Nero Wolfe (1981 TV Series) - Reviews and Commentary

Reviews and Commentary

• Donn Downy, Globe and Mail — Wolfe violated most of the rules in his well-ordered universe, probably because of the scriptwriters' misguided desire to make the character more palpable. In the process, he becomes just a run-of-the-mill private eye who is fatter and wealthier than most, but certainly no smarter or eccentric. Scriptwriters Peter Nasco and David Knapp undermine the character almost from the outset: Wolfe actually discusses a case during the sacred hours in the greenhouse, he smiles, and even leaves his beloved Manhattan brownstone in the final scene to visit a boy recovering in hospital after being hit by a car. Stout, who could never be accused of sentimentality, had the lad dead in the second chapter. But the transgressions don't end there. … Given these limitations, William Conrad as Wolfe comes off rather well supplied a workmanlike performance, so any faults lie with the writers, not the actor.
• Peter Boyer, Associated Press — I know, I know, the show pales next to The Rockford Files. But I've tried it a couple of times and I think there's a good TV series there, obscured, admittedly, by some inane scripts. Nero Wolfe has some very valuable assets: It is adult, it has at least the broad outlines of mystery and it has a charismatic central character. The character, of course, is the wonderfully eccentric Wolfe of the Rex Stout novels, a rotund, sedentary savant who fusses over orchids and has others do his physical work. NBC and the producers can't take credit for the character, of course, but they did have the good sense to hire William Conrad, who is perfectly suited to the part, to play Wolfe. Conrad seems to delight in the role.
• Los Angeles Times — Not quite Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe but still head and shoulders above most crime series ... Certainly the Tuesday night series has a quality worth more than all the Dukes who ever came out of Hazzard.
• William Conrad — How the hell should I know what makes a hit TV series? I was really excited about doing a show called Nero Wolfe. I thought it couldn't fail. Here we had one of the most popular characters in mystery fiction; everybody has read a Rex Stout novel. The books still sell, although they were written 50 years ago. But do you know how long we lasted? Just 13 weeks. Try to figure that one out.
• Stuart M. Kaminsky — When Nero Wolfe came to television, I made my love of Archie and Wolfe known to NBC, and one of the great disappointments of my professional life is that the series was cancelled after I had been assured that I would write the opening episode of the next season. I wanted to bring The Doorbell Rang to life even if it wasn't the right Wolfe and Archie.
• Diane Holloway, Cox News Service — NBC's woefully inadequate series in 1981 … tried to update the characters and the language, and the whole thing fell flat.
• Paula Vitaris, Scarlet Street (2002) — Nero Wolfe did give us the brownstone, the rooftop nursery, a housebound Wolfe, and an active Archie, but that was about it. The NBC series updated the setting to contemporary times (1981), which meant Archie, always so fastidious about his wardrobe, could be seen wearing turtlenecks and (horrors!) blue jeans. Inspector Cramer was a brisk professional in three-piece suits rather than Stout's rumpled detective, and Wolfe himself was transformed into a not particularly fascinating eccentric, who in one instance became uncharacteristically nostalgic about a lost love. The show was a mix of new stories and none-too-faithful adaptations of the books.