Jim Hutton (father of Tim) plays long-time mystery character/writer Ellery Queen in a curious start to a lovely series.
Based on an Ellery Queen novel (the rest of the episodes were based on short stories that fit the hour-length better), "Too Many Suspects" tackles a more serious tale than the rest (though they all involve murders).
Unlike the literary character, Hutton's writer is an absent-minded, easy-going, eminently likeable shaggy-dog type. Yet, he's capable of seeing what others don't and isolates the guilty from the merely suspected (and throughout the series, all the suspects are darned suspicious).
The cast is top-notch (for the mid-1970s), including Oscar-winner Ray Milland and a pre-"Magnum" John Hillerman (a recurring foe for Queen who isn't in the stories). This series may have kicked off the washed-up celebrity sort of show (cf "Murder, She Wrote"). Last chance to see your old big-screen favorites, now whittled down to TV size.
Ellery's father, Inspector Queen, is portrayed by old hand David Wayne. Hutton and Wayne have enormous chemistry.
Two things carry over from the Ellery Queen books: the "dying clue" (often a stretch in the books and stories and looking downright nutty on TV); and, mostly from the novels, a pause where Hutton breaks the "fourth wall" to ask if the viewer we've guessed the culprit.
Hutton (and, secondly, Wayne) carry us through some rank silliness by their excellent acting, likeableness and comeraderie. The pilot episode (originally presented as a movie on TV) was broken by commercials, which helped.
Certainly in this pilot, and throughvthe rest of the series, they did a good job on the period setting, though some of the asides (for instance, criticizing early television) sound a bit cutesy.
Based on an Ellery Queen novel (the rest of the episodes were based on short stories that fit the hour-length better), "Too Many Suspects" tackles a more serious tale than the rest (though they all involve murders).
Unlike the literary character, Hutton's writer is an absent-minded, easy-going, eminently likeable shaggy-dog type. Yet, he's capable of seeing what others don't and isolates the guilty from the merely suspected (and throughout the series, all the suspects are darned suspicious).
The cast is top-notch (for the mid-1970s), including Oscar-winner Ray Milland and a pre-"Magnum" John Hillerman (a recurring foe for Queen who isn't in the stories). This series may have kicked off the washed-up celebrity sort of show (cf "Murder, She Wrote"). Last chance to see your old big-screen favorites, now whittled down to TV size.
Ellery's father, Inspector Queen, is portrayed by old hand David Wayne. Hutton and Wayne have enormous chemistry.
Two things carry over from the Ellery Queen books: the "dying clue" (often a stretch in the books and stories and looking downright nutty on TV); and, mostly from the novels, a pause where Hutton breaks the "fourth wall" to ask if the viewer we've guessed the culprit.
Hutton (and, secondly, Wayne) carry us through some rank silliness by their excellent acting, likeableness and comeraderie. The pilot episode (originally presented as a movie on TV) was broken by commercials, which helped.
Certainly in this pilot, and throughvthe rest of the series, they did a good job on the period setting, though some of the asides (for instance, criticizing early television) sound a bit cutesy.