I Want My Nero Wolfe

A & E Channel ^ | 09/03/02 | Vidalia

[Vidalia]

To All NERO WOLFE Fans:

A&E has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such dedicated and talented professionals as actor/director Tim Hutton, and writer/executive producer Michael Jaffe, the team whose passion and creative vision for NERO WOLFE have made it such a truly distinctive drama series. Mr. Hutton and Mr. Jaffe, along with (Maury Chaykin, Bill Smitrovich, Colin Fox) and the rest of this hardworking and talented cast and crew, were responsible for bringing to life this classic mystery series, each week, to devoted viewers in the U.S. and in Canada.

We at A&E remain extremely proud of NERO WOLFE. It is a high quality, beautifully produced and entertaining show, unlike anything else currently on the television landscape. Although it performed moderately well amongst tough competition for two seasons, it simply did not do well enough for us to be able to go on making it, given the current television climate.

A&E will continue to air encore presentations of the first and second season of NERO WOLFE in the coming weeks and months.

We certainly appreciate your support for the series and for the network. We appreciate the time and the care you have taken in sending us your letters, cards, and emails to let us know how strongly you support this wonderful show.

We hope that since you love NERO, you will continue to enjoy the encores, and that you will tune in to enjoy some of the other specials coming up, including Lathe Of Heaven, starring James Caan, Lukas Haas, airing in September, The Lost World, starring Bob Hoskins and Peter Falk, and our documentary special Old Friends, hosted by Academy Award winner Julia Roberts. As well as a number of our weekly documentary series including Biography, City Confidential, Minute By Minute and American Justice.

Thanks again. We appreciate your thoughts and feedback.

[Vidalia]

NOOOOOO!

Of all the crap that is put on, this clean, well thought and acted series bites the dust?

Oh, the Humanity...!

[egarvue]

I'll second that as well! I liked this series, I wish TV would stick to more shows like Nero Wolfe, rather than churning out abysmally crappy "reality" shows.

[Welsh Rabbit]

It's a shame, it really was a very clever, intellegent series. I also miss Lovejoy mysteries. Maybe A&E has decided to start doing crappy 'reality' shows.

[Welsh Rabbit]

crappy "reality" shows

You posted that before I could read it... Great minds think alike, I guess.

[andysandmikesmom]

I agree with you 100percent....I loved that AandE series of Nero Wolfe...it was so great, and so far above some of the crap on TV...

What I really enjoyed was the revolving cast of supporting characters...the same actors and actresses would be in different episodes, in one episode being the good guy, in another episode being the murderer....

I loved Tim Hutton, Maury Chaykin and Bill Smitrovich, who as the main actors,always played their same characters...

Smitrovich, as the tough, cigar chomping cop, always outwitted by Nero and Archie, and always saying 'Nutz' was delightful...

Hutton, as the elegant and charming Archie Goodwin, made me swoon...

And to me, the star, Chaykin, as the hefty, grumbling, but often tender hearted Nero Wolfe, just made my day...'Phooey', his usual response to much of what was going on around him, has become part of my language, day in and day out...

And special mention to the grand actor who plays Fritz, the cook....always a pleasure to watch Wolfe and Fritz arguing about how best to cook some sort of foodstuff...

Cannot believe that so much trash and mindless garbage manages to stay on TV, year after year, only to be replaced by more mindless garbage...yet a quality show such as this is cancelled...

Just glad that it will be shown in reruns, as I will surely watch it...altho they are mysteries, and I will know the outcome of the mystery, still the fine acting, and the shenanigans of the characters are well worth watching time and time again...

I will shoot off a nasty email to AandE, telling them that please, please, please, reconsider cancelling this show, for there are so many Nero Wolfe fans out there, who are languishing for lack of quality shows such as this...

[Glenn]

Maury Chaykin

Now there is an actor.

[Lyford]

I couldn't watch it. I know the books too well, having read all of them 10+ times. Stout was a genius...

And it was obvious that the people involved loved the books the way that I do, but there were too many little differences between what I envision and what they performed for me to be able to enjoy it.

[mom4kittys]

Hutton, as the elegant and charming Archie Goodwin, made me swoon...

Remember his father Jim Hutton who played Ellery Queen? He was quite a handsome man.

[JennysCool]

Yeesh. That's Tee Vee for ya. Cancel "Nero Wolfe" but get right to work on the new "live-action Beverly Hillbillies."

Speaking of Timothy Hutton, his late dad Jim and David Wayne did nice work with "Ellery Queen" in the 1970s. Wouldn't mind seeing an EQ revival. Or at least a first-class movie treatment of that EQ-meets-Norman-Rockwell called "Calamity Town."

[JennysCool]

Great minds thinkin' alike again! :-)

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Read today that more people will watch AMERICAN IDOL tonight than will vote in the mid-term election.We are in big big trouble.

[andysandmikesmom]

Indeed, I do remember Jim Hutton...he died many years ago, and I always remember thinking that it was a shame he died so fairly young, and altho Timothy at that time was already acting, he never really got to see what a fine actor Timothy turned out to be....

I also do remember the Ellery Queen series with Jim Hutton and David Wayne who played his dad...I also, would love to see a revival of those episodes of Ellery Queen...

I just wish that somewhere, somehow, that there would be a TV channel, that would forget about ratings and money, and just produce quality shows....there are millions of us out there who appreciate such fine work, and just because we are outnumbered by those who prefer lame and goofy crap that pervades the TV airwaves, that does not mean we should be forgotten...

I am just sick of this cancellation of Nero Wolfe...Sunday was a happy day for me, TV wise, because I always knew that Nero Wolfe was there to charm and delight me....NUTZ....PHOOEY.....

[mom4kittys]

I am really sad about the cancellation--I loved this show! I wonder if there is a petition that can save it.

Here is the official site:
http://www.aande.com/tv/shows/nerowolfe/

Click on the items on the desk to get to different areas. The phone is the discussion group.

There is a new show on USA that ABC will be airing as well that is very good. It's called Monk--have you seen it?

[andysandmikesmom]

Thanks for that link...need to study it later, and see what, if anything can be done to save Nero Wolfe...

Yes, I have seen Monk, and I also enjoy that as well...

I dont watch a whole lot of TV...just have certain programs that I enjoy..and since there are seemmingly so few that I enjoy, I get really testy, when they get cancelled...

Nero Wolfe was just about my favorite show...I loved it, first I guess, because I love mysteries...but I think my real attraction to the show, was not just solving the mystery, but watching such fine acting, ,and such antics on the show, just made my day...this is really a loss....

[Sarcolemma]

I LOVE Monk! I watched the pilot episode by chance and I've been hooked ever since. The show is original, funny, and Monk's character is so cute. Tony Shalhoub is a great actor. It's been terrible not seeing any new episodes because of the US Open, but I believe the new episode will air Sept 13. And yes, ABC is showing the episodes. It's a great show, I hope Monk won't run into Nero Wolfe's fate. I never watched Nero Wolfe, but I did hear it was a good show.

[ladylib]

I know it is a well-thought out intelligent series. Guess how I know -- I'm too stupid to follow the story line. It moves too fast for me. The only thing I can get out of it is the beautiful clothes, settings, characterization, and the sophistication. I wish I grew up in the late 30's and 40's instead of the 60's and 70's. I love this series.

[ladylib]

Oh, and the fact that every dog has his day, and the creeps get crucified.

[Mike Darancette]

Elegant was the only way to describe the production values of the show. For a while there I was thinking of taking up wearing a hat!

Cancel Nero Wolfe and keep bring back Big Brothers - Phooey.

[Revolting cat!]

"I want my Matlock!" -- Abraham Simpson

[egarvue]

LOL! Yes, I think we all can agree that "Survivor" and its spawn fit the definition of "crappy".