Years:  1972, 1973
Genre:  TV series, Drama
Country:  United States
Languages:  English
Starring:  Mike Connors, Gail Fisher, Robert Reed
Guest stars:  Martin Sheen, Burgess Meredith, Abe Vigoda, William Shatner, Anne Archer, Marion Ross, Robert Reed, Jessica Walter
Theme music composer:  Lalo Schifrin
Run time:  21 hours 18 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment
DVD extras:  Not much of anything
Related reviews:  Mannix Season Two, Mannix Season One, Mannix Season Three, Mannix Season Four, Mannix Season Five

     As you can see from the picture above, very little has changed in the world of Mannix for the sixth season.  The DVD cover of all six have featured basically this exact same picture…a pastel background and Mike Connors looking at me.  Then six bullets.  You know, to reinforce that this is season SIX.  For those who can’t read, but can count.

     The sixth season itself is indistinguishable from the previous five, in that Mannix takes on a series of investigations – from finding a little kid’s stamp collection (which is probably plausible for a private investigator) to going undercover in a mob organization (which probably isn’t).  No matter what case he takes, though, one thing is for certain – Mannix will be shot at.  Even when attempting to recover a stamp collection, he will have shots fired his way.

     So the only thing that will set Season Six apart from other seasons is the guest list, which is highlighted by Martin Sheen, who appears as an amnesiac war veteran being conned into a heist by some nefarious characters.  This episode came just before Sheen became a major star – a year before his star turn in Terrence Malick’s Badlands and eight years before his definitive role in Coppola’s Apocalypse Now. 

     Other stars who appear in the sixth season, like Marion Ross and Jessica Walter, have appeared in previous seasons of Mannix, then there’s William Shatner who used to show up in every single TV series ever created.  And Burgess Meredith and Abe Vigoda.  So…not a stellar guest list this time around. 

     I like Mannix, and I find myself rooting for him not to be shot in most episodes.  And sure, it’s the same thing episode after episode, season after season.  But there’s something to be said for knowing just what you’re gonna get, and liking it.  Which means there’s something to be said for Mannix.

Year:  1973
Genre:  TV series, Drama
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  William Conrad
Guest starring:  Tom Skerritt
Eye candy:  Certainly not William Conrad
Producer:  Quinn Martin
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment

     I was watching Season Two, Volume Two of Cannon a couple of days ago.  William Conrad, the big fat whale star of the series, got into a car crash.  Because car chases are essential to any detective series.  He walked away pretty much unscathed, thanks (he said) to his considerable belly size.  Then, yesterday, I read a story that fat people are more likely to survive a car crash than are skinny ones!  And I thought “holy crap, Cannon was way ahead of its time!”

     The series is really growing on me.  I don’t understand the appeal of William Conrad, who isn’t attractive, isn’t brilliant, and really does nothing in the series except be tenacious.  But I can’t deny that he does, indeed, have some sort of apeal for me.  I like him, and I’m really starting to like this show.

“You know how some guys go out on a tightrope, even though they know how dangerous it is?”
“So, this guy’s some kind of tightrope walker”
“Symbolically, yes.”

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

To hear the review

Years:  1973, 1974
Genre:  TV series, Cop, Drama
Country:  United States
Language:  English
Starring:  Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Kam Fong, Al Harrington
Guest stars:  Slim Pickens, Lew Ayres, Don Porter, Ed Flanders, Victor Buono, Andrew Duggan, Peter Strauss, Peter Donat, Anthony Zerbe, William Devane
Creator:  Leonard Freeman
Run time:  20 hours 9 minutes
DVD distributor:  Paramount Home Entertainment
Related reviews:  Hawaii Five-O Season Four, Hawaii Five-O Season Five, Hawaii Five-O Season Seven

    I really can’t help seeing David Caruso every time I look at Jack Lord in Hawaii Five-O.  The similarities are just too glaring.  Only Lord and Caruso could have delivered a line like “symbolically, yes”.  Lord has just finished making a comparison between a thrill-seeking thief who almost lets himself be caught before making his escape, and a tightrope walker who does his act miles in the air for the thrill of it.  It’s terrifically obvious to everyone that he is making a comparison, speaking metaphorically.  Yet he feels the need, after making this statement, to hammer it home.  “Symbolically, yes.”  EVERYONE watching the show, EVERYONE in the room with him, knows he was referring to the tightrope walker “symbolically”, and not to a real tightrope walker.

   But, much like his latter-day counterpart, David Caruso on CSI: Miami, Lord feels the need to spell everything out, assuming that those around him, and those watching the show, would have a hard time wrapping their puny intellects around his fancy talk.  And such is the nature of Hawaii Five-O, which feels incredibly dated thanks to Nash Bridges, the CSI series, and numerous other followers in recent years.  The show still has the greatest theme music of any cop show ever (unless you count the music provided by The Who to the CSI series).  And it still manages to entertain.

   Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing Season Six of Hawaii Five-O on April 21st, and it’s worth the purchase.  Just because something has become very, very dated in recent years does not mean it isn’t fun for an hour at a time.  Like Hawaii Five-O, or Madonna.  It’s fun.  And I don’t mean that “symbolically”.