Harry-O on Decades

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Pahonu
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Harry-O on Decades

#1 Post by Pahonu »

I’m excited to post that one of my favorite, if short-lived, TV series is having a marathon next weekend on the Decades channel. I have mentioned the series many times over the years on this forum, but very few people are familiar with it or, if they are, have not seen it in decades, pun intended.

I first saw the pilot movie in the 80’s and saw many episodes years later in a brief run on a cable channel I now forget. I eventually bought the series direct from Warner Bros. and have enjoyed a run through all the episodes about five times now. It initially ran for two seasons beginning in 1974, debuting just one day from The Rockford Files. In fact, Harry’s beach house in the pilot and later episodes was just down the beach from the Paradise Cove parking lot where Rockford had his trailer.

Harry is a different kind of private investigator. He’s an ex-cop pensioned off the force because of a bullet in his back. He supplements the pension by taking cases when and if he wants. He rides the bus frequently as his car is often in the shop and avoids many chases and brawls because of his back. David Janssen’s world-weary performance is spot on for those who enjoy neo-noir and the use of voice-over has been described as amongst the best ever in episodic television. Rather than simply advancing the plot, his narration provides insight into Harry’s thoughts and feelings about what’s going on.

The series actually began filming in San Diego, and these are some of my favorite episodes, but was moved back to LA to lower the budget. This necessarily brought about some cast changes, but also led to a new police contact played by Anthony Zerbe, who won an Emmy for his performance. This also leads to an excellent episode that deals with Harry’s former police contact in San Diego called Elegy for a Cop.

I’ll shut up for now, but I think many members of this forum will find the series unique and interesting, if not as much as myself. Perhaps it’s blasphemous to say on this forum, but MPI ranks third among my favorite series behind The Rockford Files and Harry-O. :shock:

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ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)
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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#2 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

Thanks Pahonu. I'll try to check it out this weekend!

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#3 Post by Pahonu »

ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 4:25 pm Thanks Pahonu. I'll try to check it out this weekend!
Hope you enjoy!

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#4 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

Pahonu wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:40 am
ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 4:25 pm Thanks Pahonu. I'll try to check it out this weekend!
Hope you enjoy!
Hope so too. Actually I just noticed that the entire season 1 is on YouTube. I know I checked before to see where it's available and it seemed to be nowhere. The only option was to purchase the DVD on Amazon. Provided YouTube doesn't take it down anytime soon then we might have some fun viewing these episodes, especially if we miss them on Decades.

Quick question - on YouTube there seem to be 2 pilot episodes, before the first episode "Gertrude". But checking on IMDB it shows just the one pilot episode under season 1 - "Such Dust as Dreams...". They don't list the other one - "Smile Jenny..." Actually the "Dust as Dreams" pilot aired back in March 1973. That's 2 seasons before the first season actually started. :shock: So what's the story on these 2 pilot episodes?

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#5 Post by Little Garwood »

We also have this Harry-O thread. I've thoroughly enjoyed the first-season episodes I saw many years ago. I see there are several episodes on the usual video outlets...time to investigate.

It's surprising that Harry-O didn't catch on, even with the considerable competition in the P.I.TV show landscape. David Janssen was a well-known TV star, perhaps even a legend, by the time this series began, making this series' failure all the more perplexing. It's too bad that David Janssen is forgotten today.

Just randomly chose an episode to watch: S1 E3, "Guardian at the Gates." Guest Cast: Barry Sullivan, Linda Evans, Anne Archer, and Katharine Woodville. That's one epic character actor and three hotties for the ages, all in the same episode.
"Popularity is the pocket change of history."

~Tom Selleck

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#6 Post by Pahonu »

ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:58 am
Pahonu wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:40 am
ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 4:25 pm Thanks Pahonu. I'll try to check it out this weekend!
Hope you enjoy!
Hope so too. Actually I just noticed that the entire season 1 is on YouTube. I know I checked before to see where it's available and it seemed to be nowhere. The only option was to purchase the DVD on Amazon. Provided YouTube doesn't take it down anytime soon then we might have some fun viewing these episodes, especially if we miss them on Decades.

Quick question - on YouTube there seem to be 2 pilot episodes, before the first episode "Gertrude". But checking on IMDB it shows just the one pilot episode under season 1 - "Such Dust as Dreams...". They don't list the other one - "Smile Jenny..." Actually the "Dust as Dreams" pilot aired back in March 1973. That's 2 seasons before the first season actually started. :shock: So what's the story on these 2 pilot episodes?
There are indeed two pilots. Such Dust as Dreams are Made On was the first, and better in my opinion. It both explains Harry’s back injury from a shooting, and has a more noir-ish mood, though it lacks the excellent use of voiceover that will be part of the series. The network wasn’t convinced it would succeed and ordered another, which is Smile Jenny, Your Dead. It’s usually found on IMDB listed as a standalone movie by only its title. It was actually the first available on DVD, which I purchased years ago. Turner Classic Movies showed the original pilot which I recorded many years ago, until Warner Bros. made the series available on DVD.

Here’s a good overview:

https://crimereads.com/harry-o-tv-private-eye-series/

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#7 Post by Pahonu »

Little Garwood wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:07 pm We also have this Harry-O thread. I've thoroughly enjoyed the first-season episodes I saw many years ago. I see there are several episodes on the usual video outlets...time to investigate.

It's surprising that Harry-O didn't catch on, even with the considerable competition in the P.I.TV show landscape. David Janssen was a well-known TV star, perhaps even a legend, by the time this series began, making this series' failure all the more perplexing. It's too bad that David Janssen is forgotten today.

Just randomly chose an episode to watch: S1 E3, "Guardian at the Gates." Guest Cast: Barry Sullivan, Linda Evans, Anne Archer, and Katharine Woodville. That's one epic character actor and three hotties for the ages, all in the same episode.
I remembered there was a Harry-O thread but didn’t go looking for it when I found out was being broadcast this weekend.

Guardian at the Gates is more of a character study than a mystery to be solved, but that’s part of what I like about the series, the complexity of characterization in many of its episodes.

I also recommend Gertrude, Coinage of the Realm, Mortal Sin, and Eyewitness from the San Diego episodes.

I hope you can check out some episodes on Decades!

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#8 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

Pahonu wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:08 pm
ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:58 am
Pahonu wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:40 am
ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 4:25 pm Thanks Pahonu. I'll try to check it out this weekend!
Hope you enjoy!
Hope so too. Actually I just noticed that the entire season 1 is on YouTube. I know I checked before to see where it's available and it seemed to be nowhere. The only option was to purchase the DVD on Amazon. Provided YouTube doesn't take it down anytime soon then we might have some fun viewing these episodes, especially if we miss them on Decades.

Quick question - on YouTube there seem to be 2 pilot episodes, before the first episode "Gertrude". But checking on IMDB it shows just the one pilot episode under season 1 - "Such Dust as Dreams...". They don't list the other one - "Smile Jenny..." Actually the "Dust as Dreams" pilot aired back in March 1973. That's 2 seasons before the first season actually started. :shock: So what's the story on these 2 pilot episodes?
There are indeed two pilots. Such Dust as Dreams are Made On was the first, and better in my opinion. It both explains Harry’s back injury from a shooting, and has a more noir-ish mood, though it lacks the excellent use of voiceover that will be part of the series. The network wasn’t convinced it would succeed and ordered another, which is Smile Jenny, Your Dead. It’s usually found on IMDB listed as a standalone movie by only its title. It was actually the first available on DVD, which I purchased years ago. Turner Classic Movies showed the original pilot which I recorded many years ago, until Warner Bros. made the series available on DVD.

Here’s a good overview:

https://crimereads.com/harry-o-tv-private-eye-series/
Thanks for that info! I hope to read that article once I take an episode or two under my belt. :)

By the way, speaking of similarities between ROCKFORD and HARRY-O, how about the crazy coincidence that the first episode in both series (after the pilot) features Julie Sommars as the main guest star? :shock:

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#9 Post by Pahonu »

ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:28 pm
Pahonu wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:08 pm
ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 4:58 am
Pahonu wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:40 am
ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Mon Aug 15, 2022 4:25 pm Thanks Pahonu. I'll try to check it out this weekend!
Hope you enjoy!
Hope so too. Actually I just noticed that the entire season 1 is on YouTube. I know I checked before to see where it's available and it seemed to be nowhere. The only option was to purchase the DVD on Amazon. Provided YouTube doesn't take it down anytime soon then we might have some fun viewing these episodes, especially if we miss them on Decades.

Quick question - on YouTube there seem to be 2 pilot episodes, before the first episode "Gertrude". But checking on IMDB it shows just the one pilot episode under season 1 - "Such Dust as Dreams...". They don't list the other one - "Smile Jenny..." Actually the "Dust as Dreams" pilot aired back in March 1973. That's 2 seasons before the first season actually started. :shock: So what's the story on these 2 pilot episodes?
There are indeed two pilots. Such Dust as Dreams are Made On was the first, and better in my opinion. It both explains Harry’s back injury from a shooting, and has a more noir-ish mood, though it lacks the excellent use of voiceover that will be part of the series. The network wasn’t convinced it would succeed and ordered another, which is Smile Jenny, Your Dead. It’s usually found on IMDB listed as a standalone movie by only its title. It was actually the first available on DVD, which I purchased years ago. Turner Classic Movies showed the original pilot which I recorded many years ago, until Warner Bros. made the series available on DVD.

Here’s a good overview:

https://crimereads.com/harry-o-tv-private-eye-series/
Thanks for that info! I hope to read that article once I take an episode or two under my belt. :)

By the way, speaking of similarities between ROCKFORD and HARRY-O, how about the crazy coincidence that the first episode in both series (after the pilot) features Julie Sommars as the main guest star? :shock:
I don’t think China Doll has Julie Sommars in it, though she was certainly on MPI later.

The fact that they both debuted on consecutive days in 1974 is interesting. I don’t recall which one was first though.

Also, both shows ended up filming in Paradise Cove for their detective’s home, but not initially. Rockford’s trailer was near the Malibu Pier early on and Harry lived in a beach house on Coronado Island (now gone) in San Diego when they started the series. Ultimately they ended up just a few hundred yards apart. Rockford’s trailer was in the parking lot at the west end of the cove, and Harry’s house was just beyond the east end of the parking lot, though it’s also now gone. Both pilots were shot using that house but then came the San Diego move, and when Harry came back to LA, he was briefly in an apartment.

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#10 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

Pahonu wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:39 pm I don’t think China Doll has Julie Sommars in it, though she was certainly on MPI later.
I was talking about the first episode of ROCKFORD ("The Kirkoff Case"), not the first episode of MPI. And comparing it to the first episode of HARRY-O ("Gertrude"). Both had Julie Sommars in it.

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#11 Post by Pahonu »

ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 4:55 am
Pahonu wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 7:39 pm I don’t think China Doll has Julie Sommars in it, though she was certainly on MPI later.
I was talking about the first episode of ROCKFORD ("The Kirkoff Case"), not the first episode of MPI. And comparing it to the first episode of HARRY-O ("Gertrude"). Both had Julie Sommars in it.
Oops!

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#12 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

I just watched "Mortal Sin" on YouTube. Very good episode! Directed by Paul Wendkos, who directed quite a few films (the underrated GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN being one of them) as well the Hawaii Five-O pilot "Cocoon"!

Good acting all around, including Laurence Luckinbill as the priest and Walter McGinn as the psycho. David Janssen was good too! An improvement over his sleep-walking Richard Kimble in THE FUGITIVE. Or maybe I'm just biased because I like 70s PI/cop shows and didn't care for whatever THE FUGITIVE was (drama? crime drama? both?). Still, Janssen's world-weariness serves him well as the PI with a somewhat sour or jaded disposition. Though I still prefer Garner's Rockford by leaps and bounds! He can be jaded and maybe somewhat sour too but he's just so much more fun watching. There's a sparkle there that I don't see in Janssen. I do like Janssen's voice-overs (and he seems to be a well-read man) but Magnum's voice-overs can't be beat. Or maybe I'm just more used to them.

The score by Billy Goldenberg (he scored everything in the 70s, including his stellar work on COLUMBO and DUEL) is very effective here. Atmospheric and creepy when needed. The man sure knew how to score suspense.

I look forward to checking out a few more episodes.

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#13 Post by Pahonu »

ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:11 pm I just watched "Mortal Sin" on YouTube. Very good episode! Directed by Paul Wendkos, who directed quite a few films (the underrated GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN being one of them) as well the Hawaii Five-O pilot "Cocoon"!

Good acting all around, including Laurence Luckinbill as the priest and Walter McGinn as the psycho. David Janssen was good too! An improvement over his sleep-walking Richard Kimble in THE FUGITIVE. Or maybe I'm just biased because I like 70s PI/cop shows and didn't care for whatever THE FUGITIVE was (drama? crime drama? both?). Still, Janssen's world-weariness serves him well as the PI with a somewhat sour or jaded disposition. Though I still prefer Garner's Rockford by leaps and bounds! He can be jaded and maybe somewhat sour too but he's just so much more fun watching. There's a sparkle there that I don't see in Janssen. I do like Janssen's voice-overs (and he seems to be a well-read man) but Magnum's voice-overs can't be beat. Or maybe I'm just more used to them.

The score by Billy Goldenberg (he scored everything in the 70s, including his stellar work on COLUMBO and DUEL) is very effective here. Atmospheric and creepy when needed. The man sure knew how to score suspense.

I look forward to checking out a few more episodes.
Glad to hear you enjoyed!

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#14 Post by ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) »

Pahonu wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 1:13 am
ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:11 pm I just watched "Mortal Sin" on YouTube. Very good episode! Directed by Paul Wendkos, who directed quite a few films (the underrated GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN being one of them) as well the Hawaii Five-O pilot "Cocoon"!

Good acting all around, including Laurence Luckinbill as the priest and Walter McGinn as the psycho. David Janssen was good too! An improvement over his sleep-walking Richard Kimble in THE FUGITIVE. Or maybe I'm just biased because I like 70s PI/cop shows and didn't care for whatever THE FUGITIVE was (drama? crime drama? both?). Still, Janssen's world-weariness serves him well as the PI with a somewhat sour or jaded disposition. Though I still prefer Garner's Rockford by leaps and bounds! He can be jaded and maybe somewhat sour too but he's just so much more fun watching. There's a sparkle there that I don't see in Janssen. I do like Janssen's voice-overs (and he seems to be a well-read man) but Magnum's voice-overs can't be beat. Or maybe I'm just more used to them.

The score by Billy Goldenberg (he scored everything in the 70s, including his stellar work on COLUMBO and DUEL) is very effective here. Atmospheric and creepy when needed. The man sure knew how to score suspense.

I look forward to checking out a few more episodes.
Glad to hear you enjoyed!
So it looks like Janssen starred in 4 different TV shows. There was also RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE EYE and O'HARA, U.S. TREASURY. Have you (or anyone else here) seen either of those?

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Re: Harry-O on Decades

#15 Post by Chris109 »

ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 4:33 am
Pahonu wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 1:13 am
ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan) wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:11 pm I just watched "Mortal Sin" on YouTube. Very good episode! Directed by Paul Wendkos, who directed quite a few films (the underrated GUNS OF THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN being one of them) as well the Hawaii Five-O pilot "Cocoon"!

Good acting all around, including Laurence Luckinbill as the priest and Walter McGinn as the psycho. David Janssen was good too! An improvement over his sleep-walking Richard Kimble in THE FUGITIVE. Or maybe I'm just biased because I like 70s PI/cop shows and didn't care for whatever THE FUGITIVE was (drama? crime drama? both?). Still, Janssen's world-weariness serves him well as the PI with a somewhat sour or jaded disposition. Though I still prefer Garner's Rockford by leaps and bounds! He can be jaded and maybe somewhat sour too but he's just so much more fun watching. There's a sparkle there that I don't see in Janssen. I do like Janssen's voice-overs (and he seems to be a well-read man) but Magnum's voice-overs can't be beat. Or maybe I'm just more used to them.

The score by Billy Goldenberg (he scored everything in the 70s, including his stellar work on COLUMBO and DUEL) is very effective here. Atmospheric and creepy when needed. The man sure knew how to score suspense.

I look forward to checking out a few more episodes.
Glad to hear you enjoyed!
So it looks like Janssen starred in 4 different TV shows. There was also RICHARD DIAMOND, PRIVATE EYE and O'HARA, U.S. TREASURY. Have you (or anyone else here) seen either of those?
I vaguely recall O'Hara. The one thing I do remember about Janssen in those 70's shows were those 70's, bushy sideburns.


And I was watching Father Knows Best and there was an actor in it that looked familiar. James Franciscus. He of Longstreet, the blind insurance investigator. This was after he helped Taylor blow up the world in Beneath the Planet of the Apesssss.


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