MovieChat Forums > A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2001) Discussion > Immune to Murder: The Last Episode?

Immune to Murder: The Last Episode?

posted 17 years ago by greymane_lor
5 replies | jump to latest

So, I'm well aware that the series is long over, but I'm curious. I received a box-set of the entire series as a gift last Christmas and have watched it fairly often. Something didn't really strike until recently though. Was Immune to Murder the last episode aired? Watching that episode lately, I was rather struck by the somewhat jarring absence of Bill Smitrovich, Colin Fox. and R.D. Reid - aka, Inspector Kramer, Fritz, and Purley Stebbins.

If it was the end of the entire series, it's send off, and yet all three beloved and familiar faces were absent from that episode. There was "someone" playing Fritz at the end of the episode, but it obviously wasn't Collin Fox because they were careful to only show him from the shoulders down.

Does anyone happen to know why they might chose a story that featured none of these there characters for the last episode? Were the actors no longer available to play their roles or was Immune to Murder just a particularly famous Nero Wolfe story, worth passing up the last chance to show the cast together in order to make it the last one?

[–] sleepycat-1 17 years ago

"Immune to Murder" was the last episode aired, August 18, 2002 - a sad day for "Nero Wolfe" fans. When the producers (Jaffe/Braunstein Productions)were scheduling the episodes, they didn't know that "Immune" would be the last episode in the series. Public notice of the cancellation came the day after "Immune" was broadcast.

"Nero Wolfe" fans in Europe did get to see Fritz/Collin Fox, not just his hands, in their version of "Immune." See the FAQ for "Nero Wolfe" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283205/faq for more info.

[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 8 months ago

The U.S. version at least had what I think was his voice in that scene. I was wondering if perhaps the actor wasn't available on the day they were filming, so his voice was dubbed in later -- but if that scene was longer in Europe, then apparently we just happened to miss out on seeing his face.

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] patricio-intp 13 years ago

I just finished watching all the episodes myself and felt the ending to Poison à la Carte had the best tone and emotion for a final episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1j8d1pLhWU

[–] CarolTheDabbler (575) 8 months ago

It sounds like you realize that the reason Cramer and Stebbins were missing was simply that the setting was outside of NYC. But I found the whole episode a bit jarring.

My husband and I are about halfway through reading Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories aloud, in chronological order. And each time we finish one that has an A&E adaptation, we watch that. We watched their "Immune to Murder" last night, and it looked to me like someone (screenwriter? director?) was being awfully "creative." Unlike the other episodes we've watched, there was a whole lot of original dialog (much of it very loud), and even some original scenes. The whole tone felt different from Stout's story and from the other episodes. (I could also mention that Wolfe did an awful lot of snarling and bellowing, but that is, alas, simply the way Maury Chaykin usually played him.)

They moved the ambassador's home country (never specified in Stout's story, but clearly somewhere in the Middle East) to a fictitious country in Latin America (and I think they mentioned the name of the county -- did anyone happen to catch it?). Couldn't they find Middle Eastern actors to play the ambassador and his wife?