Father Dowling Mysteries

Father Dowling Mysteries
Title screen
Genre	Crime drama Mystery
Format	Live-action
Starring	Tom Bosley Tracy Nelson James Stephens Mary Wickes
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	43 + 1 TV movie (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	60 minutes (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (season 1) ABC (seasons 2-3)
Original run	November 30, 1987 (1987-11-30) – May 2, 1991 (1991-05-02)

Father Dowling Mysteries (also known as Father Dowling Investigates in the UK) is an American television mystery series that appeared between November 30, 1987 and May 2, 1991. For its first season, the show was on NBC; it moved to ABC network for its last two seasons. It is based on the adventures of the title character created by Ralph McInerny.

Plot

Father Frank Dowling is a Catholic priest who continually stumbles over murders, abductions, and other high crimes in his hometown, Chicago, Illinois. He is assisted by Sister Stephanie "Steve" Oskowski, who does much of the legwork for Frank. Sister Steve is a streetwise nun who grew up in a rough housing project nearby, so she can hotwire a car and handle firearms with ease. She knows the language of the streets and converses in it fluently.

Father Philip Prestwick is the ladder-climbing assistant to the Archbishop, who just happens to drop in before meals, prepared by housekeeper Marie Murkin, who provides comic relief.

Father Dowling has a brother, Blaine, who, although they are different ages, looks exactly like him (also played by Tom Bosley). Blaine appeared in only three episodes: "The Face in the Mirror Mystery," "The Woman Scorned Mystery," and "The Fugitive Priest Mystery." Blaine Dowling is a thief and con artist who isn't above framing his brother for his crimes.

A famous catchphrase of Father Dowling is when he is recorded asking Father Phil: "Father Phil, could you take 10 o'clock Mass? I've got a murder to solve."

Cast

Father Dowling (Tom Bosley) and Sister Steve (Tracy Nelson)

• Tom Bosley as Father Frank Dowling/Blaine Dowling
• Tracy Nelson as Sister Stephanie "Steve" Oskowski
• James Stephens as Father Philip Prestwick
• Mary Wickes as Marie Murkin

The program featured many notable guest stars, some before they had achieved fame, including: Leslie Nielsen, Laurie Holden, William R. Moses, John Slattery, Andreas Katsulas, Diane Ladd, Anthony LaPaglia, Yaphet Kotto, Steven Culp, Brenda Strong, Stacy Edwards, Stanley Kamel, Robin Thomas, Roscoe Lee Browne, David McCallum, Colm Meaney, Fionnula Flanagan, David Warner, Tony Todd, Michelle Forbes, Kate Vernon, John Astin, Grant Heslov, Jack Bannon, Ethan Phillips, Kurt Fuller, Scott Marlowe, Robert Walden and Ivan Dixon.

Episodes

Main article: List of Father Dowling Mysteries episodes

After its first season the show left NBC and ABC took the show for a further two seasons. In total Father Dowling Mysteries had one TV movie and 43 episodes in three seasons.

Pilot

The pilot was a TV movie entitled Fatal Confession, which originally aired on NBC on November 1, 1987.

Regular series

The show was due to begin in 1988, though because of a writer's strike in 1988, it did not begin to air weekly until 1989. The series began airing in 1989 and ended in 1991, during which time the show switched from NBC to ABC.

DVD release

On February 7, 2012, CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) will release Father Dowling Mysteries- The 1st Season on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.

In Region 4, Madman Entertainment released the first season on DVD in Australia on November 2, 2011.

References

• Lovece, Frank, The Television Yearbook: Complete, Detailed Listings for the 1990-1991 Season (Putnam / Perigee, 1991) ISBN 0-399-51702-2

External links

• Father Dowling Mysteries at TV.com
• Father Dowling Mysteries at the Internet Movie Database
• Father Dowling Mysteries at epguides.com
• Ralph McInerny - Daily Telegraph obituary