Mike "Touch"'Connors effortlessly carries this consistently awesome TV show. The producers (Bruce Geller, Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts) were determined to give us what amounted to a miniature detective MOVIE each week -- complete with intriguing mystery, solid clues, clever misdirection, taut action, fast pacing, and an exciting and often surprising finale. The fact that they succeeded as often as they did helped to make MANNIX the best written and produced PI show ever to air on American television, hands-down. (ROCKFORD and HARRY O were both terrific, but MANNIX takes the brass ring, imo).So tune in for Mike Connors -- but stick around for the feature-quality production-values and great storytelling.

I've recently been watching DVDs of "Mannix" and although I have enjoyed it, it's become clear that the earlier episodes are the best. By season three and four, the show lost some of its zing, though it was still better than the average show.Season one is unusual. Joe Mannix is NOT a private eye like he would be for the remainder of the series. Instead, he's an agent working for Intertech--a high tech detective agency operating more like a corporation. His boss is played by Joseph Campanella and there is always tension between him and Mannix. When season two premiered, Mannix was no longer with Intertech. Instead he's privately employed and he's got Peggy as a receptionist. This is how it continued through the remainder of the series. And a few things that remain constant--Joe regularly gets the crap knocked out of him and is often knocked out (though more so in season one and two) and he doesn't particularly like women...or at least he doesn't trust them.My advice is see season one and two and then decide if the show is worth continuing. I'm on season five and still have a bit to go until I finish.

Desilu Studio created this hit show starring Mike Connors and it was a blockbuster hit. Desilu had been riding high with Mission Impossible and Star Trek and of course the Lucy Show, but as Desilu was folding into Paramount, CBS bought this show and Desilu produced a superb drama. Bruce Geller who produced Mission Impossible at Desilu was given the task by Herbert Solow the dynamic Executive Vice President of Desilu to produce this hit TV show. Mannix stands as the very last of the great shows Desilu produced among them The Untouchables, Star Trek, Mission Impossible, and great comedies such as I Love Lucy, Our Miss Brooks and of course The Lucy Show. It was wonderful as a fan of Desilu to see so much quality programming from a great little studio run by Lucille Ball.

When this show first premiered in the 1960's, it was called one of the most violent shows in the history of television. However, if it were to come on today, it probably would just be given a TV-PG rating. Today's show push the envelope of blood and guts to a disgusting limit, but Mannix was mainly given that reputation because every show would feature a knockdown, drag out fight which usually would wind up with him ending up a bloody pulp and the other guy either dead or beaten worse than he was. However, this show, despite the violence was still one of the most popular shows of the late 1960's/early 1970's.