I decided to buy this DVD as a result of seeing Tracy Nelson in another old Movie alongside Ernest Borgnine, where she starred as a single Mum. I then traced her connection as I suspected to Ricky Nelson. I guess readers have figured out I am an 'early-days-of-tv in Australia' person. Tom Bosley does well in this. Sad there are no Subtitles but the sound is not too bad in spite of the lack of them.Plots, and the solving of the mysteries are often equally as surprising. This was a set of DVD's that included a lower quality TV episode at the start that was probably originally NTSC converted to PAL for Australian and English viewers. Imagine my surprise when one of the later episodes also featured Tracy Nelson's Grandmother Harriet Nelson from the Harriet and Ozzy Nelson TV shows. I won't give away which role she played. So all in all apart from all the other fine actors a real family affair with 2 generations of Nelsons playing in one episode together. I could see some similarities, in a few places, in this to perhaps Peter Faulk's Murder Mysteries in the Columbo series.

I wish I had DVDs of the early years, I would use them in my Sunday School curriculum. Yes, I know that Sister Steve had some odd undertakings, but I don't think they detracted from the day-to-day exploration of Catholic Christian theology. The site requests additional lines so I'll commend Tom Bosley's warm performance as Father Dowling. Tracy Nelson had the look and personality of a young woman settling into the religious life. I enjoyed the Chicago setting as well. Around the time this show was canceled, I pretty much quit watching television as so much of it was so offensive. This show was substantive without being corny.

Oh come on I've seen MONTY PHYTHON sketches that are more realistic than this . A Priest called Father Dowling investigates crimes . What sort of crimes ? Paedophile Priests ? The Vatican mafia as seen in THE GODFATHER 3 ? No just mundane crimes like people getting bumped off by gangsters and the like Did I mention the Padre has a sidekick called Stephanie Oskowski ? She's a Nun and every episode sees her going undercover as a lap dancer or a prostitute . NOOOOOOOOO ! Stop laughing I'm not making any of this up and the plots aren't even bad enough to be good . In fact you end up really confused as to why anyone thought this up for an American TV network because a plot featuring gangsters , a priest and a nun working as a prostitute would have made a great movie starring Big John Holmes and Linda Lovelace . Sometimes the worst idea can be the greatest idea but only if it's used in the right mediumThere is something slightly objectionable and very hypocritical to all this . Dowling's a man of the cloth right ? He's there to save souls right ? The word of God states that we should love our enemies right ? But after Dowling and Stephanie have solved the case the cops arrive and arrest the bad guys and never at any point do the duo feel any remorse that the criminals will be spending the rest of their lives in a maximum security prison where they'll be gang raped . What happened to the Christian spirit ? Oh and surely if the criminals are facing the death penalty this should go against Dowling and Stephanie's principals ? Maybe FATHER DOWLING INVESTIGATES is really produced by Marxists ? No doubt this show is popular in North Korea

Like Perry Mason, this series wasn't an original, it was based on a (still ongoing) series of books by Ralph McInerny. Unlike Perry Mason, though, the producers took almost nothing from the books but the characters of Fr. Dowling and Mrs. Murkin, and of those two only Mrs. Murkin bears any resemblance to the character in the book. I'd advise anyone who likes mysteries but was disappointed in Fr. Dowling on TV to read the books, they are excellent.