Search - Mannix: The Third Season on DVD

Relax -- Joe Mannix Is On the Case!

E. Hornaday | Lawrenceville, NJ United States | 07/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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.
"

Season 3 of The Classic TV Private Eye Series

Terence Allen | Atlanta, GA USA | 08/05/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Uneven Episodes, but Mike Connors IS Mannix!

Benjamin J Burgraff | Las Vegas | 11/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

""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!

"

A virtually perfect Region 1 DVD set for Mannix's third seas

WaveCrest | 11/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Once again a well made Region 1 DVD boxset of Mannix by CBS DVD. Shame though that for the second boxset running there were no episode intros by Mike Connors. They were a great addition to the first season set. Also absent from the second season DVD set which would have been nice, was an interview with Mike Connors about the change from the first season to the second, what with Joe Mannix having his own private detective agency. A tribute to Peggy Fisher would have been nice as well. Sadly all there was were the 25 second season episodes, although they had been digitally remastered well.

So the same has happened with the third season set..no extras again. I tested out all the episodes in on the six discs for this set, skipping a few chapters, and most episodes' prints have strong colours. There is grain but this can't be complained about really, because the episodes were aired 39-40 years ago on CBS.

It appears (from the CBS Television Syndication Bible website) that all 194 episodes of Mannix have been transferred to HD/digitally remastered, so really it's just a matter of how fast CBS DVD can produce the DVD boxsets for Seasons 4-8 (which covered 1970-75). Hopefully the fourth and fifth seasons come out on Region 1 in 2010.

The first and second seasons had seven discs each if I remember right. Yet this third season set had six discs (discs 1-5 having four episodes each on them, and disc 6 having five episodes on them). Seasons 4-8 have 24 episodes each, so I hope there will be six discs in each of the remaining five Region 1 DVD boxsets."