Shark Bytes

I bet those choir boys were glad the parish priest was busy solving crime to "show them his organ"

With a premise like this...A priest and his nun sidekick who just keep on stumbling across murder after murder and end up solving them...

Oh COME ON!! The shark never had a chance!

Loved it.Great theme and opening design.Mary Wickes was a treasure.Better than Matlock and that ilk but since I'm Catholic I might be biased.Tracy Nelson was perfect.I wish they'd do a reunion movie where he's Cardinal and she a Mother Superior or somethink like that.Perhaps call it "The Mystery at the Vatican."

I've never watched this show for a religious, spiritual or moral message.
If that's what you're seeking, you are sadly misguided.
Let's take this program at face value: A safe, trite, whitebread, formulaic murder mystery that's tame enough for the kiddies and grandparents alike.

This is the type of show I'll settle for if there's absolutely nothing else on - and I want to watch something that won't piss me off or require too much thought.

It's cut from the same fabric as all those other generic, and geriatric murder mysteries:
Murder, She wrote,
Diagnosis Murder
or
Matlock...
(perhaps even the Perry Mason Specials fall into this category).
It's no more than a tried-and-true vehicle for aged stars to practice their craft - and an opportunity for the networks to get a decent return on a safe investment.

To be fair, I've never read a "Father Dowling" book.To be honest, this show never inspired me to.
At least Spencer gave me a healthy appreciation and respect for Robert B. Parker.

Father Dowling Mysteries was my first exposure to the Church, but as I was young, I didn't realise it then. I thought he was no different from Protestant pastors--apparently I was wrong. The nun concept didn't clue in to me until I watched Sister Act.

Though I watched Father Dowling Mysteries so long ago, I miss them. I'd like to see them again. Until reading this article here, I didn't know there were even books. I thought it was just a cute drama series on TV. I made a similar discovery regarding the series Cadfael.

As for Sr. Steve...well...I can't really tolerate some of the things she did to help with the mysteries. At the very least, she was probably a good parish nun. I would have to watch the entire series over again to see if there were any pretty religious moments from her or from Fr. Dowling.

BTW the word verification rectangle is horribly difficult to read!

I thought that Father Dowling Mysteries had a specific show in which it found its stride. In that show they had to explore something with Sister Steve's order, and went onto explore a little bit the relationship between Sister Steve and her Mother Superior. What was shown just rang true about the nature of a religious order and it began to be true its its Catholic setting. In regard to the kidnapped by the devil episode, the show should not be condemned because it took its spiritual setting seriously. Besides that was a retelling of "The Devil and Daniel Webster."

Father Dowling Mysteries was a wonderful show. Not true to the books, no. But very fun and lively in it's own way. And I am fairly certain, as the original FDM movie came out in 1987, it preceded DVD boring yawn fest Diagnosis Murder. Was the show realistic? Yes and no. Okay, mostly no. But it's fun and a fantasy, isn't that what tv is supposed to be? I thought the cast was superb. They were great together. But if you're going to nit pick it to death then you certainly will be busier over other shows than this short-lived one. The show ran out of steam towards the end. But the few dozen they made are still fun to watch. So quit your complaining. Didn't run long enough to jump anything. But if it had, it would have been Sister Stephanie dressed up as a lifeguard chasing some bad guy down. Okay, the evil twin (though he sort of reformed himself) was silly, but it always is. Blair, what a name! Go Tom Bosley!

I just gradually got tired of it. Improbable number of streetwise buddies (Sr. Steve). The Outlaw episode (dream sequence). Sister Stephanie. Tomboy in a habit. Hate her voice. Steals the show. Stuck up. She's the one who solves everything. He calls her Stevie. Set up to look like they're married. SHOULD BE CALLED SISTER STEPHANIE MYSTERIES!

I enjoyed this short-lived series even though I'm not Catholic OR a mystery buff. I loved Tracey Nelson as spunky "Sister Steve" (us Americans love the "Perky Nun" concept, don't we??). I loved it when she applied her street savvy to solving crime; i.e. getting a job as cab driver (she knew downtown Chicago like she knew the rosary); getting a job as a bartender (she grew up with an alcoholic father and knew ALL the drinks); she also won a game of pool against these scuzzy looking guys in a dive-bar. My kind of nun! Sister Steve made the show!

When Sister Steve spent most of the episode dressed as a hooker - she started off as a kind of fluffy eighties Madonna reject and then ended up with a long blonde wig and thigh high boots. I think there was another one when she had to go undercover as an exotic dancer. Okay, going undercover as a maid I can understand, but the whole nun to sex-worker thing is taking it a little too far.

Day One. Sister Steve is supposed to be this hard, streetwise girl brought in from an abusive household. Yeah, and my grandmother plays linebacker for the Vikings. Did I mention the strange condition, Trigger Finger Paralysis, that all the bad guys in this series suffer from?

Father Dowling was a rehash of Diagnosis Murder She Wrote starring Dick Van Lansbury. Take a likeable, elderly television star, give him/her a responsible profession, and have him/her ignore his/her profession to follow a hobby of crime fighting. What did Father Dowling's superior have to say about chasing down criminals instead of tending to the flock. He should have been a police chaplin if they wanted some semblance of reality, as he would have some legitimate connection to the crime. Oh well, the show gave Tom Bosley some money, and kept a bunch of old geysers happy, so my complaints are irrelevant.

I used to watch this show all the time, but it jumped the shark with that episode where Father Dowling thought Sister Steve had been kidnapped by the devil. That episode was too far-fetched. Another shark jump was when Sister Steve met one of the guys she used to be in love with, and she kissed him. That was unrealistic. I don't think any nun would do that, because it wouldn't be true to their vows.

You KNOW a show is desperate when the main character has an evil twin...played by the same actor! Father Dowling is no exception.

For what it was, it was OK. A damn sight better than the other "geriatric detective" shows like Murder She Wrote & Diagnosis Murder, because of Tracy Nelson as Sister Steve, the cutest nun this side of Sally Field, God Forgive Me! Full disclosure: my grandmother set the billiard shots for the pilot episode!