Mannix

[MikeS]

I've been watching Mannix and have enjoyed it. If I had a gripe, the music should be a little more in the background. It seems, atleast the few episodes I've watched, it's been stepping on the dialog at times.

[Little Garwood]

I've been watching Mannix and have enjoyed it. If I had a gripe, the music should be a little more in the background. It seems, atleast the few episodes I've watched, it's been stepping on the dialog at times.

I’m a lifelong film and tv scoring fan, but at the same time I also dislike it when the music drowns out the dialogue. I have not noticed this on Mannix, though. Usually the music is dialed back in dialogue scenes and amped up in action sequences.

Mannix could boast some legendary composers: Lalo Schifrin and Jerry Fielding being the most well known, not to mention several composers admired and respected among film music buffs but not the general audience.

[MikeS]

I've been watching Mannix and have enjoyed it. If I had a gripe, the music should be a little more in the background. It seems, atleast the few episodes I've watched, it's been stepping on the dialog at times.

I’m a lifelong film and tv scoring fan, but at the same time I also dislike it when the music drowns out the dialogue. I have not noticed this on Mannix, though. Usually the music is dialed back in dialogue scenes and amped up in action sequences.

Mannix could boast some legendary composers: Lalo Schifrin and Jerry Fielding being the most well known, not to mention several composers admired and respected among film music buffs but not the general audience.

I agree with you, Shifrin is one of my all-time favorites. I was reminded of how busy the soundtracks are, especially the hi-hat (?) - ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJoMYfLK7Y )

But, I am a product of my time, the 80s, and I really lean towards the use of great electric guitar playing (and tone) to create a mood, or a sax. There's been some great rippage on TV... Barney Miller, MPI, Becker ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKN1gTObYE4 ), Hey Arnold ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq50bbTA2ZE )... even Monk ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXEMxPzxE68 ).

Back to Mannix, there is a good chance either FETV and the way they broadcast the episode (pilot ep) that contributed to the problem, possibly the TV I was watching it on. Anyway, the show is great and so is the soundtrack.

[Little Garwood]

Even though I grew up during the decade, I’m of mixed feelings regarding the ‘80s aesthetic, but the film and tv music I like.

Mike Post’s MPI work—it’s very much like his work from The Rockford Files. I’m also quite fond of Joseph Conlan’s episodic scores for Simon & Simon. Conlan also composed a superb score for the movie Stick (1985).

However, I much prefer the sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s, specifically 1965-75, but as you know, good sounds are good sounds, regardless of the decade of origin.

[Little Garwood]

That Connors-Garner photo has me thinking about how brilliant Joe Mannix and Jim Rockford were. Never, to my knowledge, have two TV actors been so intertwined with their by-then mid-career characters with whom they came to be defined. I love it that Mannix, like Connors himself, was of Armenian-American descent; and who doesn’t crack a smile whenever Jim Rockford does his Jimmy Joe Meeker routine complete with Okie twang? Or that he is James Scott Rockford, Scott also being Garner’s middle name. Both men were armed forces veterans and that was also added to Mannix’s and Rockford’s characters.

Both men’s careers came to be defined by their work playing TV private eyes and part of what made them so appealing—at least to me—was how their real life personas melded with their TV characters. In my view, it sets them apart from—and above—every other TV character ever.

[Pahonu]

The Connors-Garner photo begs the question: Were the two lifelong friends or just avid golfers who happened to meet at that event and someone was wise enough to snap a photo?

I read The Garner Files when it was first published and don’t recall any mention of a friendship with Mike Connors. It has been a while though. Garner was definitely an avid golfer however. Perhaps a reread is in order!

Edit:

I can say that they wouldn’t have been in the same political circles. Mike Connors was a Republican Party member and I remember his support for former California governor George Deukmejian, who was also of Armenian ancestry. Deukmejian lived in and represented Long Beach in the state legislature and our courthouse is named after him.

Garner was a self-described progressive Democrat with a keen interest in civil rights. I remember reading in The Garner Files that he was approached in the early 60’s by the Republican Party to run for governor. He told them he was a Democrat and they didn’t care! He also told them no and that he didn’t believe actors were prepared for high office, including Reagan. He was Reagan’s VP at SAG when Reagan was the SAG president. I’ll just leave it at, he wasn’t a fan.

[Little Garwood]

I read The Garner Files when it was first published and don’t recall any mention of a friendship with Mike Connors. It has been a while though. Garner was definitely an avid golfer however. Perhaps a reread is in order!

I read an article stating that Mike Connors lived at a place with a beautiful view of an oppulent golf course. Given Connors’ and Garner’s humility, I wonder if either one realized their impact as TV detectives, and instead bonded via their mutual love of golf!

[Little Garwood]

A Rage to Kill (S7 E20) is hands down the funniest--unintentionally so--episode of the entire series, and it must be watched by anyone a fan of this era of pop culture. Marya Small plays "Joan Cochrane", a Janis Joplin-style rock singer whose wardrobe includes a Joplinesque feather boa. She even gets to warble an atrocious song, then berates the middle-aged studio band. After that she tries to seduce Mannix, and failing that, she hurls a bullfighter's banderilla at him (clearly on a string)! After that, she collapses in his arms and goes into some serious childhood regression.

There's another scene where terrible actor Robert Pratt is listening to crappy instrumental rock music on 8-Track (probably composed by Lalo and bad on purpose) before he has his own psychopathic meltdown.

It's impossible to rate this stuff, but it is quite possible to enjoy every painfully-delicious moment.

During the course of season 7, Mike Connors sometimes appears somnambulant in some of his performances. However, in Mask for a Charade (S7 E21), Connors and series regular Ward "Lt. Art Malcolm" Wood, are quite fired up in a couple of scenes! The episode gets a 10/10 from yours truly, and features a standout performance from Claude Akins (he of the "eat whatever the hell you want" diet).

Guest star Marj Dusay sings (or lip synchs) “Theme from Love Story." After she wraps up the sacred tune in her gig as lounge singer, Joe Mannix approaches her and says, "I really liked that song."

“...that song.” Despite Love Story being a huge box-office hit in 1970–it was #1 for the year in the US—Mannix obviously did not know nor cared where or what it was from!

As if anyone needed one more reason to have Joe Mannix as their hero. Why be surprised? After all, Mannix is the same guy who, when asked what he thought of the then-popular counterculture rock music, said: “I can take it or leave it alone.”

[Little Garwood]

I thought this post, which originated in the Magnum on Ice thread, would be more appropriate here:

Dr. Mark Sloan and Joe Mannix (he of the alternate universe “Mannix-Mania” fansite, had our founding father been 10 years older).

Good one Garwood, you gave me my laugh for the day. And I for one would love a Mannix-Mania site.
Maybe J.J. Walters will come out of retirement and found one.

I hope he does! Think of the Mannix-Mania topic possibilities:

“A Complete Inventory of Joe Mannix’s Sport Coats”
“So You’re a Mannix Fan? Then What Car Did You Get Run Off the Road in Today?”
“One of My Ex-Army Buddies Tried to Kill Me Today”
“Joe’s Hairstyle: Do We Dare?”
“Damn! 17 Paseo Verde is NOT Visible on Google Earth!”



“My Pumpkin Orange Plaid Dacron Polyester Sport Coat”
“Joe Mantell or Stanley Adams: Who Was the Definitive Albie?”
“Mannix’s Cardigans” (a 52-post epic)
“The Ward Wood Thread”
“Joe and Peggy: Did They?”

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

I thought this post, which originated in the Magnum on Ice thread, would be more appropriate here:

Dr. Mark Sloan and Joe Mannix (he of the alternate universe “Mannix-Mania” fansite, had our founding father been 10 years older).

Good one Garwood, you gave me my laugh for the day. And I for one would love a Mannix-Mania site.
Maybe J.J. Walters will come out of retirement and found one.

I hope he does! Think of the Mannix-Mania topic possibilities:

“A Complete Inventory of Joe Mannix’s Sport Coats”
“So You’re a Mannix Fan? Then What Car Did You Get Run Off the Road in Today?”
“One of My Ex-Army Buddies Tried to Kill Me Today”
“Joe’s Hairstyle: Do We Dare?”
“Damn! 17 Paseo Verde is NOT Visible on Google Earth!”



“My Pumpkin Orange Plaid Dacron Polyester Sport Coat”
“Joe Mantell or Stanley Adams: Who Was the Definitive Albie?”
“Mannix’s Cardigans” (a 52-post epic)
“The Ward Wood Thread”
“Joe and Peggy: Did They?”

Hi Garwood,
You're right, it belongs here and Peggy should make a copy for Joe's files.
You have a good sense of humor, Little Garwood.

[Little Garwood]

“I've never really understood it myself," says actor Mike Connors, who became one of the highest-paid stars on television (earning a then-stratospheric $40,000 per episode) at the height of the show's Top 10 heyday. "We had a better average [rating] than 'The Rockford Files' or 'Hawaii Five-0' over eight years. And yet it's like it never occurred, it never existed, it never happened."

Mannix having become seemingly forgotten in the decades since its 1975 end only adds to my fascination for it.

Mannix didn’t do “comedy episodes.” In fact, I don’t believe it even had a humorous bone in its 1967-75 body, whereas other shows before and since Mannix would dopily wink at its audience during their humorous or intense sequences, but Mannix would unblinkingly throw out batsh!t crazy scenes that one had to accept on their own terms.

[Pahonu]

“I've never really understood it myself," says actor Mike Connors, who became one of the highest-paid stars on television (earning a then-stratospheric $40,000 per episode) at the height of the show's Top 10 heyday. "We had a better average [rating] than 'The Rockford Files' or 'Hawaii Five-0' over eight years. And yet it's like it never occurred, it never existed, it never happened."

Mannix having become seemingly forgotten in the decades since its 1975 end only adds to my fascination for it.

Mannix didn’t do “comedy episodes.” In fact, I don’t believe it even had a humorous bone in its 1967-75 body, whereas other shows before and since Mannix would dopily wink at its audience during their humorous or intense sequences, but Mannix would unblinkingly throw out batsh!t crazy scenes that one had to accept on their own terms.

I think you’re on to something. Comedy from the silent era can still be hilarious and rewatchable. Straight drama can seem dated in my experience.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

I posted the following on another thread, on reflection it belongs here:

Luther's nephew Dobie wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:59 pm

For the many Mannix fans here, they can enjoy a Mannix episode from 1973 and it's sequel/resolution of the same case 24 years later on Diagnosis: Murder.
The 1973 Mannix episode "Little Girl Lost"(season 7 episode 4) is going to be shown Tuesday, January 18 at 2:05 AM on MeTV.
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel runs Diagnosis: Murder every day from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
So in a few short weeks they will be up to 1997's "Hard Boiled Murder", (season 4 episode 17), the sequel or crossover episode with Connors again as Mannix, working on the "Little Girl Lost" case.
Actors Beverly Garland, Julie Adams and Pernell Roberts reprise their roles from the original as well.
These shows will be a hoot to record and then sit down to watch both, a quarter of a century between the two.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Luther's nephew Dobie » Tue Feb 08, 2022 11:08 pm

Hi Guys,
Today I watched the original Mannix episode and the Diagnosis: Murder reworked sequel. This was not a case of exactly continuing the Mannix script but rather harvesting it's bones
and visual footage to fashion a new retro episode. And unlike the Magnum/Murder She Wrote effort, this one works, with a twist ending that you will never see coming.
Diagnosis's writers made changes to the flashback footage from Mannix through clever editing.
Thus bad guy Leon the Chauffeur was now the murdered reporter Lou Reynold's assistant. Leon didn't benefit from the change even if
originally he was given cement overshoes and chucked into the Pacific.
This time he did a involuntary Brody and was chucked off an apartment terrace.
These changes don't hurt one's enjoyment as you can appreciate the artful way the writers pulled this off 24 years after the original story.
Besides, it works.
All the actors seemed to be up for this effort, Dick Van Dyke and Mike Connors worked well together.
Connors is heavier but still game and he does seem to be having a good time. He gets the last line, which is humorous, maybe a first for Joe Mannix?
The normal aging process was most noticeable with Beverley Garland(best known for My Three Sons).
For a woman who specialized in playing sexy blonde parts who drew focus from every other female in a given scene, the 24 year contrast was striking.
I am not being ageist or insensitive, rather it really hits home when you watch these episodes together and see how the passage of time took
Beverley on, as well as Mike Connors, Pernell Roberts and Julie Adams.
In any event this was a pretty good swan song for tough guy dick Joe Mannix. Too bad he never showed up on Magnum PI.

[Pahonu]

I posted the following on another thread, on reflection it belongs here:

Luther's nephew Dobie wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:59 pm

For the many Mannix fans here, they can enjoy a Mannix episode from 1973 and it's sequel/resolution of the same case 24 years later on Diagnosis: Murder.
The 1973 Mannix episode "Little Girl Lost"(season 7 episode 4) is going to be shown Tuesday, January 18 at 2:05 AM on MeTV.
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel runs Diagnosis: Murder every day from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
So in a few short weeks they will be up to 1997's "Hard Boiled Murder", (season 4 episode 17), the sequel or crossover episode with Connors again as Mannix, working on the "Little Girl Lost" case.
Actors Beverly Garland, Julie Adams and Pernell Roberts reprise their roles from the original as well.
These shows will be a hoot to record and then sit down to watch both, a quarter of a century between the two.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Luther's nephew Dobie » Tue Feb 08, 2022 11:08 pm

Hi Guys,
Today I watched the original Mannix episode and the Diagnosis: Murder reworked sequel. This was not a case of exactly continuing the Mannix script but rather harvesting it's bones
and visual footage to fashion a new retro episode. And unlike the Magnum/Murder She Wrote effort, this one works, with a twist ending that you will never see coming.
Diagnosis's writers made changes to the flashback footage from Mannix through clever editing.
Thus bad guy Leon the Chauffeur was now the murdered reporter Lou Reynold's assistant. Leon didn't benefit from the change even if
originally he was given cement overshoes and chucked into the Pacific.
This time he did a involuntary Brody and was chucked off an apartment terrace.
These changes don't hurt one's enjoyment as you can appreciate the artful way the writers pulled this off 24 years after the original story.
Besides, it works.
All the actors seemed to be up for this effort, Dick Van Dyke and Mike Connors worked well together.
Connors is heavier but still game and he does seem to be having a good time. He gets the last line, which is humorous, maybe a first for Joe Mannix?
The normal aging process was most noticeable with Beverley Garland(best known for My Three Sons).
For a woman who specialized in playing sexy blonde parts who drew focus from every other female in a given scene, the 24 year contrast was striking.
I am not being ageist or insensitive, rather it really hits home when you watch these episodes together and see how the passage of time took
Beverley on, as well as Mike Connors, Pernell Roberts and Julie Adams.
In any event this was a pretty good swan song for tough guy dick Joe Mannix. Too bad he never showed up on Magnum PI.

I have the two episodes waiting in my DVR but haven’t had a chance to watch them yet. Thanks again!

[Pahonu]

I posted the following on another thread, on reflection it belongs here:

Luther's nephew Dobie wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 9:59 pm

For the many Mannix fans here, they can enjoy a Mannix episode from 1973 and it's sequel/resolution of the same case 24 years later on Diagnosis: Murder.
The 1973 Mannix episode "Little Girl Lost"(season 7 episode 4) is going to be shown Tuesday, January 18 at 2:05 AM on MeTV.
Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel runs Diagnosis: Murder every day from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
So in a few short weeks they will be up to 1997's "Hard Boiled Murder", (season 4 episode 17), the sequel or crossover episode with Connors again as Mannix, working on the "Little Girl Lost" case.
Actors Beverly Garland, Julie Adams and Pernell Roberts reprise their roles from the original as well.
These shows will be a hoot to record and then sit down to watch both, a quarter of a century between the two.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post by Luther's nephew Dobie » Tue Feb 08, 2022 11:08 pm

Hi Guys,
Today I watched the original Mannix episode and the Diagnosis: Murder reworked sequel. This was not a case of exactly continuing the Mannix script but rather harvesting it's bones
and visual footage to fashion a new retro episode. And unlike the Magnum/Murder She Wrote effort, this one works, with a twist ending that you will never see coming.
Diagnosis's writers made changes to the flashback footage from Mannix through clever editing.
Thus bad guy Leon the Chauffeur was now the murdered reporter Lou Reynold's assistant. Leon didn't benefit from the change even if
originally he was given cement overshoes and chucked into the Pacific.
This time he did a involuntary Brody and was chucked off an apartment terrace.
These changes don't hurt one's enjoyment as you can appreciate the artful way the writers pulled this off 24 years after the original story.
Besides, it works.
All the actors seemed to be up for this effort, Dick Van Dyke and Mike Connors worked well together.
Connors is heavier but still game and he does seem to be having a good time. He gets the last line, which is humorous, maybe a first for Joe Mannix?
The normal aging process was most noticeable with Beverley Garland(best known for My Three Sons).
For a woman who specialized in playing sexy blonde parts who drew focus from every other female in a given scene, the 24 year contrast was striking.
I am not being ageist or insensitive, rather it really hits home when you watch these episodes together and see how the passage of time took
Beverley on, as well as Mike Connors, Pernell Roberts and Julie Adams.
In any event this was a pretty good swan song for tough guy dick Joe Mannix. Too bad he never showed up on Magnum PI.

I watched both episodes this afternoon. I had actually seen the Mannix episode before but didn’t remember it by the description. I’m not a huge fan but have seen several episodes. The Diagnosis Murder episode was very clever in its use of the old story and footage. There have been more than a few episodes of other series I have watched that refer to old crimes like this, but they create the flashback scenes. This was far better, especially after just watching the original.

I didn’t recognize the young doctor on the DM episode. When I crewed it was Scott Baio. He wasn’t particularly friendly nor was Barry Ban Dyke. I talked a bit with Victoria Rowell who was very nice and I actually had several conversations with Dick Van Dyke as well. He was such an old pro and so at ease you could tell he enjoyed himself on set. I particularly remember talking with him on an episode near Christmas that was filmed partly at the Wilshire Ebell Theater. He mentioned a Christmas Story with Peter Billingsly as a favorite of his and I chimed in how much I liked it too. Many on set had never heard of it. This was about a decade after it debuted but before it was played every Christmas.