Now, Leroy more than trouble

November 20, 2022 5:01 PM

The Mysteries of Encyclopedia Brown: The Books, The Lawsuits, The HBO Show?!

In 2015 Mental Floss published an overview of the development problems (the main one being the rights holder, Howard Deutsch.)

IMDb has a page for the TV series, where it is rated a respectable 7.9 out of 10. You can see examples of the newspaper comics here.

Previously:

• Donald J. Sobol's life
• Donald J. Sobal's passing
• Ridiculously Difficult Encyclopedia Brown Mysteries

posted by ChurchHatesTucker (13 comments total)

While they don't appear to be officially available, you can currently find the TV show episodes on YouTube.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:02 PM on November 20, 2022

I remember that "Savage" Steve Holland, of Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer fame, directed the episodes on that Encyclopedia Brown show.
posted by zardoz at 6:35 PM on November 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Tigers in the toolshed (the ballad of Bugs Meany)
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:51 PM on November 20, 2022 [1 favorite]

I smoked ground coffee in a pipe because I read about it in a Encyclopedia Brown book.
posted by ShakeyJake at 9:38 PM on November 20, 2022 [7 favorites]

2️⃣5️⃣¢
posted by clavdivs at 12:35 AM on November 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks for posting! These were some of my fave books as a kid. (Also - Mods may want to fix typos? Author's last name is SOBOL not Sobal. )
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:38 AM on November 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Also props for Croce-tastic post title
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 3:41 AM on November 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Definitely watched the old Encyclopedia Brown show in school ... I think as part of the after-school program I was in when we'd watch things inside on rainy days on one of those old CRT televisions bolted to the top of a black metal rolling cart. We watched Narnia that way too.
posted by subdee at 3:47 AM on November 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

emetophobics: trigger warning on this video, unexpectedly

also while watching it something irritated my eyeballs & I cried a single tear down the outside of my cheek, & I thought, "shit, Encyclopedia Brown would have sent me to prison if he saw that"
posted by taquito sunrise at 4:06 AM on November 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

(Also - Mods may want to fix typos? Author's last name is SOBOL not Sobal. )

Not sure how I managed that. I got it right in the tags.

I remember that "Savage" Steve Holland, of Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer fame, directed the episodes on that Encyclopedia Brown show.

That's actually mentioned in a small text blurb in the video. They couldn't figure out how to work it in, and neither could I. :)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:47 AM on November 21, 2022

I loved these books as a kid. Part of the Scholastic bundle, I think. When I was a bit older I read some of the two-minute mysteries mentioned; TL;DR, Sobol was an avid recycler!
posted by chavenet at 11:16 AM on November 21, 2022 [1 favorite]

Not just an avid recycler, also an Oberlin grad (1948)!
posted by zebra at 1:23 PM on November 21, 2022 [2 favorites]

Also loved the books as a wee one - my nickname until about grade 3 was "Encyclopedia Brown."
posted by porpoise at 1:44 PM on November 21, 2022 [1 favorite]