Happy Anniversary 'Nero Wolfe'

"Since it was the deciding factor, I might as well begin by describing
it."

Archie Goodwin - The Doorbell Rang, April 22, 2001

Six years ago last night it was just another April Sunday. Then I started
watching "A Nero Wolfe Mystery," and things haven't been the same
around here since.

When I tuned in to "Nero Wolfe" I had no inkling that before the hour
was was over my life would change. And so it began - the music, the
title sequence, the stoop, the bell, the door to the Brownstone and
that marvelous voice describing the situation. By the time Archie was
telling Wolfe that he wasn't daunted by the F.B.I. I knew that this
show was something special - TV like I'd never seen it before or
since. I was hooked and hooked good, and it was Archie Goodwin (and
Timothy Hutton) that hooked me.

I was glued to the TV every Sunday night that "Nero Wolfe" was
broadcast for those two far-too-short seasons. I bought the few
Bantam versions of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels available at the
bookstore, and then I moved on to eBay and other online booksellers.
I learned about "surfing the net" and "boards" and how to "post," and
I took over a room of the house and turned it into a Nero Wolfe
shrine. I found companions who shared my obsession. I became
adventurous, and I went to New York City always on the lookout for a
touch or a feel or a look of "Nero Wolfe" and Nero Wolfe.

When the nincompoops (worse than Lt. Rowcliff ) at A&E canceled "Nero
Wolfe" I felt the way Archie did when he arrived home after Mrs.
Rackham was murdered, saw the door to the Brownstone standing
wide open, and then found that Wolfe was gone.

Well, it's been six years since my life changed, and "A Nero Wolfe
Mystery" - "The Doorbell Rang" was the deciding factor. I am
unceasingly grateful to Michael Jaffe and Timothy Hutton, and Maury
Chaykin, Colin Fox, Bill Smitrovich, R. D. Reid, Conrad Dunn, Fulvio
Cecere, Trent McMullen, Saul Rubinek, Kari Matchett, Francie Swift,
James Tolkan, Bill McDonald, Debra Monk, and all of the other very
talented and extremely dedicated cast and crew who were part of "A
Nero Wolfe Mystery" for introducing me to Mr. Wolfe and Archie.
Their "Nero Wolfe" adaptations of Rex Stout's stories are gems.

Happy Anniversary "Nero Wolfe."


[Wolfe] Say something.

[Archie] Bejabers. Will that do? A guy I know named Birnbaum uses it
to show he's not prejudiced. Bejabers.

[Wolfe] Satisfactory.

[Archie] All of that.

The Doorbell Rang (Chap. 13)