Mannix, created by the venerable team of William Link and Richard Levinson, follows the adventures of private dick Joe Mannix (Mike Connors), who in this premiere season works for a Los Angeles detective agency known as Intertect, run by one Lew Wickersham (Joseph Campanella), evidently an homage, name-wise, to Lew Wasserman (according to an extra interview with Connors and Campanella). The first season's office conflict is quickly set up when Intertect's "one piece of paper on your desk at one time" rule (no, I'm not kidding) is revealed to be rather spectacularly broken by Mannix, just one of several rules he flouts throughout each episode. It's a fairly routine sparring match between Wickersham and Mannix throughout this first season: Wickersham wants Mannix to toe the line and follow the rules, Mannix refuses, Wickersham relents, realizing Mannix is his "best man" (as Wickersham himself admits in the pilot), and then Mannix following his own well-developed gut, goes out and solves the mystery on his own. It's pat, to be sure, but Connors and Campanella play off of each other in that relaxed, friendly style that was a staple of late 60s television fare. They're playing easily identifiable types (in the formal sense) here, and as such, rise to the occasion with a minimum of fuss and bother. Don't expect any overt "acting" lessons in these episodes, at least from these two, who keep their performances extremely low-key. The histrionics are usually left to the guest stars, and the first season is full of them.

Occasionally some "major" names crop up, notably Oscar winner Kim Hunter in the pilot (though I was aghast to see her relegated to end credits supporting status, with Lloyd Nolan given the opening "guest star" credit, but such are the vagaries of television celebrity hierarchies). But the bulk of the episodes features a who's-who of late 60s television regulars, including such folk as Beverly Garland, John Colicos, William Windom, Leslie Parrish, Paul Petersen, Larry Storch, Ruta Lee, Madge Blake, and Richard Mulligan. A couple of episodes feature some nice turns by one fading star and one newly blossoming one, Jan Sterling and Karen Black, respectively. The Sterling episode, about a former Hollywood queen, also has a sort of funny time capsule moment by featuring gossip maven Rona Barrett playing herself. Two of the more interesting guest shots are Joseph Campanella's own brother Frank in one episode, and my personal favorite, none other than Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Neil Young in the waning days of Buffalo Springfield in another.

Several of the episodes involve Mannix getting involved with generically named "gangsters," with the implication being organized crime. These are all fairly standard episodes, though there is one nice twist in "Make It Like It Never Happened," when Mannix is "hired" (for $28.00, her life savings) by a little girl (played by the improbably named Amber Flower, but, hey, it was the 60s) trying to clear her father of a murder charge. This episode was nice in that it gave Connors at least a little opportunity to open up and show a fun side to his character and his interactions with the girl were a welcome respite among the usually more buttoned-down performances he displays throughout the bulk of the season.

Another thing that set Mannix apart, or at least gained it some notoriety in its day, was its unusually brutal fight and stunt sequences. In fact Connors reminisces (several times actually, in both an extra interview and one of the commentaries) about dislocating his shoulder and breaking his wrist, among other injuries. The shoulder mishap occurred during the helicopter chase sequence that is a major part of the opening credits (culled from the pilot episode). It's not unusual for Mannix to engage in several fist fights, get clubbed over the head (with an actual injury showing afterward) and even shot (always in the arm, of course, as is pointed out in a funny TVLand promo included as an extra) in any given episode.

Mannix may not be anything unusual, but it is always fast-paced with an occasional nice twist and turn in the plotting, and well-anchored by the extremely likable Connors in his best-known role. Watching Joe Mannix tool about Los Angeles in his custom convertible Oldsmobile Toronado, to that great theme by Schifrin, has to be one of the seminal images of 60s detective television, and it's a welcome sight again after over 40 years' hiatus.

The DVD

Video:
While perfectly acceptable by television standards, Mannix's source elements are certainly not up to today's standards. All of the episodes' original full frame transfers show occasional damage and debris like hairs, with some stock footage horribly mutilated by omnipresent grain. Colors are reasonably excellent with good saturation, and the image is clear.

Sound:
The remastered DD mono soundtrack sounds perfectly fine. So many fantastic musicians contributed underscoring to this series, including such talents as Richard Hazard and Jerry Fielding, that just the music makes listening worthwhile. All dialogue is perfectly clear, however. My fellow musical geeks may want to pay attention to the abysmal edit that mars the closing credit theme on this first season, but, then again, I guess they didn't have ProTools in those days.

Extras:
CBS has once again come out of the gate on a first season boxed set with some excellent extras. One hopes that if Mannix's subsequent seasons continue to see the light of day, this trend will continue (I for one was very disappointed in the last three seasons of Wild, Wild West which didn't even include the nominal Robert Conrad introductions). Like West, each episode has a brief audio intro by Connors (you need to go into the episode's submenu to get to it--hitting "play" from the main menu will simply start the episode without the intro). But that's just the tip of iceberg--there is a great interview with Connors and Campanella, split into two parts across two disks, the original 1967 CBS fall promo for Mannix's first season, a 1969 "Mike Douglas Show" appearance by Connors, the TV Land promo mentioned above, a syndication package sales promo, a photo gallery, and perhaps most interestingly, a clip from the Diagnosis: Murder episode where Mannix returned after two decades to take on another case (why not the whole episode, I wondered?). Unfortunately the audio commentaries (one by co-creator Link on the pilot, the others joint ventures between Connors and Campanella) offer little information and are hampered by long (and I mean LOOOONNNG) stretches of silence where I imagine these people got caught up in watching something they all admit they hadn't seen in over 40 years.

Final Thoughts:
Truth be told, Mannix got a lot better once the Intertect angle was dropped starting with the second season. Even so, this first season has some great action and passable mysteries, and it's always a pleasure to see Connors in his signature role. Taking into consideration that this first season is so rare, Mannix is most definitely recommended.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet