FORGOTTEN TELEVISION: WILLIAM SHATNER AS ARCHIE GOODWIN IN NERO WOLFE (1959)

NERO WOLFE (1959) – This was a failed pilot for a potential series about Rex Stout’s iconic detective – the rotund, snobbish but brilliant Nero Wolfe, portrayed by Kurt Kasznar. William Shatner played Archie Goodwin, the affable leg man for his reclusive boss.   

It’s a shame this didn’t launch a series. Kasznar perfectly brought to life the eccentric, persnickety genius who virtually never left his home. And Shatner’s smiling, joking, but tough when he had to be Archie was a joy to watch. Needless to say, William expertly conveyed Goodwin’s eye for the ladies.

The chemistry between Kasznar and Shatner was remarkable, and at just 26 minutes without commercials, this would have been just the right length for each episode without Wolfe’s egotism and impatience with lesser minds wearing out their welcome with viewers.   

Let’s examine the murder mystery in this pilot, subtitled Count the Man Down.

A literal rocket scientist drops dead right at the moment of liftoff for the latest experimental space craft he and others were working on. When Archie reads a newspaper article about the incident to the cold-stricken Nero the detective realizes it was a murder and not the stress-related heart attack that the public believes.

Wolfe has Archie plant word with the media that the great detective believes the scientist’s death was a homicide, causing a nationwide sensation. The investigation proceeds amid timely references to the space race, Sputnik, and former Nazi rocket experts working for both America’s and the Soviet Union’s space programs.

NOTE: Any mention of that topic reminds me of a couple of Mort Sahl’s jokes about Nazi figures in the space race. Joke One: Everyone’s afraid that Sputnik proved Russians are smarter than Americans. Actually, all it proves is that their Germans are smarter than our Germans.   

        Joke Two: Sahl pointed out that the controversial scientist Werner von Braun’s biography I Aim at the Stars should have been titled I Aim at the Stars, But Sometimes I Hit London.

Back to Nero Wolfe, while Archie runs down leads, flirts with women and fetches medicine for his boss’s cold, Wolfe stokes the public outrage over his claims of murder. Nero rides the scandal to the point where he charges the suspects differing fees to solve the crime, using his famed sliding scale – the richer the client the more they pay for the same services.

Sifting through the clues reveals romantic affairs, professional jealousy and esoteric technical skill in timing the victim’s death to precisely the moment of the launch. In the finale, Nero calls all the suspects to his home since the thought of stepping outside its walls over such a trivial affair seems far too gauche to the detective.

Wolfe methodically spells out whodunit, why and how while Archie’s strong arms prevent the guilty party from unleashing violence on his boss. Nero gets fees over and above his thousands of dollars in orchid bills that Archie pestered him over during the episode.

We close with some clever repartee between Goodwin and Wolfe as the former respectfully and good-naturedly punctures a tiny bit of his employer’s pomposity.

In my opinion they had the proverbial lightning in a bottle with this potential series, but CBS let it slip through their fingers by not greenlighting it.  

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