Customer Reviews

Mannix: The Third Season

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mannix returns with more two-fisted action in the Third Season of this Classic TV detective series in a 6-disc DVD boxed set.

CBS Paramount Home Video is quickly following the successful release of Season 1 and 2 of this iconic TV series on DVD with the release of the Complete Season 3. Both of the earlier seasons have had very high quality video and audio remastered episode transfers, so hopefully this release will continue that tradition.

In addition, CBS Parmount Home Video has said that ALL of the ORIGINAL musical score and cues for every episode are included and have not replaced! (They had been sharply criticized by fans for replacing some of the music cues in Season 2 of the Classic TV series The Fugitive.)

Mannix ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller (who also created Mission: Impossible), the title character, Joe Mannix, is a tough and very cool L.A. private investigator, portrayed with grace and gusto by Mike Connors.

Rarely has an actor so inhabited a TV character that it's impossible to separate the two. This series represents one of those times, and even the show's producers underscored that by applying the unusual credit which proclaimed: 'Mike Connors IS Mannix.'

By the time Season 3 premiered in September 1969, Mannix was already well ensconced as a huge TV hit, and producers responded by providing a solid season of great stories, and a lot of the hard-hitting action that it was known for. Season 2 had introduced Gail Fisher as Mannix's devoted secretary, Peggy Fair, and she reprised her role here and remained throughout the series run. (FYI: Ms. Fisher was one of the first African American women to have a regular TV series role, and she also won an Emmy for her brilliant work.)

The series was frequently criticized for its violence -- over its eight seasons, Mannix was knocked unconscious 55 times and shot 17 times! Despite that, the series remains a fan favorite today, as it was when it aired, maintaining its status as a consistent ratings winner.

The 25 episodes of Season 3 truly run the gamut from heart-pounding action to emotionally well-acted drama. In one episode, Mannix returns home to try to mend fences with his father and gets a lot more than he bargained for. In one of my all-time favorite episodes, Mannix suffers psychosomatic blindness, but battles to trap a killer regardless of his devastating disability. Mr. Connors and Ms. Fisher are featured, and their scenes underscoring their characters' bond are genuinely unforgettable and not to be missed.

Ward Wood returns as Lt. Art Malcolm. A few guest stars include Vera Miles, Marion Ross, Lee Meriwether, and Mike Farrell.

Season 3 episodes are: Eagles Sometimes Can't Fly; Color Her Missing; Return to Summer Grove; The Playground; A Question of Midnight; A Penny for the Peep-Show; A Sleep in the Deep; Memory: Zero; The Nowhere Victim; The Sound of Darkness; Who Killed Me?; Missing: Sun and Sky; Tooth of the Serpent; Medal for a Hero; Walk With a Dead Man; A Chance at the Roses; Blind Mirror; Harlequin's Gold; Who is Sylvia?; Only One Death to a Customer; Fly, Little One; The Search for Darrell Andrews; Murder Revisited; War of Nerves; and Once Upon a Saturday.

Let's hope the remaining seasons of this fabulous TV Classic will also be released.

Mannix, starring Mike Connors, was one of television's greatest private eyes. Only Tom Selleck's Thomas Magnum and James Garner's Jim Rockford would seem to be in the same category as far as popularity, durability, and enjoyment. Forged in the tough, hardboiled tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, Mannix brought these novelists' archtypes to the small screen - beaten up, beats up, lied to, and tied up. But he endured for eight seasons.

The third season continues the era of the show that Mannix is best remember for - his cool house, office, and girl Friday Peggy Fair. The first season of the show saw Mannix work not for himself, but a detective agency that used the first type of computers to solve crimes, and Mannix was seen as a dinosaur who was doing things the old fashioned way. The second season follows the pattern that most fans remember and cherish.

This series is one I've been waiting for forever. For all of us who grew up admiring him as THE private eye before Rockford and Magnum came on the scene, it's high time that this was released on DVD.

"Mannix" would get 5 stars from me, simply because it is one of the most entertaining, involving detective shows of it's era, and Mike Connors defines cool! Still, I have to admit, the third season is a mixed bag, episode-wise; I suspect a number of episodes ran 'long', and were cut to fit time requirements, and, as a result, seem rushed, with unresolved issues at the closing credits ("Tooth of the Serpent": What happened to the father/son reconciliation?...Chancellor never speaks!..."The Sound of Darkness": Where is the missing money?..."The Search for Darrell Andrews": Why is Andrews murdered?...And these are only a few of the plotholes). Balancing this, however, are some really excellent episodes ("War of Nerves" is a genuine nailbiter!), and Mike Connors, who gives some of his best performances of the series' entire run, in Season Three. In "Return to Summer Grove", Mannix returns to his hometown, we discover the rift between Joe and his father (the wonderfully cranky Victor Jory), and Connors gives a moving portrayal of a son in pain, unable to reconcile. "The Sound of Darkness" is even better; Joe is blinded when grazed by a bullet, revealing his hidden demons, as he sinks into despair and self-pity. And for anyone who thinks Mannix is always right, "Blind Mirror" is a revelation, as he picks the wrong man as the murderer! Joe Mannix is truly 'fleshed out' this season, revealing more of his Armenian roots and wisdom, an occasional snappish reply, and a genuine vulnerability that is endearing. And Gail Fisher is all warmth and prickly common sense, as secretary Peggy Fair. They make a great team!

Some great guest stars brighten the season. Besides Robert Reed's welcome return as Detective Lt. Adam Tobias, three future stars of TV's "M*A*S*H" (Larry Linville, Mike Farrell, and Loretta Swit) all appear, separately, as do legendary stars Gene Raymond, Anita Louise, and Scott Brady, Dana ("McGyver") Elcar, Robert ("C.H.I.P.S.") Pine, Van ("Green Hornet") Williams, Hugh ("Leave It to Beaver") Beaumont, Jay ("The Robe") Robinson, Robert ("The Wild, Wild, West") Conrad, and many more.

I offer want to offer a final 'plus' and 'negative' to the collection; the packaging is terrific, slim, sturdy, and an easy fit into any bookcase; but sadly, there STILL are no Special Features (c'mon, CBS, bring back Mike Connors to talk about each season, as he did for "Season One"!).

"Mannix: Season Three" is a keeper, flaws and all!

Mannix fans. Paramount has apparently stopped making DVD's w/ just 3 of at least 7 Mannix seasons.
If you want more, please either email: phe_customerservice@paramount.com or write to: Paramount Home Entertainment 5555 Melrose Ave. Hollywood, CA 90038.
And yes, I liked the third season. Always enjoyed the episodes where Mike was temporarily blinded, or hopping on one foot, or had a busted arm. Mannix, MI & Kung Fu were the last great TV series in the 70's. It all turned to Emergency, The Hulk, A-Team, Quincy, & much worse after 1974.

Well worth the wait. For me, the highlight of this season is the deepening of the relationship between Joe Mannix and Peggy Fair. Times being what they were, there could be no overt romantic relationship or touching (in Sound of Darkness...at the end he doesn't give her a full hug; his hands are at her shoulders. I guess since he said dam* in the episode the sensors weren't going to allow too much more), but this season shows more and more how close they are. It also sends some subtle messages about racial equality. Joe's trainer in the Sounds of Darkness was the excellent actor James Edwards (who was in a 'race' movie called 'Home of the Brave' with Frank Lovejoy about a black soldier who had psychosomatic paralysis as a result of a racist act. If you haven't seen it, try to get it...Superb). A black man training a white man; in the position of authority. Also, notice how Mr. Edwards has a lit cigarette in his hand and then Joe picks up the same cigarette and smokes it. Joe's touching of Peggy's hands when they get hot dogs at the beach. As a black woman growing up in the 50s I can remember TV and movies back then. You never saw these things. On Mannix, black people came and went as just that...people. In that respect Mannix was way ahead of its time, and not just for Gail Fisher. I never realized it until I started collecting the DVDs. So for me, this Season is top notch. I look forward to Season 4!

Great reviews for all the seasons so far for this much loved jewel in television's crown. But why aren't they still coming....things seem to have dried up....and for no good reason. There's doubtless been many Columbia DVD releases since Mannix season 3 that should never have been made in the first place - never mind found their way onto DVD. Come on you guys.

MANNIX: THE THIRD SEASON has proven to be an excellent selection of episodes from one of the best of the "private detective" T.V. series ever made. Need I say more?

The 3rd season of Mannix is good, it has a little bit less action than seasons 1 and 2, but compared to other tv series of it's time(Mission Impossible, Ironside, Barnaby Jones etc) it has a lot of action, car chases, fisticuffs, gunfights etc. The DVD remasters are great, there is very little dust and scratches and the color is saturated. If you like a macho, honorable P.I. Mannix is the man.
Hopefully Paramount will bring out season 4 and give this series a chance.

Glad Paramount had gotten started on releasing Mannix. Now, how's about moving on to season 4, so we can eventually go all the way to the finish line (if the episodes to 8th season aren't forever lost to history). After all, I did watch the 7th season of the show when it aired on CBS, but only several episodes from season 8. As for the first six seasons? I was too young then to stay up & watch the show during the first 6 seasons, but at least I've seen them all either on syndication or dvd since then. Pretty action-packed, and I haven't often gotten into P.I. shows, the only other PI's I watched, besides Mike Connors as Joe Mannix, were Buddy Ebsen as Barnaby Jones & William Conrad as Frank Cannon. So, Paramount, please, lets keep it going.

This show is too good to be sitting on a shelf. Let's get with it, Paramount.....we are all waiting for the release of the 4th Season!! This Season has most of the great episodes that the fans want to see!! Don't drag your feet, the 4th Season would sell like hotcakes! This is money in Paramount's pocket. I can't believe that this hasn't been released yet! As for the 3rd Season....it was okay, but the show really takes off in the 4th Season. Don't let the fans of this great show down!! Mike Connors is a GOD, and the music by Lalo Schifrin (Dirty Harry, Mission: Impossible, etc.) makes this show a winner all the way!!