Манникс: Жеке тергеуші (Manniks: Jeke tergeuşi)

American television series, 1967–1975

Mannix is an American detective television series that ran from 1967 to 1975 on CBS. It was created by Richard Levinson and William Link, and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller. The title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator played by actor Mike Connors.

During the first season of the series, Joe Mannix works for a large Los Angeles detective agency called Intertect, which was the planned original title of the show. His superior is Lew Wickersham, played by Joseph Campanella. Intertect uses computers to help solve crimes. As opposed to the other employees, Mannix belonged to the classic American detective archetype, thus he usually ignores the computers' solutions, disobeys his boss's orders, and sets out to do things his own way. He wears plaid sport coats and has his own office that he keeps sloppy between his assignments. Lew has cameras in all the rooms of the Intertect offices monitoring the performance of his employees and providing instant feedback through intercoms in the room. Unlike the other Intertect operatives, Mannix attempts to block the camera with a coat rack and questions Lew, comparing him to Big Brother. To improve the ratings of the show, Desilu head Lucille Ball and producer Bruce Geller made some changes, making the show similar to other private eye shows. Ball thought stories featuring computers were too high tech and beyond the comprehension of the average viewer of the time, so the focus of the show changed. In the first episode of season two, Mannix explains that he had quit Intertect. From the second season on, Mannix worked on his own, with the assistance of his loyal secretary Peggy Fair, a police officer's widow played by Gail Fisher, one of the first black actresses featured in a regular series role. Mannix also has a working relationship with the Los Angeles Police Department, as he often exchanges information with his contacts. The first of these to have a featured role was Lieutenant George Kramer, portrayed by Larry Linville, who had been partnered with Peggy's late husband. Over the course of the series, Mannix's most frequently used contact is Lieutenant Art Malcolm, played by Ward Wood. Another semiregular guest, although not as frequent, was Robert Reed, whose appearances as Lieutenant Adam Tobias coincided with his tenure on The Brady Bunch, which also was produced by Paramount Television. Jack Ging played another Mannix contact, Lieutenant Dan Ives, who made several appearances later in the series. Yet another LAPD contact was Lieutenant Dave Angstrom, played by Frank Campanella (real life brother of Joseph Campanella). In the 1969 season, he also employs the services of a competitive private investigator, Albie Loos (performed by Joe Mantell), as a sort of investigative gofer. In the 1972 season, Albie returns, played by a different actor (Milton Selzer). While Mannix was not generally known as a show that explored socially relevant topics, several episodes had topical themes. Season two had episodes featuring compulsive gambling, deaf and blind characters who were instrumental in solving cases in spite of their physical limitations, and episodes that focused on racism against Blacks and Hispanics. Season six had an episode focusing on the effects that the Vietnam War had on returning veterans, including the effects of PTSD.

In 1971, Connors guest starred on an episode of Here's Lucy entitled "Lucy and Mannix Are Held Hostage". In 1997, Connors reprised the role of Mannix in an episode of Diagnosis: Murder titled "Hard Boiled Murder", which served as a sequel to the 1973 Mannix episode "Little Girl Lost". Several other actors from the old Mannix episode also reprised their roles. In a comic reference to Mannix's famous history of serious injuries, the show portrayed the main character of Diagnosis: Murder, Dr. Mark Sloan (Dick van Dyke), as Mannix's longtime physician. Mannix was referred to several times in Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes when a foot chase or a fight occurred.

Gary Morton, Lucille Ball's second husband and head of Desilu Studios, noticed a 1937 Bentley convertible being driven by Mike Connors. A car enthusiast, Morton began talking about cars to Connors, when he remembered a Desilu detective show coming up in which he thought Connors would do well. Mannix was initially a production of Desilu Productions, which had been purchased by Gulf + Western earlier in 1967. During the first season, Gulf + Western integrated Desilu's operations into its Paramount Pictures subsidiary, and the company became Paramount Television. The series featured a dynamic split screen opening credits sequence set to theme music from noted composer Lalo Schifrin. Unusual for a private detective series, the Mannix theme is in triple time, the same signature used for waltzes. The show's title card, opening credits, and closing credits roll are set in variations of the City typeface, a squared off, split serif face that was long used by IBM Corporation as part of their corporate design and still appears in their logo. This refers to the computers used by Intertect in the first season. The dot over the "i" in Mannix had the appearance of a computer tape reel. This was removed after the first season. Over the life of the series, several famous entertainers were featured in one time roles, including Neil Diamond and Buffalo Springfield as themselves and Lou Rawls as a club singer, Rich Little as an impressionist, and Milton Berle as a stand up comedian. Essay humorist Art Buchwald also had a cameo role unrelated to journalism, and in another episode, Rona Barrett played herself.

Mannix finished its eighth season in the top 20 in the Nielsen ratings and plans were made for a ninth season. Mike Connors said that he had been told at a CBS network party the week before the network was to release its 1975 fall schedule that the show was a certain pickup. However, something out of Connors' control left him without a job shortly thereafter. The incident did not involve primetime programming at CBS, but instead involved the late night network offerings of the other two major networks at the time. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was the overwhelming ratings leader in the period for NBC. ABC had been a distant third in the battle during the 1970s after replacing The Dick Cavett Show with a wheel series referred to as Wide World of Entertainment. Looking to improve its ratings against Carson and The CBS Late Movie, which CBS was airing at the time, ABC began contacting production companies in an attempt to purchase rebroadcast rights for various series. At the time, ABC and Paramount had a fairly successful relationship that was starting to build. ABC took advantage of that and approached Paramount with an offer to purchase the rights to rebroadcast older episodes of Mannix as part of their late night lineup, which they agreed to do. CBS was unhappy with the move, as Paramount had not informed them of what they were planning to do. The idea of having one of their series airing on a competing network, even if it was only in reruns, turned the tide of opinion against Mannix, as CBS felt viewers would stay away from the newer episodes airing on their network since they could watch the series on a competitor. Thus, when CBS released its schedule a few days later, Mannix was not a part of it. Connors found out about the cancellation through a phone call, with a reporter contacting him asking for comment. Connors said in a later interview, "I felt so lost when it was over."

For his work on Mannix, Mike Connors was nominated for six Golden Globe Awards, winning once, and for four Emmy Awards. Gail Fisher was nominated for four Emmy Awards, winning once, and for three Golden Globe Awards, winning twice. The series was twice nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Dramatic Series, and four times for the Golden Globe Award, winning once. In 1972, writer Mann Rubin won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the episode "A Step in Time".

Lalo Schifrin composed the music for the series. The theme "Mannix", with the B side "End Game", was released as a single in 1969.

In May 2011, Connors filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Paramount and CBS Television Studios, claiming that he was never paid royalties from the Mannix series. With the release of the series on DVD, the case was later settled out of court in November of that year.

CBS Television Distribution holds the distribution rights for Mannix, but only distributes a package of 130 episodes to local stations. The first and eighth seasons are not part of the package, nor are several episodes from season seven. The program currently airs on MeTV as part of its late night lineup and has also aired on its sister network H&I; all 194 episodes of Mannix have aired on both networks. It is currently being broadcast on FETV and on the British Network Forces TV.