| Mannix | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Format | Crime drama |
| Starring | Mike Connors Gail Fisher Joseph Campanella Ward Wood Robert Reed |
| Theme music composer | Lalo Schifrin |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 8 |
| No. of episodes | 194 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Desilu Productions (1967) Paramount Television (1967-1975) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 7, 1967 – August 27, 1975 |
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is an Armenian-American private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors, an actor also of Armenian heritage. Mannix was the most-recent series produced by Desilu Productions.
Contents |
Scenario
During the first season of the series Joe Mannix worked for a large Los Angeles detective agency called Intertect, which was the planned original title of the show[1]. His superior was Lew Wickersham, played by Joseph Campanella with the agency featuring the use of computers to help solve crimes. As opposed to the other employees who must wear dark suits and sit in rows of desks with only one piece of paper allowed to be on their desk at one time, Mannix belongs to the classic American detective archetype and thus usually ignores the computers' solutions, disobeys his boss's orders and sets out to do things his own way. He wears plaid sport coats and has his own office that he keeps sloppy between his assignments. Lew has cameras in all the rooms of Intertect monitoring the performance of his employees and providing instant feedback through intercoms in the room. Unlike the other Intertect operatives, Mannix attempts to block the camera with a coat rack and insults Lew, comparing him to Big Brother.
To improve the ratings of the show, Desilu head Lucille Ball and the producer Bruce Geller brought in some changes[2] making the show more similar to other private eye shows. Lucille Ball thought the computers were too high tech and beyond comprehension for the average viewer of the time and had them removed.[3]
From the second season on, Mannix worked on his own with the assistance of his loyal secretary Peggy Fair, a police officer's widow played by Gail Fisher (one of the first African-American actresses to have a regular series role). He also has assistance from the police department, the two most prominent officers being Lt. Art Malcolm (portrayed by Ward Wood) and Lt. Adam Tobias (portrayed by Robert Reed). Other police contacts were Lt. George Kramer (Larry Linville) and Lt. Dan Ives (Jack Ging).
Character
Joseph R. "Joe" Mannix is a regular guy, without pretense, who has a store of Armenian proverbs to rely upon in conversation. What demons he has mostly come from having fought in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Unfortunately a sizable percentage of his old Army "buddies" turn out to have homicidal impulses against him.[4] In the episode The Cost of a Vacation it is revealed that Mannix worked as a mercenary in Latin America.
Joe Mannix is notable for taking a lot of physical punishment. During the course of the series he is shot and wounded (over a dozen separate times) or is knocked unconscious far more often.[5] Whenever Mannix gets into one of his convertibles he can expect to be shot at from another car, run off the road by another car, or find his vehicle sabotaged. Nevertheless he keeps his cool and perseveres until his antagonists are brought down. While making the television pilot My Name is Mannix, Connors dislocated his shoulder running away from a From Russia With Love type pursuit from a helicopter [6]and broke his right wrist punching a stuntman who happened to be wearing a steel plate on his back.[7]
Mannix lives at 17 Paseo Verdes West Los Angeles. Following military service in the Korean War, Mannix attended Western Pacific University on the GI Bill graduated in 1955 and obtained his private investigator's licence in 1956.[8] In the first season he used a Walther PPK and a Colt snubnosed revolver in .38 calibre.
Show
Gary Morton, the husband of Lucille Ball and head of Desilu Studios, noticed a 1937 Bentley convertible being driven by Mike Connors. A car enthusiast, Morton began talking about cars to Connors when he remembered a Desilu detective show coming up that he thought Connors would do well in.[9]
Mannix featured a dynamic split-screen opening credits sequence set to theme music from noted composer Lalo Schifrin. Unusual for a private detective series, the Mannix theme is in triple time, the same signature used for waltz.
The show's title card, opening credits and closing credits roll are set in variations of the City typeface, a squared-off, split-serif face that was long used by IBM Corporation as part of their corporate design and still appears in their logo. This refers to the computers used by Intertect in the first season.
Midway through the opening credits, a screen layout appears bearing a resemblance to the Flag of Armenia, though it is unknown whether the staff did this intentionally.
Episodes
Awards
For his work on Mannix, Mike Connors was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, winning once, and for four Emmy Awards. Gail Fisher was nominated for four Emmy Awards, winning once, and for three Golden Globe Awards, winning twice.
The series itself was twice nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Series, and four times for the Golden Globe Award, winning once. In 1972, writer Mann Rubin won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the episode "A Step in Time".
Syndication
CBS Paramount (formerly Paramount Television), which gained ownership of Mannix in 1967 following Gulf + Western's purchase of Desilu Productions, syndicates the program. However, Paramount does not release episodes from the series' first and last seasons into syndication. The reasons for these episodes being omitted from Paramount's syndication packages is not known.
DVD releases
CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) has released the first 2 seasons of Mannix on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. Season 3 was released on October 27, 2009. [1]
| DVD Name | Ep # | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| The First Season | 24 | June 3, 2008 |
| The Second Season | 25 | January 6, 2009 |
| The Third Season | 25 | October 27, 2009 |
Appearances on other shows
Connors played Mannix in a 1971 episode of Here's Lucy, Lucy and Mannix Are Held Hostage. He also reprised Mannix in a 1976 Bob Hope TV special called Joys.
In 1997, Mike Connors reprised the character on Diagnosis: Murder in the episode “Hard-Boiled Murder”. It was a sequel to “Little Girl Lost”, a 1973 Mannix episode from the original series' seventh season, with many of the guest stars from that episode reprising their roles.
Connors last appeared as Mannix in the 2003 film Nobody Knows Anything!.
Mannix was parodied by Mad Magazine in Manic and on radio by comedians Bob and Ray in Blimmix.
Trivia
Originally, the role of Peggy Fair was offered to Nichelle Nichols. Since she was under contract at Star Trek, executive producer Gene Roddenberry refused to let her go.
Mannix's automobiles
The automobile was a focus of Joe Mannix's professional life, and he had a several of them as his personal vehicle in the eight-year run of the series. Those were:
- Season 1 - 1966 Mercury Comet Caliente convertible (pilot episode: "The Name Is Mannix"), 1967 Mercury Comet Cyclone convertible (one episode only: "Skid Marks on a Dry Run"), 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 four-door hardtop then a 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 four-door sedan after the Galaxie got shot up - both were Intertect company cars (one episode only: "The Cost of a Vacation"). In all other Season 1 episodes Mannix drove a 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado roadster customised by George Barris, builder of TV's Batmobile from the 1960s Batman ABC series, since the producers wanted a convertible and Oldsmobile never produced an open-topped Toronado. Because of a change in episode run order ("The Cost of a Vacation" was the second episode of Mannix shot after the pilot although it was the sixth episode CBS broadcast), the one-shot appearances of the Galaxie and Fairlane were after the Toronado had been established as Joe's car.
- Season 2 - 1968 Dodge Dart GTS 383 convertible
- Season 3 - 1969 Dodge Dart GTS 340 convertible
- Season 4 - 1970 Plymouth Cuda 340 convertible
- Season 5 - 1971 Plymouth Cuda 340 convertible
- Season 6 - 1973 Plymouth Cuda 340 convertible (actually the 1971 car updated with 1973 grille, headlamps, front fenders and tail lights)
- Season 7 - 1974 Dodge Challenger 360 Coupe
- Season 8 - Chevrolet Camaro LT
Peggy Fair's cars were less prominent, but in seasons 2 - 8 they included a Simca 1204 hatchback, Dodge Colt sedan and finally a Chevrolet Vega hatchback coupe.
References
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f2aGT9AtKM
- ^ p.41 Snauffer, Douglas Crime Television 2006 Greenwood Publishing
- ^ http://www.videobusiness.com/blog/1740000174/post/1600029360.html
- ^ http://www.jmannix.net/joe.htm
- ^ Neely Tucker (2007-11-18). "Mannix Was the Man". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/16/AR2007111600181.html?hpid=features1&hpv=national. Retrieved 2007-11-18. "Mannix was, by one count, shot 17 times and knocked unconscious another 55 during the show's eight-year run, and how great is that?"
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f2aGT9AtKM
- ^ Ibid
- ^ http://www.tvacres.com/char_mannix_joe.htm
- ^ p.140 Aaker, Everette Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters 2006 McFarland
External links
- Mannix at the Internet Movie Database
- Mannix at TV.com
- Mannix fan web site
- DVD review of series and production history
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