Father Dowling Mysteries: The Second Season is pleasantly boring, many steps up from what boring usually is, but not by much. Tom Bosley, always well regarded for Happy Days, plays Father Frank Dowling, a great force of good in his Chicago Catholic church, who works with Sister Stephanie “Steve” Oskowski (Tracy Nelson) not only on church matters, but on mysteries that somehow find their way to his parish, including a visiting priest who turns out to be a mafia hitman (we know right at the start of that episode, “The Visiting Priest Mystery,” but it naturally takes Dowling and Oskowski some time to find out, so for us, it’s just wondering when they’re going to discover that), an ex-con seeking revenge on Dowling as a witness against him in a trial eight years ago, Dowling’s evil twin brother (Bosley sheds some of what makes him so likable in order to play the brother, but it’s easy to see that it’s still a slight stretch for him), chalices, contested wills, and more.

Father Dowling Mysteries Bosley is nice enough in the role, and it’s always a pleasure to see Mary Wickes, who today’s audiences will know best as Sister Mary Lazarus in the Sister Act movies (she plays Marie, Dowling’s housekeeper and cook), but the real standout is Tracy Nelson. She is the unexpected nun, game in helping out Dowling solve the mysteries in any way she can, and she does, in many, many ways. She knows Chicago as well as Dowling was, but seems to be more of those streets than he is, such as with a troubled teenaged brother (Stephen Dorff, early in his career). It gives her a slight, entertaining edge over Bosley, but the two work very well together. This isn’t like a detective and his secretary. They’re equals.

The mysteries themselves, well, they’re a chore to get through. If you’re a mystery fan, then you know very well that whatever happens to Father Dowling won’t last long anyway, and even if you’re not, you can pretty much sense the same thing. There’s no real risk, though with this duo, that should be expected because who would really put a priest and a nun in danger?

The only real value these episodes have besides the main cast (including James Stephens as Father Philip Prestwick) is the guest stars that you’ll recognize today as being older and more fully formed, such as Anthony LaPaglia as that visiting priest/hitman, Yaphet Kotto as a police lieutenant in “The Stone Killer Mystery,” and Robin Thomas in “The Legacy Mystery” who has what I call Dudley Moore hair, but then Eriq La Salle also had it in Coming to America, so let’s just call it a type of ‘80s hair, since at the time Father Dowling Mysteries aired, the nation wasn’t quite ready to let go of the ‘80s in 1990.

For slight historical value just for the guest stars, Father Dowling Mysteries is worthwhile, but the mysteries remain very slight, so either have your fast-forward button ready if you’re watching this on your own, or if you’re watching with someone else who likes this, make sure to have a book next to you. Maybe a mystery that’s written better than these.