{"id":10877,"date":"2014-08-30T00:01:32","date_gmt":"2014-08-30T06:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/?p=10877"},"modified":"2014-08-29T20:38:07","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T02:38:07","slug":"dvd-review-father-dowling-mysteries-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/dvd-review-father-dowling-mysteries-season\/","title":{"rendered":"DVD Review: The Father Dowling Mysteries, Season One"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ss&#038;ref=ss_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=adamsblog03-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B006CR2OWM&#038;asins=B006CR2OWM&#038;linkId=RS2ZII2XSJXNESVJ&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Father Dowling Mysteries was a delightful mystery series starring Tom Bosley (Happy Days) and Tracy Nelson as Chicago-based Father Frank Dowling and Sister Stephanie \u201cSteve\u201d Oskowski, a priest and nun constantly finding themselves in the the thick of mysteries. The duo first appeared in a 1987 TV movie before joining the 1989 NBC line up as a mid-season replacement before moving to ABC in 1990 for another mid-season replacement season and its only full season. Having aired on NBC and ABC, the DVD release, of course, comes from CBS Home video. Father Dowling was a character created by Ralph McHenry in a series of popular novels, but the novels really don\u2019t appear to have come much into play in the stories.<\/p>\n<p>The first season set collects the 1987 Movie, \u201cThe Fatal Confession\u201d as well as the seven episode first season of Father Dowling.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, this isn\u2019t a series made by the cleverness of its mysteries or bone-chilling suspense, or CSI-like crime scene details. In the end, Father Dowling stands firmly on the charm and chemistry of its two protagonist and Bosley and Nelson are wonderful to watch.<\/p>\n<p>Bosley is very believable as Father Dowling. He does a perfect job creating that balance that\u2019s required in a clerical detective. Dowling is clever, but he\u2019s also compassionate. He cares about catching the bad guy but he also cares about people\u2019s souls and lives. In so many ways, Frank Dowling is a bit of a throw back to a gentler era in television that spawned characters like Andy Taylor. He was truly good and kind, and also didn\u2019t take himself too seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Sister Steve is street smart but also very compassionate. The biggest flaw with the way the series played the character was that in each episode, they had to have her do something you wouldn\u2019t typically expect a nun to do usually in the line of duty but sometimes not: beating the neighborhood boys at basketball playing pool, fixing a car, mixing drinks at a bar, or teaching an aerobics class. It was all in the line of work. Sometimes, it was humorous, though it times it could get goofy and a little repetitive. The first few episodes had her being able to do every single thing well. Thankfully, in the \u201cFace in the Mirror Mystery,\u201d they finally had her undertake a task she couldn\u2019t do well: rollerskating.<\/p>\n<p>Rounding out the regulars were Father Dowling\u2019s cranky housekeeper Marie (Mary Wickes) and the very particular Father Phil (James Stephens) who would appear in the first and last episodes of the 1989 series before becoming a regular. As for the episodes themselves:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Fatal Confession\u201d had some good moments in it as Father Dowling looks into the apparent suicide of a former parishoner, but the last quarter of it or so was just too much like a soap opera<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Missing Body Mystery,\u201d the feature length first episode of the 1989 series begins with a man stumbling into St. Michaels and dying. When Father Dowling returns after calling the police, the body is gone. His stability is called into question and the bishop wants to relieve him and replace him with Father Phil. It\u2019s a great story and a solid beginning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Do You Call Girl Mystery,\u201d is a story about a slain high-priced call girl that manages to tell a good story without being exploitative or sleazy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Man Who Came to Dinner Mystery,\u201d is probably the only clunker in the first season. Steve\u2019s ex-fiance (played by Nelson\u2019s then-husband William Moses) witnesses a murder but when he shows up with the police, the body\u2019s gone. Even worse someone\u2019s trying to kill him. This story not only has a similar plot to a much better episode that aired two weeks previously as a well as a weak conclusion, but it tries to create dramatic conflict over Steve\u2019s decision to become a nun and fails.<\/p>\n<p>The main problem is that we\u2019re told that Steve was almost ready to marry her ex when she ran off to the convent to become a nun. Why would a young woman make this very radical\u00a0decision? All of the reasons Sister Steve gives such as &#8220;it was the right thing for me&#8221; don&#8217;t really ring true. It\u2019s impossible to believe a nun would say or if someone wanted to be a nun with such weak reasons, that the Catholic church would allow it. Of course, treating the subject realistically may have required too much religiosity for network TV executives liking. But if you can\u2019t do it well, why do it at all? Why try introduce a dramatic subplot that\u2019s not believable?<\/p>\n<p>The season got back on track with the two part, \u201cMafia Priest Mystery,\u201d in which Father Luciana, the son of a mafia family becomes Father Dowling\u2019s new Assistant. He\u2019s trying to make a break with the family business but is drawn into an effor to help his brother Peter go straight and finds himself framed for murdering the DA. This is a great story with a lot of tension, suspects, and situations. We do learn whodunit about half away through the second episode but there\u2019s still some great suspense including a delightful train chase. I also appreciate how the episode highlights both Frank and Steve\u2019s compassion as they deal with and minister to members of the crime family even while trying to find the killer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Face in the Mirror Mystery,\u201d is actually a pretty decent story despite the fact that the premise of an \u201cevil twin\u201d of the main character has been done to death. This is \u00a0a great cat and mouse game between Father Dowling and his twin brother Blaine, though the payoff scene is a little silly.<\/p>\n<p>The season concluded with, \u201cThe Pretty Baby Mystery,\u201d which has a woman chased by armed men leaving her baby in the church. Father Dowling and Steve try to find the mother and end up getting arrested by the Feds. This is another episode that really respects the characters\u2019 vocation and differentiates them from the typical TV detective. The episode also marked the return of James Stevens as Father Phil, who has become the Bishop\u2019s assistant.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, the first season of Father Dowling was thoroughly enjoyable. It manages to be a mostly well-written family friendly detective series with likable characters. It treats its main characters with respect, but also manages a great deal of humor and warmth. I\u2019ll look forward to future seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Rating: 4.25 out of 5.0<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2c2c29;\"><em>If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered\u00a0<a style=\"color: #807d7a;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B004U8SET2\/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=adamsblog03-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B004U8SET2\">automatically to your Kindle<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #2c2c29;\"><em>This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchaser.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Father Dowling Mysteries was a delightful mystery series starring Tom Bosley (Happy Days) and Tracy Nelson as Chicago-based Father Frank Dowling and Sister Stephanie \u201cSteve\u201d Oskowski, a priest and nun constantly finding themselves in the the thick of mysteries. The duo first appeared in a 1987 TV movie before joining the 1989 NBC line&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[123],"tags":[91,138,94],"class_list":["post-10877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-golden-age-article","tag-classic-television","tag-father-dowling","tag-tv-detectives"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pECdK-2Pr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10877"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10879,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10877\/revisions\/10879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatdetectives.net\/detectives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}