I love Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books. I think I've read almost all of them. They're funny and clever, and I like the characters.

My husband recently bought some Nero Wolfe TV shows on DVD -- apparently this was a series that A&E produced at some point in the last few years. When he told me that he was getting them I raised an eyebrow and expressed skepticism. I told him that I seriously doubted they could find any actor who could pull off Nero Wolfe, and since Archie Goodwin is my favorite Stout character I didn't want to see him butchered by some Hollywood ignoramuses who probably never even bothered to read the books.

What a surprise. I love this series. The guy who plays Wolfe (Maury Chaykin) does a fantastic job. He's a little more shouty than I pictured Wolfe, and he's also not quite as heavy as I pictured Wolfe. But other than that he's very good.

Archie Goodwin is spot on. Timothy Hutton plays him, and he's also one of the producers. I think he does some directing, too. This guy, obviously, has read these books. He's perfect as Archie Goodwin, too. He looks like Archie and talks like Archie and is basically exactly right. I'm very impressed.

On top of all that, they stick to the stories as perfectly as they can in this format, and they even use Stout's dialog. They don't take many liberties. And the whole thing is very pretty. The sets are beautiful and the lighting is lovely.

All in all, this is a highly successful adaptation. Apparently A&E cancelled it after only a couple of seasons, which is a great disappointment. I would have loved to see a lot more of these.