolfe be a current detective. Some thought it helped modernize the character and make him more accessible. Others thought it was untrue to the spirit of the original plots and weren't happy with it.

New York played a part because it's a city filled with crimes that the New York Police Department just couldn't solve on their own. Inspector Cramer (Allan Miller) continually brought cases to Wolfe's doorstep, sometimes begging the detective for help solving the crime.

This version is lower ranked than the second because of the lack of reverence to the original novels, the style of the program was a little too similar to every other detective show of the era - it could have been "Cannon" only with a nicer wardrobe and setting - and the writers didn't showcase Wolfe's superior mind... he was supposed to have been the American Sherlock Holmes, whereas Conrad's portrayal was very run-of-the-mill.

The focus on the likeability of the character and the wide variance from the original writings helped to bring this show down, but also was NBC's choice to program the series opposite one of the hottest shows of the day, the CBS action adventure, "The Dukes of Hazzard."

I thought Lee Horsley was the definitive Archie Goodwin, and I'd like to know if this series will ever be released on DVD. Although I like Timothy Hutton (in the AE version), he's a little too polished for the role of AG and Maury Chaykin a little too vehement for Nero Wolfe. I had not seen the AE version of Nero Wolfe until recently when I checked the DVDs out of our local library. I enjoyed them, but I'm a real fan of the Nero Wolfe books; and the characterizations of Wolfe and Goodwin were just a little "off." I remember the 1981 series set me to reading the books, and I had no difficulty visualizing Lee Horsley as the wise-cracking Archie. I would love to see this older series again.

Verified Purchase I thoroughly enjoyed this show back in 1981 and so glad to own it now on DVD. It was really gaining momentum but NBC killed it before it had a fair chance. Loved Conrad and Horsley in the lead roles. My first introduction to Wolfe as well and while the hour format comprised the stories a bit, it's still my definitive version of Nero Wolfe!

Lee Horsley as Archie? You've got to be kidding me. There's zero sense of Archie's intelligence or ability to shift with a situation - traits that are abundantly evident in the books. Horsley just doesn't have the depth of nuance to pull it off. Pretty much the same with Conrad's Wolfe - no sense that he's the smartest person in the room, knows it, and takes satisfaction in rubbing it in everybody's face, especially Inspector Cramer's. Pedestrian scripts, mediocre direction, and lackluster performances are the rule for this short-lived series.

It is beyond understanding why this show was canceled so quickly. The appearance and attitude William Conrad gave his Wolfe was just about perfect. He was the "seventh-of-a-ton" detective thousands of readers of the novels probably imagined. But not only Conrad was superb, the rest of the cast was as well, from George Voskovec's Fritz to Allan Miller's Inspector Cramer, with whose fits anyone could feel along.

Some edges of the characters were taken out, which is especially true for Archie Goodwin, and was most probably done to assure mass compatibility. Both Goodwin and Wolfe are described as chauvinists par excellence in the books. But besides that, there wasn't much more an avid fan of the novels could have asked for.

Very noteworthy is the great care about every little detail of the "old brownstone." That was marvelous work and the production crew should be applauded for that. Probably they had a number of Wolfe fans among them.

Lee Horsley stands out (without his "Matt Houston" mustache) as just about the only on-target bit of casting. Conrad, as Wolfe, was large but neither tall nor imposing enough to play the part - to say nothing of the fact that in only one adventure of his 41-year literary career did he ever cultivate a beard, which he shed as soon as the case was over. Nor was Wolfe openly sentimental. Only Archie, with his keen observational acumen and intimate knowledge of his employer's habits, moods and faults, could see its expression. Wolfe himself, in a comment reported to Ken Darby, author of "The Brownstone House of Nero Wolfe", may have been willing to accept Raymond Burr or Orson Welles to play him, but not without reservations. George Wyner as Saul Panzer was even worse. Having played too many comic - make that doofus - roles, he came far short of portraying Panzer's suave acumen, street smarts and hard edge. He also looks too wimpy. Furthermore, three whole novels, "In the Best Families" (1950), "Before Midnight" (1955) and "If Death Ever Slept" (1957) became a single, mistitled, one-hour episide, "In the Best of Families" (ep. #1.7). It was in "If Death Ever Slept" that Wolfe breifly let his face sprout and starved himself to a normal weight.

The only excuse I could ever give myself to watch this show was that any Wolfe on TV was better than no Wolfe.

I had never read any of the Nero Wolfe books before this series aired. I was drawn to it because I like William Conrad. How fortunate that I saw this and thus found the books!

After reading a number of the novels, I was struck by a couple of things:

First, the old brownstone was perfectly reproduced. Author Rex Stout made you feel you were really in that building when he wrote the novels, and the set designer followed suit.

Second, the casting was a mixed bag. Conrad was an acceptable, though obviously softened, Wolfe. The characterizations of Fritz and Horstman were very well done, if mostly background. But Lee Horsley was badly out of place as Archie, as were the choices for Saul Panzer and Inspector Cramer.

Several years later I saw the movie version with Thayer David and was very pleased. He would have been a letter perfect Wolfe.

William Conrad starred as Frank Cannon in the above-average QM TV series Cannon, but he was a lousy Nero Wolfe. As a matter of fact, I challenge any viewer to name anything different in his portrayal of those two detectives. Conrad was a limited actor who only ever portrayed one character: William Conrad. (A great radio actor, though; he was Marshall Dillon on Gunsmoke on the radio, among other things. What a voice!) Lee Horsley was a good Archie Goodwin, but Alan Miller as Cramer was a hopeless piece of miscasting. The series thankfully was cancelled very quickly, and the Wolfe legend lives on through the novels. (BTW, the A&E series with Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton is quite good and worth watching for cast member Kari Matchett alone.)