Ellery Queen

Remember the NBC mystery movies? The song just makes my spine tingle. It was one of the greatest ideas ever on TV. Giving mysteries what they really needed, the time to unfold. Also, having several different detectives trading off each week, so if you don't like Columbo, well next week it's Ellery Queen. We could certainly use this format today.

Ellery Queen, now he was what I call the Dora the Explorer of Detectives. Generally, he was something of the absent minded professor. He was the son of a police detective and a successful mystery writer. He was good with mysteries but would accidently mail his key and put the letter in his pocket. The reason I call him Dora the Explorer of Detectives is that in the end, he would break the fourth wall and address the audience. He would encourage them to solve the mystery, give the list of suspects and a clue or two. He did everything but say, "VEEEEEERRRRY GOOOOOOD!"

I liked the mysteries they did tend to play fair, if hard. The one I was watching, a man who had his throat cut and was trapped in a phone booth calls an undertaker. Now he couldn't speak, so why with his last breath call someone he didn't know. Ellery figured it out in like two minutes (that episode had him having trouble even getting to the crime scene). I'm sure you good readers have already figured it out.

One really nice thing about the show is the fellow who played "Higgins" in Magnum P.I. shows up here as a rival detective. His snark reigns supreme, but he still loses to the bumbling Ellery. Just perfect.