"The Adventure of Auld Lang Syne," the first episode broadcast on Sept. 11 1975, is unusual in that it concentrates more on Inspector Queen (David Wayne) rather than Ellery (Jim Hutton), keeping them apart rather than having them work as a team. Inspector Queen is awaiting his son's arrival at a swank New Year's Eve ball (hosted by the actual Guy Lombardo) with Sgt. Velie (Tom Reese), whose wife Madge (Peggy Rea) insists on dancing with the Inspector, who agrees that she is light on her feet (but not on his). At a nearby table, a wealthy industrialist named Marcus Halliday (an unbilled Thayer David, from DARK SHADOWS) plots to change his will, much to the consternation of his gathered guests. When Marcus exits to call his attorney, he is attacked in the phone booth and stabbed in the throat, preventing him from speaking, but not from dialing a number that reaches a man he's never met, an undertaker named Joe Kemmelman (George Wyner). Trying to contact Ellery, the Inspector discovers the body and orders that no one is to leave the premises without his permission, which doesn't please Deputy Commissioner Hayes (Arch Johnson, who would reprise the role twice more in episodes 4 and 20). Among the colorful cast of suspects are Barbara Rush, Ray Walston, David Doyle, Farley Granger, and Joan Collins, taking time out from an endless string of British horror films before her resurgence on American television on DYNASTY (she had done TV in Hollywood for many years, such as BATMAN and STAR TREK). Meanwhile, before poor Ellery can join his father, he must first make amends with a girl (Karen Machon) he'd inadvertently stood up that night, with the aid of a helpful cab driver (Herb Edelman). Only in the last 10 minutes does Ellery arrive and almost instantly solve the case, just in time to celebrate Auld Lang Syne (and say goodbye to 1946!). What truly made the series work was the chemistry between father and son, so by keeping them apart in this debut episode the producers did the audience a disservice, and perhaps inadvertently hurt their chances for a second season right off the bat. Two actors who did later episodes are Barbara Rush, playing a different suspect in "The Adventure of the Sinister Scenario," and Herb Edelman, as a suspect in "The Adventure of the Hardhearted Huckster." Producers Levinson and Link, who scripted the pilot, provided the story for this initial entry (as they also would for episode 6), but did not write any of the 22 episodes.