This show begins with a lady carnival owner nearly being killed. While it could have been an accident, too many unexplained accidents have been occurring to her and it must be that someone wants her dead. Her old friend, Joe Mannix, agrees to help her but is shocked at how unconcerned the various carnies are about these incidents, as they say that they were clearly all accidents. All this is very interesting as is watching Joe punching the crap out of a couple guys who try to use their muscle on him. However, when you learn WHY all this occurred it feels really irritating. After all, you invested your time in seeing the show--only to be let down with a limp motive. All in all, a rather weak ending for season 3. Let's hope season 4 starts up with more of a bang.
5 Reviews
Bad luck killer carnival revenge.
blanbrn9 September 2021
This "Mannix" episode from season 3 called "Once Upon a Saturday" was entertaining with action and suspense and some drama and intrigue as people were not whom they seem to be! An old friend of Mannix's named Bev has returned to town to open up a carnival a life long dream of hers. And she has brought along players and workers however they seem to have other motives and plans! A connection to the past and another business leads to a plan of revenge and murder on Bev, and her carefree spirited daughter Susan(Pamela Bellwood) has a damsel in distress scene as she is tied up and gagged. The action and investigation is in top form from Mannix overall this was a good memorable episode one of the better one's.
HOP A RIDE AT THE PARK... AND RETURN DEAD?
tcchelsey30 March 2023
If producer Barry Crane directed this, it's good, but...
watch very carefully. This was also the last episode of the season. Sometimes writers at this stage do get carried away.
Minus 1. 9 STARS.
Interestingly, what caught my attention were storyline similarities to the Joan Crawford thriller BERSERK, made a few years earlier. No question, there's more fists involved with Mannix than chills. Taking the Joan Crawford role (in a way) is veteran actress Bethel Leslie (as Beverly) whose dreams of owning a carnival become a nightmare when everything goes wrong, including someone wanting to kill her. Nasty business.
Leslie is very good here, veteran of tv westerns and frequently on PERRY MASON. She later appeared in soap operas and began writing for tv, including BARNABY JONES and MCCLOUD. It makes you wonder how this story would have turned out had she wrote it? Hmmm?
Barry Crane gets some fine performances out of the cast. He was also producing and directing MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, one of the best directors in the business. Look for some future tv stars, such as big and tall Michael Conrad, Barbara Rhodes as a fortune teller(!) and Gordon Jump, playing Charlie. This was an early role for Jump, who soon after appeared on the PARTRIDGE FAMILY and BRADY BUNCH. He was also associated with church projects and often conferred with members of his church on whether he should accept certain roles, or how they should be played. A true professional.
This was filmed at the legendary Pike Amusement Park (Long Beach) home of the Queen Mary, long a favorite spot for movies and tv shows until its being demolished (real estate $$$) in the late 1970s.
Can you figure this one out by mid way?
SEASON 3 FINAL EPISODE 25 CBS remastered dvd box set.
Minus 1. 9 STARS.
Interestingly, what caught my attention were storyline similarities to the Joan Crawford thriller BERSERK, made a few years earlier. No question, there's more fists involved with Mannix than chills. Taking the Joan Crawford role (in a way) is veteran actress Bethel Leslie (as Beverly) whose dreams of owning a carnival become a nightmare when everything goes wrong, including someone wanting to kill her. Nasty business.
Leslie is very good here, veteran of tv westerns and frequently on PERRY MASON. She later appeared in soap operas and began writing for tv, including BARNABY JONES and MCCLOUD. It makes you wonder how this story would have turned out had she wrote it? Hmmm?
Barry Crane gets some fine performances out of the cast. He was also producing and directing MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, one of the best directors in the business. Look for some future tv stars, such as big and tall Michael Conrad, Barbara Rhodes as a fortune teller(!) and Gordon Jump, playing Charlie. This was an early role for Jump, who soon after appeared on the PARTRIDGE FAMILY and BRADY BUNCH. He was also associated with church projects and often conferred with members of his church on whether he should accept certain roles, or how they should be played. A true professional.
This was filmed at the legendary Pike Amusement Park (Long Beach) home of the Queen Mary, long a favorite spot for movies and tv shows until its being demolished (real estate $$$) in the late 1970s.
Can you figure this one out by mid way?
SEASON 3 FINAL EPISODE 25 CBS remastered dvd box set.
Carnys are just different from regular folks
Guad426 July 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This is a mediocre outing that seems to hit all the clichés and has a truly bad motive for murder. Joe's old friend Beverly Miller (Bethel Leslie) has just bought a carnival and now is enduring a series of "accidents" threatening her opening. Joe jumps in to help. As always, when the lead character in any series goes into a "closed society", those members close ranks and we aren't sure they are guilty of anything or just overly suspicious of outsiders. We've seen it in small towns, circuses, rodeos, and military bases among other settings. That happens here and we get a bevy of potential bad guys to choose from. There is handyman Charlie (Gordon Jump pre-WKRP), Armando the magician (Carlo Rivas), fortuneteller Donna (Barbara Rhoades), a knife thrower, and right-hand man Rick (Michael Conrad pre-Hillstreet Blues). Beverly also has to contend with daughter Susan (Pamela Bellwood) who feels unappreciated.
Joe gets in a fight with Charlie and friend. Joe faces threats from everyone else. Beverly almost gives up a couple of times. Armando is a red herring. Donna is pretty but unnecessary. The climax is Rick kidnaps Susan and confesses to her that he had done it all because he loves Beverly and wants her to depend on him so they can be a couple. What??!! This might be the lamest motive in the Mannix series. I figured out early it was Rick using the "biggest guest star rule". The biggest guest star always has more going on than is obvious and is usually the bad guy.
The acting is fine but nobody stands out. Being a carny is king of a badge of honor in this episode for no apparent reason.
Joe gets paid and saves the carnival. Not sure who Beverly will use as workers/acts as several have departed during the case. Not a horrible episode but very forgettable. You can skip it and not miss much.
Joe gets in a fight with Charlie and friend. Joe faces threats from everyone else. Beverly almost gives up a couple of times. Armando is a red herring. Donna is pretty but unnecessary. The climax is Rick kidnaps Susan and confesses to her that he had done it all because he loves Beverly and wants her to depend on him so they can be a couple. What??!! This might be the lamest motive in the Mannix series. I figured out early it was Rick using the "biggest guest star rule". The biggest guest star always has more going on than is obvious and is usually the bad guy.
The acting is fine but nobody stands out. Being a carny is king of a badge of honor in this episode for no apparent reason.
Joe gets paid and saves the carnival. Not sure who Beverly will use as workers/acts as several have departed during the case. Not a horrible episode but very forgettable. You can skip it and not miss much.
An absolute mess that doesn't make any sense
pkfloydmh16 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is about a carnival owner who thinks someone is trying to kill her.
This is one of the worst episodes in what has been a dreadful season and is certainly a sorry way to end the season.
First of all, none of the scenes involving Bev and Susan and Susan and her boyfriend have anything to do with the plot of the show and seem to be from another TV show. They were obviously inserted as filler material because there wasn't enough material for a full show, which is a bad sign for the rest of the episode, and sure enough, it gets much worse. For example, why do the two carnival workers decide to start a fight with Joe for no reason?? And why is Armando trying to scare everybody?? None of it makes any sense. And at the end, why does Rick kidnap Susan and then confess everything to her?? It's all laughable and absurd and a waste of time.
Then there's the constant use of the term "carny" by all of the characters throughout this episode. It's repeated so many times it's maddening and is more proof that the writers didn't have enough material for this episode and should have gone back to the drawing board and made a quality episode.
This one is a real train wreck.
This is one of the worst episodes in what has been a dreadful season and is certainly a sorry way to end the season.
First of all, none of the scenes involving Bev and Susan and Susan and her boyfriend have anything to do with the plot of the show and seem to be from another TV show. They were obviously inserted as filler material because there wasn't enough material for a full show, which is a bad sign for the rest of the episode, and sure enough, it gets much worse. For example, why do the two carnival workers decide to start a fight with Joe for no reason?? And why is Armando trying to scare everybody?? None of it makes any sense. And at the end, why does Rick kidnap Susan and then confess everything to her?? It's all laughable and absurd and a waste of time.
Then there's the constant use of the term "carny" by all of the characters throughout this episode. It's repeated so many times it's maddening and is more proof that the writers didn't have enough material for this episode and should have gone back to the drawing board and made a quality episode.
This one is a real train wreck.
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