Harry-O on Decades

[Pahonu]

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?

Richard Diamond was pre-Fugitive and is perhaps remembered most for his little seen secretary, other than her legs, played by Mary Tyler Moore. It went through many changes in four seasons, from NY to LA, from noir to sunny SoCal, and it hasn’t aged well based on the few I have seen. If you really like 77 Sunset Strip and it’s clones, you might like it more than me.

O’Hara was a straight laced, by the book show like Dragnet, and was indeed produced by Jack Webb. I saw the pilot several years ago and wasn’t overly impressed. I liked it better than Riches Diamond but have seen no other episodes.

[Pahonu]

As I was looking for the Harry-O episodes online that some have mentioned, I found the entire series here!

https://archive.org/details/harry-o-s-01-

https://archive.org/details/harry-o-s-02

I suppose this makes the weekend binge on Decades less relevant, but enjoy everyone!

Here’s the second pilot, not included above.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5fDgjZCPxsQ

[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.

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?

Richard Diamond was pre-Fugitive and is perhaps remembered most for his little seen secretary, other than her legs, played by Mary Tyler Moore. It went through many changes in four seasons, from NY to LA, from noir to sunny SoCal, and it hasn’t aged well based on the few I have seen. If you really like 77 Sunset Strip and it’s clones, you might like it more than me.

O’Hara was a straight laced, by the book show like Dragnet, and was indeed produced by Jack Webb. I saw the pilot several years ago and wasn’t overly impressed. I liked it better than Riches Diamond but have seen no other episodes.

I figured those 2 were lesser shows, as I'm not familiar with them. I may have come across them on IMDB when looking at various actors' credits but never took note of them or that Janssen was the star in them. I just knew that he was in THE FUGITIVE and HARRY-O.

It's interesting reading some background on Janssen. Apparently he was loved by everybody and many of his peers swore he was the finest TV actor of all time. Patrick MacNee was one of those who said that. It's funny because these days folks still recall MacNee, Robert Vaughn, Robert Culp, Robert Conrad, Patrick McGoohan and other 60s and 70s stars (Garner and Jack Lord of course) but David Janssen seems to be somewhat forgotten. He's almost a trivia question. Maybe it's because outside of his 2 TV hits he was largely relegated to a slew of TV-movies. Whereas the other guys appeared in more prestigious stuff. Garner of course had a solid film career, Lord and MacNee both appeared in Bond movies, Robert Vaughn was one of the original MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and was also in BULLITT, McGoohan appeared in some high-profile films (ICE STATION ZEBRA, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, and of course the Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART!). Many of them also got plenty of exposure via their multiple appearances on COLUMBO. But Janssen seemed to have fallen by the wayside. He wasn't a killer on COLUMBO, he didn't have those high-profile films. He stuck mostly to TV-movies. But it's interesting to see how revered he seemed to be by his peers.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

As I was looking for the Harry-O episodes online that some have mentioned, I found the entire series here!

https://archive.org/details/harry-o-s-01-

https://archive.org/details/harry-o-s-02

I suppose this makes the weekend binge on Decades less relevant, but enjoy everyone!

Here’s the second pilot, not included above.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5fDgjZCPxsQ

Nice to see that season 2 is also available. YouTube only has season 1, where the video quality seems to be better so I'd probably go with that.

[Pahonu]

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?

Richard Diamond was pre-Fugitive and is perhaps remembered most for his little seen secretary, other than her legs, played by Mary Tyler Moore. It went through many changes in four seasons, from NY to LA, from noir to sunny SoCal, and it hasn’t aged well based on the few I have seen. If you really like 77 Sunset Strip and it’s clones, you might like it more than me.

O’Hara was a straight laced, by the book show like Dragnet, and was indeed produced by Jack Webb. I saw the pilot several years ago and wasn’t overly impressed. I liked it better than Riches Diamond but have seen no other episodes.

I figured those 2 were lesser shows, as I'm not familiar with them. I may have come across them on IMDB when looking at various actors' credits but never took note of them or that Janssen was the star in them. I just knew that he was in THE FUGITIVE and HARRY-O.

It's interesting reading some background on Janssen. Apparently he was loved by everybody and many of his peers swore he was the finest TV actor of all time. Patrick MacNee was one of those who said that. It's funny because these days folks still recall MacNee, Robert Vaughn, Robert Culp, Robert Conrad, Patrick McGoohan and other 60s and 70s stars (Garner and Jack Lord of course) but David Janssen seems to be somewhat forgotten. He's almost a trivia question. Maybe it's because outside of his 2 TV hits he was largely relegated to a slew of TV-movies. Whereas the other guys appeared in more prestigious stuff. Garner of course had a solid film career, Lord and MacNee both appeared in Bond movies, Robert Vaughn was one of the original MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and was also in BULLITT, McGoohan appeared in some high-profile films (ICE STATION ZEBRA, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, and of course the Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART!). Many of them also got plenty of exposure via their multiple appearances on COLUMBO. But Janssen seemed to have fallen by the wayside. He wasn't a killer on COLUMBO, he didn't have those high-profile films. He stuck mostly to TV-movies. But it's interesting to see how revered he seemed to be by his peers.

At least part of the reason is his early death. He was just 48 when he suffered a massive heart attack while jogging on the beach near his Malibu home. By comparison, Jack Lord was 48 when he started Hawaii Five-O! Janssen was both well loved and respected in the industry. Suzanne Pleshette delivered the eulogy at the request of Janssen's widow. Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Richard Harris, Rod Stewart and Gregory Peck were among Janssen's pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers included Jack Lemmon, George Peppard, James Stewart and Danny Thomas. That’s quite a list!

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

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?

Richard Diamond was pre-Fugitive and is perhaps remembered most for his little seen secretary, other than her legs, played by Mary Tyler Moore. It went through many changes in four seasons, from NY to LA, from noir to sunny SoCal, and it hasn’t aged well based on the few I have seen. If you really like 77 Sunset Strip and it’s clones, you might like it more than me.

O’Hara was a straight laced, by the book show like Dragnet, and was indeed produced by Jack Webb. I saw the pilot several years ago and wasn’t overly impressed. I liked it better than Riches Diamond but have seen no other episodes.

I figured those 2 were lesser shows, as I'm not familiar with them. I may have come across them on IMDB when looking at various actors' credits but never took note of them or that Janssen was the star in them. I just knew that he was in THE FUGITIVE and HARRY-O.

It's interesting reading some background on Janssen. Apparently he was loved by everybody and many of his peers swore he was the finest TV actor of all time. Patrick MacNee was one of those who said that. It's funny because these days folks still recall MacNee, Robert Vaughn, Robert Culp, Robert Conrad, Patrick McGoohan and other 60s and 70s stars (Garner and Jack Lord of course) but David Janssen seems to be somewhat forgotten. He's almost a trivia question. Maybe it's because outside of his 2 TV hits he was largely relegated to a slew of TV-movies. Whereas the other guys appeared in more prestigious stuff. Garner of course had a solid film career, Lord and MacNee both appeared in Bond movies, Robert Vaughn was one of the original MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and was also in BULLITT, McGoohan appeared in some high-profile films (ICE STATION ZEBRA, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, and of course the Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART!). Many of them also got plenty of exposure via their multiple appearances on COLUMBO. But Janssen seemed to have fallen by the wayside. He wasn't a killer on COLUMBO, he didn't have those high-profile films. He stuck mostly to TV-movies. But it's interesting to see how revered he seemed to be by his peers.

At least part of the reason is his early death. He was just 48 when he suffered a massive heart attack while jogging on the beach near his Malibu home. By comparison, Jack Lord was 48 when he started Hawaii Five-O! Janssen was both well loved and respected in the industry. Suzanne Pleshette delivered the eulogy at the request of Janssen's widow. Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Richard Harris, Rod Stewart and Gregory Peck were among Janssen's pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers included Jack Lemmon, George Peppard, James Stewart and Danny Thomas. That’s quite a list!

His age is what's most shocking. He was 48 but he looked 68!! I mean he was only 7 years older than I am now when he died. But the man looked like he was well into his 60s. Jack Lord, like you mentioned, looked pretty youthful when he started Five-O and he was almost 50 at that point. Janssen was only 43 when he started Harry-O but he looked a heck of a lot older than Lord did.

Also I read that Janssen suffered a fatal heart attack in bed at like 3 or 4 in the morning, with his wife in bed next to him. Didn't read anything about it happening while he was jogging on the beach.

[Pahonu]

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?

Richard Diamond was pre-Fugitive and is perhaps remembered most for his little seen secretary, other than her legs, played by Mary Tyler Moore. It went through many changes in four seasons, from NY to LA, from noir to sunny SoCal, and it hasn’t aged well based on the few I have seen. If you really like 77 Sunset Strip and it’s clones, you might like it more than me.

O’Hara was a straight laced, by the book show like Dragnet, and was indeed produced by Jack Webb. I saw the pilot several years ago and wasn’t overly impressed. I liked it better than Riches Diamond but have seen no other episodes.

I figured those 2 were lesser shows, as I'm not familiar with them. I may have come across them on IMDB when looking at various actors' credits but never took note of them or that Janssen was the star in them. I just knew that he was in THE FUGITIVE and HARRY-O.

It's interesting reading some background on Janssen. Apparently he was loved by everybody and many of his peers swore he was the finest TV actor of all time. Patrick MacNee was one of those who said that. It's funny because these days folks still recall MacNee, Robert Vaughn, Robert Culp, Robert Conrad, Patrick McGoohan and other 60s and 70s stars (Garner and Jack Lord of course) but David Janssen seems to be somewhat forgotten. He's almost a trivia question. Maybe it's because outside of his 2 TV hits he was largely relegated to a slew of TV-movies. Whereas the other guys appeared in more prestigious stuff. Garner of course had a solid film career, Lord and MacNee both appeared in Bond movies, Robert Vaughn was one of the original MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and was also in BULLITT, McGoohan appeared in some high-profile films (ICE STATION ZEBRA, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, and of course the Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART!). Many of them also got plenty of exposure via their multiple appearances on COLUMBO. But Janssen seemed to have fallen by the wayside. He wasn't a killer on COLUMBO, he didn't have those high-profile films. He stuck mostly to TV-movies. But it's interesting to see how revered he seemed to be by his peers.

At least part of the reason is his early death. He was just 48 when he suffered a massive heart attack while jogging on the beach near his Malibu home. By comparison, Jack Lord was 48 when he started Hawaii Five-O! Janssen was both well loved and respected in the industry. Suzanne Pleshette delivered the eulogy at the request of Janssen's widow. Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Richard Harris, Rod Stewart and Gregory Peck were among Janssen's pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers included Jack Lemmon, George Peppard, James Stewart and Danny Thomas. That’s quite a list!

His age is what's most shocking. He was 48 but he looked 68!! I mean he was only 7 years older than I am now when he died. But the man looked like he was well into his 60s. Jack Lord, like you mentioned, looked pretty youthful when he started Five-O and he was almost 50 at that point. Janssen was only 43 when he started Harry-O but he looked a heck of a lot older than Lord did.

Also I read that Janssen suffered a fatal heart attack in bed at like 3 or 4 in the morning, with his wife in bed next to him. Didn't read anything about it happening while he was jogging on the beach.

I read about his death probably 25 or more years ago and that’s what I understood happened. Perhaps it was something put out by his agent as a press release? He was pretty recently married as I understand, when he had the heart attack, but I haven’t really looked into his death since. That’s perhaps even more tragic for his wife.

Even though I have seen it perhaps 8-10 times, I just watched Gertrude again and am now watching him run along the beach in the opening of the next episode, The Admiral’s Lady.

This isn’t a judgement, but Jack Lord had very brown hair until the end of the series, and then he was seen fairly little over the following years, but his hair was quite white in those photos. Janssen seems to have grayed naturally while Lord did not, again not a judgement.

Did you realize Carroll O’Connor was 47 when he started playing Archie Bunker? He was actually a year or two younger than Jean Stapleton as Edith. I never would have guessed that. The real shocker to me is John Amos on Good Times. Look that one up and you’ll be stunned at the age difference between him and JJ Walker as his son and also Esther Rolle as his wife!

[Pahonu]

Here’s another good article about the show:

https://drunktv.net/2018/09/25/harry-o- ... vd-review/

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Richard Diamond was pre-Fugitive and is perhaps remembered most for his little seen secretary, other than her legs, played by Mary Tyler Moore. It went through many changes in four seasons, from NY to LA, from noir to sunny SoCal, and it hasn’t aged well based on the few I have seen. If you really like 77 Sunset Strip and it’s clones, you might like it more than me.

O’Hara was a straight laced, by the book show like Dragnet, and was indeed produced by Jack Webb. I saw the pilot several years ago and wasn’t overly impressed. I liked it better than Riches Diamond but have seen no other episodes.

I figured those 2 were lesser shows, as I'm not familiar with them. I may have come across them on IMDB when looking at various actors' credits but never took note of them or that Janssen was the star in them. I just knew that he was in THE FUGITIVE and HARRY-O.

It's interesting reading some background on Janssen. Apparently he was loved by everybody and many of his peers swore he was the finest TV actor of all time. Patrick MacNee was one of those who said that. It's funny because these days folks still recall MacNee, Robert Vaughn, Robert Culp, Robert Conrad, Patrick McGoohan and other 60s and 70s stars (Garner and Jack Lord of course) but David Janssen seems to be somewhat forgotten. He's almost a trivia question. Maybe it's because outside of his 2 TV hits he was largely relegated to a slew of TV-movies. Whereas the other guys appeared in more prestigious stuff. Garner of course had a solid film career, Lord and MacNee both appeared in Bond movies, Robert Vaughn was one of the original MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and was also in BULLITT, McGoohan appeared in some high-profile films (ICE STATION ZEBRA, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, and of course the Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART!). Many of them also got plenty of exposure via their multiple appearances on COLUMBO. But Janssen seemed to have fallen by the wayside. He wasn't a killer on COLUMBO, he didn't have those high-profile films. He stuck mostly to TV-movies. But it's interesting to see how revered he seemed to be by his peers.

At least part of the reason is his early death. He was just 48 when he suffered a massive heart attack while jogging on the beach near his Malibu home. By comparison, Jack Lord was 48 when he started Hawaii Five-O! Janssen was both well loved and respected in the industry. Suzanne Pleshette delivered the eulogy at the request of Janssen's widow. Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Richard Harris, Rod Stewart and Gregory Peck were among Janssen's pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers included Jack Lemmon, George Peppard, James Stewart and Danny Thomas. That’s quite a list!

His age is what's most shocking. He was 48 but he looked 68!! I mean he was only 7 years older than I am now when he died. But the man looked like he was well into his 60s. Jack Lord, like you mentioned, looked pretty youthful when he started Five-O and he was almost 50 at that point. Janssen was only 43 when he started Harry-O but he looked a heck of a lot older than Lord did.

Also I read that Janssen suffered a fatal heart attack in bed at like 3 or 4 in the morning, with his wife in bed next to him. Didn't read anything about it happening while he was jogging on the beach.

I read about his death probably 25 or more years ago and that’s what I understood happened. Perhaps it was something put out by his agent as a press release? He was pretty recently married as I understand, when he had the heart attack, but I haven’t really looked into his death since. That’s perhaps even more tragic for his wife.

Even though I have seen it perhaps 8-10 times, I just watched Gertrude again and am now watching him run along the beach in the opening of the next episode, The Admiral’s Lady.

This isn’t a judgement, but Jack Lord had very brown hair until the end of the series, and then he was seen fairly little over the following years, but his hair was quite white in those photos. Janssen seems to have grayed naturally while Lord did not, again not a judgement.

Did you realize Carroll O’Connor was 47 when he started playing Archie Bunker? He was actually a year or two younger than Jean Stapleton as Edith. I never would have guessed that. The real shocker to me is John Amos on Good Times. Look that one up and you’ll be stunned at the age difference between him and JJ Walker as his son and also Esther Rolle as his wife!

Yep, Carroll O'Connor always looked older than his age. It's the graying hair and his hefty build. And yes, Esther Rolle was a surprise - she could have been John Amos' mother. She was almost 20 years older than him! I mean she did look older but not by that much. Maybe 10 years older.

Otherwise, enjoying HARRY-O!

[Pahonu]

I figured those 2 were lesser shows, as I'm not familiar with them. I may have come across them on IMDB when looking at various actors' credits but never took note of them or that Janssen was the star in them. I just knew that he was in THE FUGITIVE and HARRY-O.

It's interesting reading some background on Janssen. Apparently he was loved by everybody and many of his peers swore he was the finest TV actor of all time. Patrick MacNee was one of those who said that. It's funny because these days folks still recall MacNee, Robert Vaughn, Robert Culp, Robert Conrad, Patrick McGoohan and other 60s and 70s stars (Garner and Jack Lord of course) but David Janssen seems to be somewhat forgotten. He's almost a trivia question. Maybe it's because outside of his 2 TV hits he was largely relegated to a slew of TV-movies. Whereas the other guys appeared in more prestigious stuff. Garner of course had a solid film career, Lord and MacNee both appeared in Bond movies, Robert Vaughn was one of the original MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and was also in BULLITT, McGoohan appeared in some high-profile films (ICE STATION ZEBRA, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, and of course the Oscar-winning BRAVEHEART!). Many of them also got plenty of exposure via their multiple appearances on COLUMBO. But Janssen seemed to have fallen by the wayside. He wasn't a killer on COLUMBO, he didn't have those high-profile films. He stuck mostly to TV-movies. But it's interesting to see how revered he seemed to be by his peers.

At least part of the reason is his early death. He was just 48 when he suffered a massive heart attack while jogging on the beach near his Malibu home. By comparison, Jack Lord was 48 when he started Hawaii Five-O! Janssen was both well loved and respected in the industry. Suzanne Pleshette delivered the eulogy at the request of Janssen's widow. Milton Berle, Johnny Carson, Richard Harris, Rod Stewart and Gregory Peck were among Janssen's pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers included Jack Lemmon, George Peppard, James Stewart and Danny Thomas. That’s quite a list!

His age is what's most shocking. He was 48 but he looked 68!! I mean he was only 7 years older than I am now when he died. But the man looked like he was well into his 60s. Jack Lord, like you mentioned, looked pretty youthful when he started Five-O and he was almost 50 at that point. Janssen was only 43 when he started Harry-O but he looked a heck of a lot older than Lord did.

Also I read that Janssen suffered a fatal heart attack in bed at like 3 or 4 in the morning, with his wife in bed next to him. Didn't read anything about it happening while he was jogging on the beach.

I read about his death probably 25 or more years ago and that’s what I understood happened. Perhaps it was something put out by his agent as a press release? He was pretty recently married as I understand, when he had the heart attack, but I haven’t really looked into his death since. That’s perhaps even more tragic for his wife.

Even though I have seen it perhaps 8-10 times, I just watched Gertrude again and am now watching him run along the beach in the opening of the next episode, The Admiral’s Lady.

This isn’t a judgement, but Jack Lord had very brown hair until the end of the series, and then he was seen fairly little over the following years, but his hair was quite white in those photos. Janssen seems to have grayed naturally while Lord did not, again not a judgement.

Did you realize Carroll O’Connor was 47 when he started playing Archie Bunker? He was actually a year or two younger than Jean Stapleton as Edith. I never would have guessed that. The real shocker to me is John Amos on Good Times. Look that one up and you’ll be stunned at the age difference between him and JJ Walker as his son and also Esther Rolle as his wife!

Yep, Carroll O'Connor always looked older than his age. It's the graying hair and his hefty build. And yes, Esther Rolle was a surprise - she could have been John Amos' mother. She was almost 20 years older than him! I mean she did look older but not by that much. Maybe 10 years older.

Otherwise, enjoying HARRY-O!

Glad you’re enjoying Harry-O! I just finished watching Eyewitness.

Did you happen to see that JJ Walker, his son, is only 8 years younger!

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Did you happen to see that JJ Walker, his son, is only 8 years younger!

Yep, I noticed that age difference too. Amos could have been Walker's older brother.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

So back to the Harry-O binge... in addition to "Mortal Sin" which I had seen earlier I also saw "Gertrude", "The Admiral's Lady", "Guardian at the Gates", and "Coinage of the Realm". I enjoyed all of them but especially "Mortal Sin" and "The Admiral's Lady". After that I saw bits and pieces here and there, including the one with Larry Hagman as the race car driver and the one with John Colicos which had a weird black & white flashback montage. Those were with Anthony Zerbe, who replaced Henry Darrow as the police lieutenant. I'll say that I really didn't care for the theme song change, neither the one later in season 1 nor the one in season 2, with a bunch of Harry-O's splashed across the screen (like on Mary Tyler Moore Show). The first theme during the first half of season 1 was the best. Simple but effective and easy to hum -- in fact it's been stuck in my head this whole weekend. Well done by Billy Goldenberg! It's not one of the great TV theme songs but it sure is catchy and captures the weary world of Harry Orwell very well. Kind of melancholy, punctuated by moments of excitement.

David Janssen has really grown on me as Orwell. Very good character. Love his voice-overs. They're certainly more frequent than Magnum's. I love it! His world-weariness is kind of infectious. Makes me want to sleep in late and then fish on the beach and fiddle around with an old boat. The cases themselves are all very interesting and the writing is excellent! In some way it's actually a better show than ROCKFORD. Or at least it walks that fine line between a show like ROCKFORD and something more serious like HAWAII FIVE-O or STREETS OF SAN FRAN. Which I guess makes sense since Harry is a former cop. So in some ways it plays out more like a cop show than ROCKFORD does (which is a true quirky PI show). It's a nice balancing act that I like. Already I saw 2 episodes involving troubled serial killer types - something you're more likely to see on FIVE-O than on ROCKFORD.

Question - Henry Darrow or Anthony Zerbe? Who do you prefer? I know Zerbe won an Emmy and I know that most prefer the earlier episodes with Darrow, but as characters -- which one do you prefer? Personally I need to see more episodes with Zerbe but he appears to be more animated (and more involved in the cases) than Darrow. But I always liked Darrow as an actor. So it would be a tough call.

[jno]

Darrow.

Personally I thought the change was unnecessary and I really do like Zerbe saying "orrrrwell" but Darrow wins, but only by a nose. Both great characters.

I'm a bit of a closet DJ fan and have quite a few of his films which are always a good watch.

Maybe we should merge the 2 Harry O threads.

[Pahonu]

So back to the Harry-O binge... in addition to "Mortal Sin" which I had seen earlier I also saw "Gertrude", "The Admiral's Lady", "Guardian at the Gates", and "Coinage of the Realm". I enjoyed all of them but especially "Mortal Sin" and "The Admiral's Lady". After that I saw bits and pieces here and there, including the one with Larry Hagman as the race car driver and the one with John Colicos which had a weird black & white flashback montage. Those were with Anthony Zerbe, who replaced Henry Darrow as the police lieutenant. I'll say that I really didn't care for the theme song change, neither the one later in season 1 nor the one in season 2, with a bunch of Harry-O's splashed across the screen (like on Mary Tyler Moore Show). The first theme during the first half of season 1 was the best. Simple but effective and easy to hum -- in fact it's been stuck in my head this whole weekend. Well done by Billy Goldenberg! It's not one of the great TV theme songs but it sure is catchy and captures the weary world of Harry Orwell very well. Kind of melancholy, punctuated by moments of excitement.

David Janssen has really grown on me as Orwell. Very good character. Love his voice-overs. They're certainly more frequent than Magnum's. I love it! His world-weariness is kind of infectious. Makes me want to sleep in late and then fish on the beach and fiddle around with an old boat. The cases themselves are all very interesting and the writing is excellent! In some way it's actually a better show than ROCKFORD. Or at least it walks that fine line between a show like ROCKFORD and something more serious like HAWAII FIVE-O or STREETS OF SAN FRAN. Which I guess makes sense since Harry is a former cop. So in some ways it plays out more like a cop show than ROCKFORD does (which is a true quirky PI show). It's a nice balancing act that I like. Already I saw 2 episodes involving troubled serial killer types - something you're more likely to see on FIVE-O than on ROCKFORD.

Question - Henry Darrow or Anthony Zerbe? Who do you prefer? I know Zerbe won an Emmy and I know that most prefer the earlier episodes with Darrow, but as characters -- which one do you prefer? Personally I need to see more episodes with Zerbe but he appears to be more animated (and more involved in the cases) than Darrow. But I always liked Darrow as an actor. So it would be a tough call.

I prefer the original theme song and opening montage too. I think the producers kept changing it as the premise of Harry’s world-weary, contemplative detective with a bullet in his back was slowly abandoned. They eventually made the show more action oriented and much more like traditional PI series, a negative in my view.

I suppose I prefer Manny over Trench because I prefer those early episodes over late ones, but Harry and Trench eventually develop an entertaining rapport that I’ve seen so much more of as he was in many more episodes. His exasperation with Harry is fun to watch, but they do develop an actual friendship.

You do get the sense that Manny and Harry are better friends as well as former coworkers by the way they tease each other. One of my favorite scenes is when they have breakfast together and Manny orders for them in Spanish to the waitress. Before he leaves, Manny says something else to her and she looks alarmed. Harry asks her what Manny said and it was something about being careful because Harry is a dangerous person. Manny also messes a bit with his other colleagues especially Tom Atkins’ character, and of course Harry does so with Manuel, as he often calls him.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

So back to the Harry-O binge... in addition to "Mortal Sin" which I had seen earlier I also saw "Gertrude", "The Admiral's Lady", "Guardian at the Gates", and "Coinage of the Realm". I enjoyed all of them but especially "Mortal Sin" and "The Admiral's Lady". After that I saw bits and pieces here and there, including the one with Larry Hagman as the race car driver and the one with John Colicos which had a weird black & white flashback montage. Those were with Anthony Zerbe, who replaced Henry Darrow as the police lieutenant. I'll say that I really didn't care for the theme song change, neither the one later in season 1 nor the one in season 2, with a bunch of Harry-O's splashed across the screen (like on Mary Tyler Moore Show). The first theme during the first half of season 1 was the best. Simple but effective and easy to hum -- in fact it's been stuck in my head this whole weekend. Well done by Billy Goldenberg! It's not one of the great TV theme songs but it sure is catchy and captures the weary world of Harry Orwell very well. Kind of melancholy, punctuated by moments of excitement.

David Janssen has really grown on me as Orwell. Very good character. Love his voice-overs. They're certainly more frequent than Magnum's. I love it! His world-weariness is kind of infectious. Makes me want to sleep in late and then fish on the beach and fiddle around with an old boat. The cases themselves are all very interesting and the writing is excellent! In some way it's actually a better show than ROCKFORD. Or at least it walks that fine line between a show like ROCKFORD and something more serious like HAWAII FIVE-O or STREETS OF SAN FRAN. Which I guess makes sense since Harry is a former cop. So in some ways it plays out more like a cop show than ROCKFORD does (which is a true quirky PI show). It's a nice balancing act that I like. Already I saw 2 episodes involving troubled serial killer types - something you're more likely to see on FIVE-O than on ROCKFORD.

Question - Henry Darrow or Anthony Zerbe? Who do you prefer? I know Zerbe won an Emmy and I know that most prefer the earlier episodes with Darrow, but as characters -- which one do you prefer? Personally I need to see more episodes with Zerbe but he appears to be more animated (and more involved in the cases) than Darrow. But I always liked Darrow as an actor. So it would be a tough call.

I prefer the original theme song and opening montage too. I think the producers kept changing it as the premise of Harry’s world-weary, contemplative detective with a bullet in his back was slowly abandoned. They eventually made the show more action oriented and much more like traditional PI series, a negative in my view.

I suppose I prefer Manny over Trench because I prefer those early episodes over late ones, but Harry and Trench eventually develop an entertaining rapport that I’ve seen so much more of as he was in many more episodes. His exasperation with Harry is fun to watch, but they do develop an actual friendship.

You do get the sense that Manny and Harry are better friends as well as former coworkers by the way they tease each other. One of my favorite scenes is when they have breakfast together and Manny orders for them in Spanish to the waitress. Before he leaves, Manny says something else to her and she looks alarmed. Harry asks her what Manny said and it was something about being careful because Harry is a dangerous person. Manny also messes a bit with his other colleagues especially Tom Atkins’ character, and of course Harry does so with Manuel, as he often calls him.

It's interesting that Manuel "Manny" Quinlan has a very American last name. Should have been Manny Montoya, a nod to his HIGH CHAPARRAL character.