Mannix

During the first season of the series, Joe Mannix works for a large Los Angeles detective agency called Intertect, which was the planned original title of the show.[1] His superior is Lew Wickersham, played by Joseph Campanella. Intertect uses computers to help solve crimes.[2]

As opposed to the other employees, Mannix belonged to the classic American detective archetype, thus he 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 the Intertect offices 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 questions Lew, comparing him to Big Brother.[3]

To improve the ratings of the show, Desilu head Lucille Ball and producer Bruce Geller made some changes,[4] making the show similar to other private-eye shows. Ball thought the computers were too high-tech and beyond the comprehension of the average viewer of the time and had them removed. In the first episode of season two, Mannix explains that he had quit Intertect.

From the second season on, Mannix works 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 black actresses to have a regular series role. He also has a working relationship with the Los Angeles Police Department, as he often exchanges information with his contacts. The first of these to have a featured role was Lieutenant George Kramer, portrayed by Larry Linville, who had been partnered with Peggy's late husband.[5] Over the course of the series, Mannix's most frequently used contact is Lieutenant Art Malcolm, played by Ward Wood. Another semi regular guest, although not as frequent, was Robert Reed, whose appearances as Lieutenant Adam Tobias coincided with his tenure on The Brady Bunch, which also was produced by Paramount Television.[6] Jack Ging played another Mannix contact, Lieutenant Dan Ives, who made several appearances later in the series.

In the 1969 season, he also employs the services of a competitive private investigator, Albie Loos (performed by Joe Mantell), as a sort of investigative gofer. In the 1972 season, Albie returns, played by a different actor (Milton Selzer).

While Mannix was not generally known as a show that explored socially relevant topics, several episodes had topical themes. Season two had episodes featuring compulsive gambling,[7] deaf and blind characters who were instrumental in solving cases in spite of their physical limitations,[8][9] and episodes that focused on racism against Blacks and Hispanics.[10][11][12] Season six had an episode focusing on the effects the Vietnam War had on returning veterans, including the effects of PTSD.[13]

Joseph R. "Joe" Mannix is a regular guy, without pretense, who has a store of proverbs on which to rely in conversation. What demons he has mostly come from having fought in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he was initially listed as MIA[14] while he was a prisoner of war in a brutal POW camp until he escaped.[15] Over the length of the series, a sizable percentage of his old Army comrades turn out to have homicidal impulses against him,[15][16][17][18][19][20] as does his fellow running back from his college football days, Frank Cannon.[21] (The episode that introduced police Lieutenant Art Malcolm portrayed him as a Korean War buddy of Mannix, but that connection was generally ignored thereafter.)

During the series, Mannix is also revealed to have worked as a mercenary in Latin America.[22] Like the actor who plays him, Mannix is of Armenian descent, despite the surname being traditionally an Irish one. He speaks fluent Armenian from time to time during the series,[14][23][24][25] as well as conversational Spanish.[12]

Mike Connors as Joe Mannix, 1968

Mannix is notable for the high level of physical punishment he withstands. During the course of the series, he is shot and wounded over a dozen separate times, and knocked unconscious around 55 times.[26] He frequently takes brutal beatings to the abdomen; some of these went on quite a long time, particularly by the television standards of the era. Whenever he gets into one of his convertibles, he can expect to be shot at or 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 "The Name Is Mannix", Connors dislocated his shoulder running away from a From Russia with Love–type pursuit from a helicopter,[1][6] and broke his left wrist punching a stuntman who happened to be wearing a steel plate on his back. This character aspect was lampooned multiple times by radio comedians Bob and Ray, as "Blimmix", portrayed as dim-witted, and ending with Blimmix being soundly beaten by his adversary. These parodies retained the theme song composed by Lalo Schifrin at the beginning and conclusion.[27]

Starting in season two, Mannix lives and works in West Los Angeles in a mixed-use development called Paseo Verde; his home at 17 Paseo Verde has an attached office out of which he runs his agency. The design for the 17 Paseo Verde set is based on a Santa Barbara, California, building that still exists.

Mannix grew up in a town called Summer Grove, where he was a star football and basketball player. Summer Grove had a thriving Armenian immigrant community. As of 1969, Mannix's mother had died 10 years earlier, and Mannix had not been back to the town since the funeral. Mannix's estranged father, Stefan, was still living in Summer Grove, and Mannix and his father started a reconciliation.[14] When Mannix returns to Summer Grove for a case three years later, his father and he are on good terms.[24]

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 license in 1956. He has a black belt in karate.[28] Throughout the series, he appears proficient in a variety of athletic pursuits, including sailing, horseback riding, and skiing. He is an accomplished pool player and golfs regularly, and is also a skilled airplane pilot. In the first season, he carries a Walther PP semiautomatic pistol. From the second season on, Mannix carries a Colt Detective Special snubnosed revolver in .38 Special caliber.

Gary Morton, the second 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 in which he thought Connors would do well.[31]

Mannix was initially a production of Desilu Productions, which had been purchased by Gulf + Western earlier in 1967. During the first season, Gulf + Western integrated Desilu's operations into its Paramount Pictures subsidiary and the company became Paramount Television. The series 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 waltzes.

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. The dot over the "i" in Mannix had the appearance of a computer tape reel. This was removed after the first season.

Over the life of the series, several famous entertainers were featured in one-time roles, including Neil Diamond and Buffalo Springfield as themselves and Lou Rawls as a club singer, Rich Little as an impressionist, and Milton Berle as a stand-up comedian. Essay humorist Art Buchwald also had a cameo role unrelated to journalism, and in another episode, Rona Barrett played herself.

Mannix featured hundreds of guest stars:

For his work on Mannix, Mike Connors was nominated for six 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 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".

Lalo Schifrin composed the music for the series. The theme "Mannix", with the B-side "End Game", was released as a single in 1969.[34]

In May 2011, Connors filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Paramount and CBS Television Studios, claiming that he was never paid royalties from the Mannix series.[35] With the release of the series on DVD, the case was later settled out of court in November of that year.[36]

CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) has released all eight seasons of Mannix on DVD in Region 1.

On May 9, 2017, CBS DVD released Mannix- The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[37]

In Region 4, Shock has released the first three seasons on DVD in Australia.

CBS Television Distribution holds the distribution rights for Mannix, but only distributes a package of 130 episodes to local stations. The first and eighth seasons are not part of the package, nor are several episodes from season seven. [38]

The program currently airs on MeTV as part of its late night lineup and has also aired on its sister network H&I; all 194 episodes of Mannix have aired on both networks.

It is currently showing on the British Network Forces TV.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mannix.

• Mannix at IMDb
• Mannix at TV.com
• Mannix official site at Nick at Nite
• DVD review of series and production history