MovieChat Forums > Mannix (1967) Discussion > In the Beginning

In the Beginning

posted 19 years ago by [email protected]
5 replies | jump to latest

I was only 11 in 1967 when the series started, and I haven't seen it since. I seem to remember in the beginning that Joe Mannix worked for some type of firm called "intertech" or something like that, and he had this really cool customized Olds Toronado. Then at some point this all changed, and he was a private eye. What happened?

I wish they would release on DVD, I would really like to see the show again. Oddly enough, there was a little kid in our neighborhood named "Mannix", and we all used to call him "Mike Connors".

[–] bradford-1 17 years ago

I, too, was 11 when the series started. Mannix always chafed at the rules and bylaws of Intertect. Somewhere between the first and second season, he split and went into business for himself. But I'm pretty sure Lou Wickersham appeared a few times in Season 2 as sort of a link between Mannix's two incarnations.

[–] wleller 17 years ago

I think TPTB decided that the "high-tech" computer stuff was a little much for a hard-nosed PI like Mannix and decided to have him strike out on his own.

Wickersham never made an appearance after the first season, however he was mentioned a few times when Peggy called him for information. Something that Mannix didn't like. The assumption was the split between Mannix and Intertech was not harmonious.

[–] captkirk_4 14 years ago

I saw the first DVD where the gimmick is that he has a computer helping him solve the case. I can see why they dropped it, it was better to take a Private Investigator angle to the series than that cheesy "secret agent" type Bond parodies that were the rage of the mid 60's. The PI genre lasted into the 80's, the Secret Agent shows were a brief fad on the networks. All that Man from Uncle Gets Smart stuff is unwatchable for me. The whole Intertec "Agency" thing with the wall full of (for it's time) futuristic Mainframes seemed a little too Bondish.

[–] BEARDEDDRAGON48 14 years ago

Desilu owned the show originally, before the studio was sold to Gulf & Western. From what I understand it was set to be cancelled after the first season. Lucille Ball liked the show and had suggested that Mannix go out on his own. She felt that the average viewer just didn't "get" all the high tech stuff and maybe a change of format would help.

It seems funny now but the lady was right because it lasted several more years after that!

[–] knight_sentinel 14 years ago

Desilu's president Lucille Ball thought the high tech feel was putting off viewers, and after they changed the format the ratings increased, and it was on for 8 years. They would use the computers to solve crimes based on the input, which is ironic because computers are very integral to solving crimes now, the reason they wanted the computers in the series, was because at the time this series started in 1967, the FBI announced a computer database called the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) would be started to track criminals in 1967.

Besides Desilu also produced "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible", and both shows were high tech, and one was futuristic, maybe they wanted to tone down some of the high tech, with two high tech series on the air.

I always thought the producers of the film "Gattica" got the idea for their office employees wardrobe from the first season of "Mannix" the dark suits, the clean desk, one sheet of paper allowed on a desk, although in "Gattica" they had personal computers, dark suits, and clean desks.

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