First, credit where it's due - the opening and closing theme music from Mannix was written by the well-known film and TV composer, the guy who wrote memorable themes for TV's Mission: Impossible, and of course, one of the best TV themes ever, Mannix, Lalo Schifrin. And I can't take credit (or the blame) for the 'Summary' or 'Title' of this review. My old friend, the late Gary Owens, was responsible for that. Mr. Schifrin even credited Gary, when he used the above title for a vinyl LP of some of Schifrin's music.
All that being said, I have always thought Mannix was one of the all-time great detective shows ever to hit TV. Mike Connors (known in the 1950's as "Touch" Connors! Figure THAT out!) was just terrific as the tough guy/nice guy detective, Joe Mannix. His secretary, Peggy Fair (played by Gail Fisher - and I don't think the character's last name was mentioned more than once in the entire run of the episodes in which she appeared, from its second season, starting in September of 1968, to its eighth season, which finished in April of 1975).
In its first season, Mannix was working in the rather contrived situation of a large, "computerized" detective agency with many employees. Thankfully, the producers (Desilu, at the time, soon to become Paramount Television) had the sense to dump all the phony baloney bells and whistles of all that. Starting with season two, they got rid of the unnecessary characters, and had our hero Joe Mannix become self-employed, with Peggy holding down the fort whenever Joe left the office, which was quite often.
When you watched Mannix, you'd see lots of action, a fair amount of suspense, and even when the scripts weren't great, they were always good. So if you have yet to see this series, as of this writing, the show is running on MeTV, seen all over the US, originating in Chicago.
If you'll allow me this, dear reader, Three Cheers For DESILU Productions, which, with Mannix, went out with a BANG!!!
All that being said, I have always thought Mannix was one of the all-time great detective shows ever to hit TV. Mike Connors (known in the 1950's as "Touch" Connors! Figure THAT out!) was just terrific as the tough guy/nice guy detective, Joe Mannix. His secretary, Peggy Fair (played by Gail Fisher - and I don't think the character's last name was mentioned more than once in the entire run of the episodes in which she appeared, from its second season, starting in September of 1968, to its eighth season, which finished in April of 1975).
In its first season, Mannix was working in the rather contrived situation of a large, "computerized" detective agency with many employees. Thankfully, the producers (Desilu, at the time, soon to become Paramount Television) had the sense to dump all the phony baloney bells and whistles of all that. Starting with season two, they got rid of the unnecessary characters, and had our hero Joe Mannix become self-employed, with Peggy holding down the fort whenever Joe left the office, which was quite often.
When you watched Mannix, you'd see lots of action, a fair amount of suspense, and even when the scripts weren't great, they were always good. So if you have yet to see this series, as of this writing, the show is running on MeTV, seen all over the US, originating in Chicago.
If you'll allow me this, dear reader, Three Cheers For DESILU Productions, which, with Mannix, went out with a BANG!!!