Mannix

[Botany Bay]

Of the three shows under the supervision of Herb Solow at Desilu in the 60's that led to the Renaissance (and, allegedly, near bankruptcy) of the studio, Mannix is the one I'd never heard of before becoming interested in researching the behind the scenes story of Star Trek.

I'd read that Trek's casting director would hire actors for appearances on three of Trek, Mission, Lucy and Mannix in one go. You can see this when you watch Mission on DVD, and now, thanks to Youtube, I've been checking out dozens of Trek guest actors playing crooks, gangsters, murder victims, and jealous wives on Mannix as well.

Already in the first dozen episodes of Season 1 I've seen Roger Korby, Kor, Lenore Karidian , Commodore Stocker and many others, with fight scenes being conducted to the tune of the Desilu music department. Once, when someone operated an elevator, the Enterprise photon torpedo sound was used!

Mannix season 1 ran concurrently with TOS season 2, and to my amazement went on well into the 70's...longer even than Mission.

Anyone wanting to have a look should probably do so quickly. I can't imagine Paramount will allow whole seasons to remain up for long. Just search 'Mannix Season 1' on YT.

Has anyone seen the later seasons? Is it worth buying them on DVD, or will it be dull without all the Trek guest actors when they disappear after season 2?

Anyway, I've been enjoying this tough guy with a heart of gold cracking these cases...it's given me an insight into what the fashions, cars and technology of 1967 were like when TOS was blazing its trail a couple of soundstages down the road.

 

[Forbin]

I have the whole series on DVD, and finished a complete rewatch a few years ago. It was every bit as much fun as I remember from first run, and rife with TOS actors. If you check out the thread below about TOS actors in surprising roles, you'll find my posts with screen grabs of the ones I found in Mannix (some pix were lost when I changed hosts, tho).

 

[1001001]

Since this is really about the show Mannix, not TOS, I am moving this to TV and Media.

As said above, TOS actors in other shows already has its own thread.

 

[Forbin]

BTW, when I watch old shows like that, I always wonder how young people react to lines like, "Is there a phone around here?" "I've got to get to a phone!" "Operator? Get me the police!!"

 

[Christopher]

Once, when someone operated an elevator, the Enterprise photon torpedo sound was used!

Do you mean the sort of chirping sound heard in a bridge scene when the torpedo button is pressed, rather than the echoing "cheeoo-woo-woo-woo" sound of the torpedoes themselves? The latter would make no sense for an elevator (although a January 1966 Batman episode used it for the giant spring the Joker used to launch himself out of prison), but the former is a pretty standard sound effect of an electrical switch being thrown, and I've heard it associated with elevator motors starting up in a number of older productions. That may be where it originally came from.

In the pre-digital age, there were only a few sound effects libraries that most productions drew on, and they were finite in size since the sounds were stored on physical media that took up space. So you'd hear the same sound effects all over the place. Many of TOS's sound effects were original, such as the transporter sound, but the majority were from pre-existing sound libraries. And many of those libraries' sound effects were sourced from real life.

 

[J.T.B.]

I saw some in afternoon reruns when I was a kid, but I watched all the series when it began airing on a local channel a couple years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's definitely old-school and a little corny at times. It hits the reset button a lot, like about Joe's military experience. Usually he was in the infantry in Korea, then suddenly he's talking to some buddies and he was a navy carrier pilot.

Most of the mysteries are pretty good, some are excellent. Mannix is of course larger than life: Not just an almost perfect detective, but a race car driver, airplane and helicopter pilot, great humanitarian and loved by kids. Sometimes, he seems to be running investigations for the police, giving orders to cops while the lieutenant basically takes a back seat. In that way, it made me appreciate why Jim Rockford was so refreshing in his imperfections and fallibility. But they did occasionally show Joe as human, like when he tried to reconcile with his father. Also, I should mention Gail Fisher, lovely as Peggy, who was often treated rather thanklessly by her boss!

As for cars, my favorite was the S2 green Dart, a classic, good looking small body/big motor combo. The Barris custom Toronado convertible was just too fantastic, and the Barracudas a little bloated for my taste. It was a little odd to see him go back to GM in the last season.

Besides TOS guest stars, Brady Bunch dad Robert Reed had a recurring role, as did MASH's Larry Linville. The Brady house set even makes several appearances. Mannix definitely made good use of what was available, with one standard apartment set with a step-down living room and diagonal staircase redressed over and over again, and some chase scenes in "warehouses" being obviously backstage on a soundstage.

If I had the DVDs and the time, it would be fun to compile a highlight reel of all the times Mannix got clobbered and knocked out from behind. It would probably be several minutes long.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I was thinking "1960's?", but then realized I was probably thinking of Manimal.

 

[J.T.B.]

I was thinking "1960's?", but then realized I was probably thinking of Manimal.

One ran eight seasons, one ran eight episodes.

 

[Forbin]

Yes, that apartment! You'd think they'd use something less unique for a recurring, redressed set. I never quite got why it was several steps UP from the hallway to a landing, then several steps DOWN once you got inside. Kinda redundant.

I think someone somewhere figured out Mannix was shot 17 times and knocked unconscious 38 times.

 

[J.T.B.]

I think someone somewhere figured out Mannix was shot 17 times and knocked unconscious 38 times.

Wow! I wonder if anyone counted how many cars went off a cliff? I always wondered about who had the job to go down to the bottom of the canyon to clean up the debris. Hopefully someone did!

 

[Botany Bay]

Since this is really about the show Mannix, not TOS, I am moving this to TV and Media.

As said above, TOS actors in other shows already has its own thread.

No, it's a fun thread for TOS forumites sick of the same old topics to spot the instances of TOS actors, producers, sets, music and effects that I discovered proliferate this show, but, if it makes you feel better, you go right ahead

Jeeeez...

 

[The Old Mixer]

Anyone wanting to have a look should probably do so quickly. I can't imagine Paramount will allow whole seasons to remain up for long. Just search 'Mannix Season 1' on YT.

It's also currently airing weeknights at 2 a.m. EST on MeTV.

 

[Forbin]

And available on DVD.