4 thoughts on “Mannix Dropped Its Main Gimmick After Its First Season

  1. Um . . . the company for which Mannix worked (and almost was the show’s title) was “Intertect”, not Intercept.

    I’m in the minority, I suppose, because this was my favourite season of MANNIX. I rather enjoyed the friction between Mannix and his boss, Lew Wickersham. Because it wasn’t performed in the usual television trope. Mannix and Wickersham were friends and they respected each other. And Wickersham, as seen in a few episodes, was a capable detective himself, who could do old-style sleuthing when he had to do so.

    Lew simply saw computers as the leading edge of modern detective work, while Joe felt the job of investigations required more instinct than data.

    I lost a lot of interest in MANNIX when it changed formats. To me, it became the stereotypical P. I. series, in which the hero walked the “mean streets” alone, except for his loyal secretary and tolerant police contact. To wit, something I had seen a dozen times over.

  2. D’oh, thanks, Commander, silly typo! Fixed now!

    And I thought Campanella was really good in Season 1, as well. I always thought he was a fine performer.

  3. Aye, I figured you just had a brain synapse misfire. Happens to me all the time.

    I, too, thought Joseph Campanella was a talented performer. I was always glad to see his name in a show’s opening credits. He had considerable charisma on screen and a good chemistry with Mike Connors.

    Most write-ups of Mannix‘s first season (when one can find them) make it sound like Mannix and Wickersham were constantly at each other’s throats. But their relationship was more professional and complex than that. The show lost something when they no longer interacted.

  4. Most write-ups of Mannix‘s first season (when one can find them) make it sound like Mannix and Wickersham were constantly at each other’s throats. But their relationship was more professional and complex than that. The show lost something when they no longer interacted.

    Fair point, but I think Wickersham was still mostly there as a foil. I do agree that it is fair to say that he gets portrayed too much as a sort of dick boss, when really it was just a clash of styles (he still supported Mannix when the chips were down, of course).

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