by bmasters9 » Thu Jun 30, 2016 8:31 am
Just wanted to say, as my first post here, that I'm into the second season of Mannix (had finished the first earlier; I purchased the lot of that 1967-75 CBS detective series w/Mike Connors from Amazon Marketplace), and so far it's been incredibly entertaining. I think it might end up being another one of my favorites.
by Jeff*H » Thu Jun 30, 2016 8:21 pm
MANNIX is one of my all-time favorites, discovered as a blind buy on DVD. My favorite seasons are 2, 3, and 4. Chief among the reasons I love this show is Mike Connors, who brought warmth and tenacity to the series, along with the clever stories, the great guest stars, the Richard Shores music scores in many of the shows, and the fun of watching Joe take lots of bullets and punches and still come out on top!
by bmasters9 » Sat Jul 02, 2016 1:05 am
Jeff*H wrote: MANNIX is one of my all-time favorites, discovered as a blind buy on DVD. My favorite seasons are 2, 3, and 4. Chief among the reasons I love this show is Mike Connors, who brought warmth and tenacity to the series, along with the clever stories, the great guest stars, the Richard Shores music scores in many of the shows, and the fun of watching Joe take lots of bullets and punches and still come out on top!
And that great triple-time waltz-style title track is making it all the more appealing to me. It's one of my most favorites now, and I have a good many.
by Steven from Miami » Sat Jul 02, 2016 4:45 am
In my Mannix re-watch project, I watch an episode a week of the show. Currently, I'm on the last disc of season two. Each season has its own "flavor" and while I enjoy each season and every episode mostly because Mike Connors is so damned iconic as Joe Mannix but also because I have long been obsessed with the 1965-75 period in TV and movies.
My favorite seasons are the first and then the sixth through eighth though they're all superb. However, the fifth season is oddly retrograde in that it feels like its more conventional than the seasons before and after it. Don't know why that is but it's apparent when I watched it. Of course, thanks to my slow-and-steady TV viewing schedule, I won't be getting to season five for quite some time.
by bmasters9 » Sat Jul 02, 2016 6:14 am
Steven from Miami wrote: Currently, I'm on the last disc of season two. Of course, thanks to my slow-and-steady TV viewing schedule, I won't be getting to season five for quite some time.
I'm up to the third disc of the second season's worth, and like you, I take 'em generally one at a time, and as such, it'll be awhile before I get there as well.
by ringfire211 » Sat Jul 02, 2016 9:02 pm
I think there are many good reasons why a fan of FIVE-O would also be a fan of MANNIX. Both shows ran during the same years, both ran on CBS, both tended to have some fairly twisty (even far-fetched but unique) plots every now and then, and while one was a cop show and the other a PI show they both had that late 60s/early 70s gritty style to it, largely due to the 2 great leads - Jack Lord and Mike Connors. Both were old-school actors from that "great generation" who lived through WWII and the Korean War. Of course both shows also featured many of the same guest stars - you'd probably have better luck making a list of actors who DID NOT appear on both shows than those who did. And let's not forget the catchy theme tunes, courtesy of Morton Stevens and Lalo Schifrin, respectively. One had that iconic opening wave and the zoom-in on the Ilikai penthouse while the other had those iconic boxes and the M-A-N-N-I-X letters coming together in different boxes (and this was 2 years before those boxes became famous on THE BRADY BUNCH). Lots of similarities! MANNIX even had some of those off-kilter and titled camera angles that were so iconic on many episodes of FIVE-0, especially those directed by Michael O'Herlihy.
I even recall reading somewhere an interview between Jack Lord and some TV person (this was during the 1971-1972 season when FIVE-0 entered its 4th season and MANNIX its 5th season) and Lord was telling this interviewer how this season was going to be a real challenge for them because MANNIX was their top competition, especially since the latter took FIVE-0's Wednesday 10PM time slot that season. FIVE-O had become a real hit in its 3rd season during the 1970-1971 season in that Wednesday 10PM slot, and now MANNIX was moving into that slot from its normal Saturday 10PM slot. Now FIVE-O was getting moved to Tuesdays in the 8:30PM slot. So Jack Lord was concerned by this move. Turns out that his concerns were warranted because MANNIX actually finished higher (#7) in the Nielsen ratings that season than FIVE-O (#12). I believe that was MANNIX's highest rated season. But FIVE-O made a great recovery the following 1972-1973 season (still in the new Tuesday 8:30PM slot) when it finished 3rd in the Nielsen ratings - just behind ALL IN THE FAMILY and SANFORD AND SON! Its highest rated season! As for MANNIX? It dropped completely out of the top 20 that year. Not sure what the cause was but it did get moved again - from the Wednesday 10PM slot to Sunday 9:30PM. So maybe that was the cause. In any case FIVE-O got its revenge.
Steven from Miami wrote: I have long been obsessed with the 1965-75 period in TV and movies.
You know, it's funny, because I have a fascination with that period too. I think of it as the mature period in television, especially in crime dramas (and westerns too). BONANZA (which actually started long before 1965), THE BIG VALLEY, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, MANNIX, IRONSIDE, FIVE-O, COLUMBO, THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, etc. 1965 was also the big switch-over to color on television. Half the shows made the switch in 1965 and the other half in 1966. But yeah I dig that whole period. By the late 70s things got too watered down and cheesy - too much fluff then like CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE LOVE BOAT, FANTASY ISLAND, DUKES OF HAZZARD, CHiPs, etc. That period of gritty TV was gone.
by Steven from Miami » Sun Jul 03, 2016 10:43 am
Excellent post, ringfire! I suppose season five is my least-favorite season because after the modernistic triumphs of seasons three and four, the fifth feels more like something out of 1958-63. I loved S1's hardboiled attitde except it was combined with '60s modernism, like the movie Point Blank (1967) or something.
As for '65-'75, filmmaker and music producer Nick Redman stated it best:
"It is widely believed among film historians that the decade of the 1970s was the last great hurrah of American film. Much has been written and spoken about why this is so, and yet, in truth, it is the only the first half of the '70s that is meaningful--roughly the period between 1969-1976. Afterward the tide inevitably turned toward younger subjects for younger audiences, and the innovative, adult-themed--some would say nihilistically inclined--pictures went the way of the Dodo bird."
~Nick Redman, in the liner notes to The Yakuza soundtrack (released by Film Score Monthly and now out of print)
by ringfire211 » Sun Jul 03, 2016 9:47 pm
Steven from Miami wrote: Excellent post, ringfire! I suppose season five is my least-favorite season because after the modernistic triumphs of seasons three and four, the fifth feels more like something out of 1958-63.
Thanks, Steven! I assume you're referring to the 5th season of MANNIX? Because for a minute there I thought you were talking about FIVE-O. I couldn't imagine anyone choosing season 5 of FIVE-O as their least favorite. So I guess you're saying season 5 of MANNIX resembled PETER GUNN? That show debuted in 1958.
Steven from Miami wrote: I loved S1's hardboiled attitde except it was combined with '60s modernism, like the movie Point Blank (1967) or something.
Again, you're talking about MANNIX, right? I suppose the same might apply to the first season of FIVE-O, especially with its psychedelic late 60s hippie vibe and style. Just check out "Up Tight". Far out, maaaan! POINT BLANK definitely had that late 60s psychedelic (modernistic?) look to it.
by Steven from Miami » Mon Jul 04, 2016 2:11 am
Yes, I was referring to Mannix, which is the name of this thread! You were the one who got to talking about that show starring Jack Lord! This is a Mannix thread, man!
In the season one top three faves thread--now I am talking about Five-O-- "Up Tight" was my #1 episode of that fabled first year...
...but let's talk about Mannix in this thread.
by bmasters9 » Mon Jul 04, 2016 5:28 am
Here is the lot of Mannix on one of my shelves, between Mary Tyler Moore (I have seasons 1-3, and season 6, of that 1970-77 CBS comedy) and Simon & Simon (I have the first four seasons' worth [1981-85] of that CBS detective series).
by ringfire211 » Mon Jul 04, 2016 8:57 pm
Steven from Miami, since this is a Hawaii Five-O discussion forum then Lord Jack's FIVE-O trumps any other discussions! He is the Lord and there will be no other Lords around here. Yes, I do recall seeing someone placing "Up Tight" in their top 3, so that was you, eh? It's a good choice but for me there are other much more engaging episodes from season 1. It's definitely "different" than your typical episode.
bMasters, I like your collection. Speaking of SIMON & SIMON, I just got the entire MAGNUM PI collection - the 8-season set. I haven't even cracked it open yet.
As for MANNIX I'll try to keep up with it as time permits. I actually need to go back and finish watching all of season 1.
by bmasters9 » Sat Jul 16, 2016 8:07 am
ringfire211 wrote: bMasters, I like your collection. Speaking of SIMON & SIMON, I just got the entire MAGNUM PI collection - the 8-season set. I haven't even cracked it open yet.
As for MANNIX I'll try to keep up with it as time permits. I actually need to go back and finish watching all of season 1.
I've finished out on the first one, and I'm 6 outings away from completing the second one and moving on to the third (1969-70).
by Steven from Miami » Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:26 am
"With Intent to Kill" (S4 Ep 17) (Original Airdate: January 23, 1971): Tough L.A. police Lt. Ira Deegan is warned off the investigation of a heist that netted $85,000 -- a threat that seems to have come true when his garage is blown up, although no one is hurt. Joe Mannix begins investigating the theft, which he claims is for the $8,500 recovery fee offered by the insurance company that would have to pay off on the theft. But Mannix' client is actually someone who is worried about Deegan's safety -- namely, his wife.
Spoilers Ahead...
Good performances from Dane Clark as Ira Deegan and Joan Hotchkis as his wife, Evelyn. This is the third and final appearance of the Ira Deegan character, who was always used for the more intense episodes. Deegan and Mannix do not get along and Deegan's tightly-wound personality means that scenes between he and Mannix are always tense. Deegan is always about ready to explode in a white-hot rage. Too bad the character wasn't brought back for future seasons.
Art Malcolm is also here, and he claims to not like Deegan very much, either.
Joan Hotchkis is fantastic as Deegan's long-suffering but strong wife. She looks so damned good in the scene when she wears a turtleneck sweater. Otherwise, she is dressed like the typical middle-aged housewife, but there's a strength to her character that shatters the stereotypical portrayal one often sees in this era. Despite being the early '70s, Mannix belongs to the America of the 1960s in both attitude and in its adherence on the Paramont lot and other sets. I refer to Joe Mannix as being the "Private Eye of the Silent Majority."
Peggy wears a putrid burnt orange jumpsuit over a crazy-patterned red, white, and blue blouse. She normally dresses quite tastefully, but the early '70s would give good taste a ton of obstacles to hurdle through, fashionwise.
Mannix is hit by a car and as he's being taken to the hospital in a station wagon ambulance (in a tightly-photographed shot), he acts like a jerk to the ambulance attendant and forces them to let him out.
When it's revealed that Deegan's young partner is part of the scheme for the robbery money, Mannix stops him in a quick but brutal fight. Deegan is disgusted by his partner's actions, and when Mannix tells him to "say hello to your wife", Deegan, realizing he has a lot of mending to do, chokes back tears and leaves. 8/10
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