Mike Connors
Fan Fiction/Mannix on VCD
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Mike Connors
Fan Fiction/Mannix on VCD |
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By Winnie Power * "Mountain Terror" - When Doctor Lewis tells Joe it's time he took a vacation, Joe invites Peggy and Toby to join him
at a cabin in the mountains. Their only problem is there are several escaped convicts waiting, and they spell trouble for
Joe, Peggy, and Toby. * "A Night Of Fear" - Joe and Peggy stop off at a small store for supplies and are caught in the middle of an armed robbery. |
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Mannix In Print Mannix - Michael Avallone Mannix #1: The Faces of Murder - J.T. MacCargo Mannix #2: A Fine Day for Dying - J.T.
MacCargo Mannix #3: A Walk on the Blind Side - J.T.
MacCargo Mannix #4: Round Trip to Nowhere - J.T. MacCargo BOOK REVIEWS by Patricia Talley and Nancy Hixson The 1960s-70s TV detective show Mannix had a reputation of being
a well-written drama with a lead character who might have been "hard-boiled in the classical tradition" but underneath was
a nice guy. Joe Mannix was tough but caring, strong but intelligent, with an ability to see through even the most cynical
liar but who never turned away an underdog...even the non-paying kind. It was that combination of character and characteristics
which made Mannix one of the best and most popular classic TV shows. But readers would never know that from the four books by J.T. MacCargo based
on that series. In eight seasons of Mannix the writers put together more than a few excellent scripts. Some that
come to mind include Sound of Darkness, The Ragged Edge, Climb a Deadly Mountain, Death Is
Fifth Gear, The Mouse That Died, Return to Summer Grove, Wine From These Grapes, Then the Drink
Takes the Man, Cry Danger, The Dark Hours, The Gang's All Here...and the list could go on.
Did MacCargo or his editors choose one of those? No, they selected The
Faces of Murder as the first book in the series. In a season - the sixth - which featured such outstanding episodes as
The Inside Man, Lost Sunday and The Man Who Wasn't There, MacCargo chose the story of a man being
framed for bribery whose sister hires Mannix to prove that she, not her brother, is the killer. From there MacCargo jumps to the show's final season to pen A Fine Day
for Dying, the story of a young woman who becomes the target for several murder attempts after awakening from a year-long
coma which was the result of a hit-and-run accident. The author could have featured Death Has No Face, A Word
Called Courage or Picture of a Shadow...all eighth season standouts. MacCargo tried again with another episode from the final season, A Walk
On The Blind Side. At least in this one Peggy is kidnapped by mobsters who fake her death. Better than A Fine Day,
but MacCargo has Peggy being kidnapped mistakenly because she resembles Joe's client, a blue-eyed, obviously white woman.
The MacCargo series wrapped up with a reworking of the fourth season episode,
Round Trip to Nowhere. While helping a woman find her husband's killer, Joe discovers large sums of money in Death
Valley. In a season which featured such excellent shows as A Ticket to the Eclipse, One for the Lady, Figures
in a Landscape, The Mouse that Died, What Happened to Sunday and A Gathering of Ghosts, it
makes one wonder why MacCargo picked this so-so story. In addition to the questionable selection of episodes, MacCargo's dialogue
does not ring true. In our opinion, one of the true tests of well-written dialogue is whether or not we can hear the actor's
voice saying the words as we read. There is no way we can hear Mike Connors as Joe Mannix say, "Peg o' me heart, can you think
of any other establishment where, not the boss, but the secretary is the slave-driver?". Peg o' me heart ...somebody should
have told MacCargo that this Mannix is Armenian, not Irish. Along with awful dialogue like that, the mannerisms and foul language are
also not Joe Mannix. The thought comes to mind, did MacCargo ever watch Mannix or was he hired, given a copy of a
particular script and told to produce a book? Our guess is the latter which would explain the numerous typos, poor grammar
and misspellings throughout the copy. Another author made an attempt at capturing our gallant detective in novel
form but, as with MacCargo, Michael Avallone fell short. His book, simply titled Mannix, also lacked honesty to the
show and its character that this series deserved. In Avallone's book, Joe has more of a James Bond personality rather than
the caring and compassionate nature underneath the tough exterior we see Joe exhibiting on the TV screen. This book was written
before the MacCargo books, when Joe was working for Intertect but, for some reason, the author or editors chose New York City
as the setting for this story and the home base for Intertect, which possibly explains why the plot was not taken from any
of the episodes of the first season. Having read all these negative comments about this series, you may wonder
if there was anything about the five books that we did like. The answer is yes...we liked the pictures of Mike Connors as
Mannix on the covers.
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