Mr. Brady lied to his wife, kids and Alice when he went off to work. He wasn’t an architect. He wasn’t even palling around with Sam the Butcher. He was a cop helping private investigator Joe Mannix (Mike Connors) solve major cases. Strange to think that Robert Reed in the middle of his success on The Brady Bunch kept dropping by the set of Mannix to continue playing Lt. Adam Tobias of the LAPD. Perhaps after a few days on the set with six child actors, Reed needed the restorative peace found within the chalk outline of a homicide scene. He makes three more serious appearances on Mannix: The Fifth Season.
“Dark So Early, Dark So Long” marks his first appearance when he comes after one of Joe’s friends. Turns out Rosemary Forsyth has a lot of issues from booking and blackmail. These pale when she’s nailed for homicide. It’s up to Joe to make sure Reed doesn’t send his pal to the electric chair. “Cold Trail” turns Mannix’s ski vacation into work. A woman gets attacked by kidnappers. Mannix has to save her. She has no idea why she’s a target. “A Step in Time” lets Mannix once more save a woman being attacked. Trouble is Mannix thinks the woman was killed a year ago. The only witness to the murder is a catatonic. That really keeps Mannix from getting straight answers. Shelley Fabares (Coach) and Dean Stockwell (Blue Velvet & Quantum Leap) are tangled in the mystery.
“Woman in the Shadows” returns Reed into Mannix’s office. A woman claims she’s being followed by Soviet agents eager to get her copy of Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital.” Is she just paranoid? Mannix isn’t sure what to make with the woman and he’s an expert on women being chased by goons. “Days Beyond Recall” sends Mannix down to the worst of L.A.’s dive bars in search of Vic Morrow (Bad News Bears). Also looking for him is Geoffrey Lewis (the man who isn’t Robert Pine) and a gun. “The Glass Trap” ends Reed’s appearances for this season. Things get out of control when a cop killer needs to get extradited. The guy was busted by Mannix so he’s got unfinished business if he can bolt. Mannix gets a barter offer in “A Choice of Evils.” If he finds a stool pigeon in an underground operations, Mannix’s secretary Peggy Fair (Gail Fisher) won’t be killed.
“A Button for General D” contains an appearance from Ross Hagen. The star of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 enhanced Sidehackers gets involved in a treasure hunt. “Nightshade” unwraps the dramatic talent of Milton Berle. He’s a nightclub comic being blackmailed. This should be an easy case for Mannix except the prime suspect is MIA in Vietnam. “Babe in the Woods” dares to kill a man on a golf course. Do you play around a deceased duffer? “The Sound of Murder” is an audio version of Blow Up before it was used for The Conversation and Blow Out. Lou Rawls goes bad in “Lifeline.” He’s a singer with plenty of troubles and a great set of pipes. “Scapegoat” appears to be “Mannix Goes to London “except he doesn’t make out of the country. He’s jumped and his identify stolen. The season finale brings a famous monster face to a psychiatric hospital. Mannix gets knocked senseless in a race car wreck. He gets locked up in the nuthouse. His only hope of escaping a killer nurse is Elsa Lanchester (The Bride of Frankenstein).
Robert Reed must have felt relieved moonlighting as a cop on Mannix. Sure he didn’t get to claim he was the super sleuth, but at least he wasn’t getting schooled by a bunch of bratty kids.
The Episodes
“Dark So Early, Dark So Long,” “Cold Trail,” “A Step in Time,” “Wine From These Grapes,” “Woman in the Shadows,” “Days Beyond Recall.” “Run Till Dark,” “The Glass Trap.” “A Choice of Evils,” “A Button for General D,” “The Man Outside,” “Murder Times Three,” “Catspaw,” “ To Save a Dead Man,” “Nightshade,” “Babe in the Woods,” “The Sound of Murder,” “Moving Target,” “Cry Pigeon,” “A Walk in the Shadows,” “Lifeline,” “To Draw the Lightning,” “Scapegoat” and “Death in the Fifth Gear.”
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The transfers appear to have been stuck off high definition. The detail comes out in Mannix’s sports jackets. The audio is Dolby Digital mono. The levels mix the gunshots and punches quite clear. The episodes have subtitles.
No bonus features.
Mannix: The Fifth Season cracks open a bottle of potent cases for Joe Mannix. He continues to be physical while tracking down leads. He gets even more rough and tumble when he stumbles across a crime. Mannix set the standards for the private investigator shows on the ‘70s.
CBS DVD presents Mannix: The Fifth Season. Starring: Mike Connors, Gail Fisher and Robert Reed. Boxset Contents: 24 episodes on 6 DVDs. Released on DVD: July 5, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.