anyone remember Harry O ?

[ohmygod]

I didn't see it listed. I don't think I watched it as a kid, it was later on probably around the late 70's to early 80's in reruns, which is personally how I got introduced to rockford files, wild wild west, maverick and a number of other 60's and 70's show. I seem to remember watching it along with rockford files into the early 80's before I even got into mpi which was around 83 in afternoon reruns of the previous season's show.
I think harry O was more like hawaii five O-esque in nature in the plots although he was supposed to be a detective/pi. It was on a different network (abc)-- perhaps it was even their attempt to answer hawaii five o or rockford files, as the 70's had a lot of these cop/detective kind of shows.

[Pahonu]

I love Harry O. I have both seasons on DVD and it's available through Warner Home Video. David Janssen was a great actor with his gruff, moody, but compassionate character. Some have argued Harry O was the best use of voice over on television ever. Sorry Magnum.

It has been brought up before in another thread, I think about The Rockford Files, which was also great.

[jno]

Holy thread resurrection - as I was writing about David Janssen elsewhere I thought this old thread needed an injection of contribution.



Harry O - what's nice about this series is it's not all action like so many LA shows of the period. Jannsen really acts it out and to be fair, they're all pretty good. I'm not sure why they needed to switch from San Diego to LA but I just have a feeling it suffered from too much 'tinkering'. It's strange that the LA home for Harry is exactly the same setting as in San Diego which tells me this was just some exec who wanted to move.

The second pilot 'Smile Jenny You're Dead' is really good, and for me Harry O gets better as it goes along. That said, I still have lots in season 2 to watch. To be fair, all of those I've seen have been very good so let me dwell on the weak bits of Harry O.

Firstly, if you want action, shooting and car chases, probably best to look elsewhere. Secondly... the Lester character, he can be annoying.

The stand out weak episode was Stefanie Powers' 'Second Sight' which was borderline implausible for me. Also 'Forty Reasons To Kill' was ok but the ending was a bit of a let down. Joanna Pettet and Stefanie Powers undoubtedly win in the looks dept though - they are well fit in this.



This brings me to my next point - Harry is an old guy with unbelievably talents when it comes to pulling fit women half his age. God knows how he does it.

I still have more to watch but on the whole Harry O is an excellent show for me. 'Elegy for a Cop' Mani's final episode ... loved it. Also, the name escapes me but the episode where Harry goes undercover into an institution is excellent.

I've spotted a location or two along the way, including the ubiquitous home of Milton C Hardcastle in the season 2 opener 'Anatomy of a Frame'. This place pops up everywhere and I seem to recall seeing it in Charlie's Angels and the infamous season 6 of CHiPs.



Here's another one from season 2's 'Shades' showing a 45 year gap - this is the shop on the corner of East 5th Street and S Los Angeles St. Look closely and the Hotel Baltimore is still opposite the shop:



This has inspired me to watch a bit more Harry O in the next few months.

[Pahonu]

Holy thread resurrection - as I was writing about David Janssen elsewhere I thought this old thread needed an injection of contribution.



Harry O - what's nice about this series is it's not all action like so many LA shows of the period. Jannsen really acts it out and to be fair, they're all pretty good. I'm not sure why they needed to switch from San Diego to LA but I just have a feeling it suffered from too much 'tinkering'. It's strange that the LA home for Harry is exactly the same setting as in San Diego which tells me this was just some exec who wanted to move.

The second pilot 'Smile Jenny You're Dead' is really good, and for me Harry O gets better as it goes along. That said, I still have lots in season 2 to watch. To be fair, all of those I've seen have been very good so let me dwell on the weak bits of Harry O.

Firstly, if you want action, shooting and car chases, probably best to look elsewhere. Secondly... the Lester character, he can be annoying.

The stand out weak episode was Stefanie Powers' 'Second Sight' which was borderline implausible for me. Also 'Forty Reasons To Kill' was ok but the ending was a bit of a let down. Joanna Pettet and Stefanie Powers undoubtedly win in the looks dept though - they are well fit in this.



This brings me to my next point - Harry is an old guy with unbelievably talents when it comes to pulling fit women half his age. God knows how he does it.

I still have more to watch but on the whole Harry O is an excellent show for me. 'Elegy for a Cop' Mani's final episode ... loved it. Also, the name escapes me but the episode where Harry goes undercover into an institution is excellent.

I've spotted a location or two along the way, including the ubiquitous home of Milton C Hardcastle in the season 2 opener 'Anatomy of a Frame'. This place pops up everywhere and I seem to recall seeing it in Charlie's Angels and the infamous season 6 of CHiPs.



Here's another one from season 2's 'Shades' showing a 45 year gap - this is the shop on the corner of East 5th Street and S Los Angeles St. Look closely and the Hotel Baltimore is still opposite the shop:



This has inspired me to watch a bit more Harry O in the next few months.

Lots of interesting comments. The two Harry O pilots were filmed in the LA area and his house was, I kid you not, just east of Paradise Cove in Malibu where Rockford’s trailer was parked. The trailer was west of the pier and the house was east of it. I’ve been there many times, but all the beach houses below the bluffs have been condemned for many years. There are just a couple left standing and all the walkways and terraces that led down to them are gone. The two shows actually debuted one day apart!

I don’t know why the decision was made to move the series to San Diego when it was picked up, but it increased filming costs to be away from LA so it was eventually moved back. The house in San Diego was on Coronado Island and is also gone. It was on a broad expanse of flat beach on the northeast side of the island, nothing like the Paradise Cove location with the bluffs. The one place he lived that I am unsure of is the apartment he was in for a couple of episodes when he moved back to LA. I’ve always meant to track it down.

I agree, network tinkering with the show did it no favors, but the biggest change wasn’t the location. It was the tone of the show and his decidedly non-action oriented way of solving cases that changed. The bullet in his back that ended his police career and limited his mobility seemed to disappear in later episodes, as did his beautiful voiceovers setting the tone for the episode. I’ll get back to you with many more thoughts, but that’s it for now. So fun to discuss!!!

[jno]

Great info there on the locations and thanks for sharing Pahonu. I love tracking down THEN/NOW locations but must confess I've not done much on US shows, only really UK ones. It's a shame the locations have become rundown.

I thought it was great that they shot him (sorry for the spoiler for those about to watch). I really want to get back to watching these again as it's a great show but my 'to watch' mountain is pretty high at the mo.

[Pahonu]

Great info there on the locations and thanks for sharing Pahonu. I love tracking down THEN/NOW locations but must confess I've not done much on US shows, only really UK ones. It's a shame the locations have become rundown.

I thought it was great that they shot him (sorry for the spoiler for those about to watch). I really want to get back to watching these again as it's a great show but my 'to watch' mountain is pretty high at the mo.

The locations weren’t really allowed to become rundown. They were once prime Malibu beachfront real estate, but rising sea level and a series of storms severely damaged the houses. They were condemned and not allowed to be rebuilt because of beach erosion. Also, a big chunk of the pier was washed away in a huge winter storm years ago and was never rebuilt.

Whenever you catch an episode, let me know what you think. No pressure!

[Little Garwood]

Harry-O, a series in one of my preferred pop culture eras, fails (or passes) the “birdsh!t test” of TV gunfire in that the “bullets” don’t shatter the glass but rather “splatter” it instead.


youtu.be/M2zs3EijydA

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

For all of you limited to watching only the first season of Harry O on You Tube like most, good news!

As of Monday August 29 Harry O is moving his detective operations to MeTV Plus(channel 245 on Comcast) at 7 pm weeknights.
Little Garwood has been lauding this series for years, this past weekend on Decades was my first chance to watch more than a handful
of episodes and it is great!
It has a 1940's vibe to it in my opinion. Especially Harry's amusing relationship with Anthony Zerbe's Lt. Trench for which Zerbe won an Emmy.
Not unlike William Powell's various movie PIs interactions with flustered coppers like Nat Pendleton or Donald McBride.
Only Zerbe can go toe to toe with David Janssen in the repartee department.
I recorded all the 2nd season and have knocked off 12, I forgot to record season one on Decades, I am only bringing this up
because I think the 2nd season's theme song version is awful! The pits. PU. For a series that gets so much right it is surprising.
I am really liking all the guest stars, especially the always beguiling Joanna Petite whose appearance on Banacek is seared
in to my conscious. Farrah Fawcett as Harry's girlfriend ain't exactly chopped liver either.

How is this for stylish writing:
In "Elegy For a Cop", a mourning Harry hits his local watering hole and buys a bottle in honor of his late pal Manny Quinlan(Henry Darrow).
Harry tells the bartender:

"Every once in a while somebody will come in here and you'll see that you like 'em right away, 'cause they're decent and just good people.
So give 'em a drink out of this bottle. Doesn't matter whether they have money or not. Tell 'em the drink's on Manny Quinlan.
Maybe they'll remember him. And if you feel like it, tell them he was a friend of mine."

Bartender: "What'll I do when the bottle's empty?"
Harry: "Nothing. Nobody lives forever."

That is lyrical, you won't find writing like that on Law & Order, no where, no way, no how.

[Pahonu]

For all of you limited to watching only the first season of Harry O on You Tube like most, good news!

As of Monday August 29 Harry O is moving his detective operations to MeTV Plus(channel 245 on Comcast) at 7 pm weeknights.
Little Garwood has been lauding this series for years, this past weekend on Decades was my first chance to watch more than a handful
of episodes and it is great!
It has a 1940's vibe to it in my opinion. Especially Harry's amusing relationship with Anthony Zerbe's Lt. Trench for which Zerbe won an Emmy.
Not unlike William Powell's various movie PIs interactions with flustered coppers like Nat Pendleton or Donald McBride.
Only Zerbe can go toe to toe with David Janssen in the repartee department.
I recorded all the 2nd season and have knocked off 12, I forgot to record season one on Decades, I am only bringing this up
because I think the 2nd season's theme song version is awful! The pits. PU. For a series that gets so much right it is surprising.
I am really liking all the guest stars, especially the always beguiling Joanna Petite whose appearance on Banacek is seared
in to my conscious. Farrah Fawcett as Harry's girlfriend ain't exactly chopped liver either.

How is this for stylish writing:
In "Elegy For a Cop", a mourning Harry hits his local watering hole and buys a bottle in honor of his late pal Manny Quinlan(Henry Darrow).
Harry tells the bartender:

"Every once in a while somebody will come in here and you'll see that you like 'em right away, 'cause they're decent and just good people.
So give 'em a drink out of this bottle. Doesn't matter whether they have money or not. Tell 'em the drink's on Manny Quinlan.
Maybe they'll remember him. And if you feel like it, tell them he was a friend of mine."

Bartender: "What'll I do when the bottle's empty?"
Harry: "Nothing. Nobody lives forever."

That is lyrical, you won't find writing like that on Law & Order, no where, no way, no how.

Hey Dobie,

We’re currently having a discussion about the show on the thread Harry-O on Decades.

I have both seasons of the show on DVD and agree with all your comments above, including the poor second season theme song. The accompanying change in graphics was also poor in my opinion. These changes seemed to occur as the show moved from the moody stories that made it so unique to the more traditional action-oriented pi series. The voice overs on the show are also lyrical and have been described as the best use of the technique on series television ever. Luckily they stuck around, if not as frequently.

Edit:

I did notice that Decades missed a couple of episodes from season two in the marathon, particularly the fourth appearance of Lester Hodges. It was actually a back door pilot with Key Luke. There was another as well that I’m forgetting. Hopefully they’ll show up in the weekly airing.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

by Pahonu » Fri Aug 26, 2022 7:51 am
Hey Dobie,
We’re currently having a discussion about the show on the thread Harry-O on Decades.
I have both seasons of the show on DVD and agree with all your comments above, including the poor second season theme song. The accompanying change in graphics was also poor in my opinion. These changes seemed to occur as the show moved from the moody stories that made it so unique to the more traditional action-oriented pi series. The voice overs on the show are also lyrical and have been described as the best use of the technique on series television ever. Luckily they stuck around, if not as frequently.
I did notice that Decades missed a couple of episodes from season two in the marathon, particularly the fourth appearance of Lester Hodges. It was actually a back door pilot with Key Luke. There was another as well that I’m forgetting. Hopefully they’ll show up in the weekly airing.

Hi Pahonu,
Okay, I will hie over to the "Harry-O on Decades" thread where the action is.
The marathon didn't run the episodes, # 21 "Elegy For a Cop" and #22 "Street Games".
It also ran two episodes out of sequence so it appeared more were missing. I have noticed DECADES does that once in awhile with their marathons.
Also at times the listings info are not for the episode you are looking at.
I am happy to see you agree about the rotten theme music/graphics, which are important. Look how the Peter Gunn and and Johnny Staccato (1959)
series had their tone set by their musical introductions.

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And there are few things in this life so revolting as sipped beer.
But let it go down your throat "as suds go down a drain," and you quickly realize that this is a true friend, to be admitted to your most secret counsels.
Long draughts with an open throat are the secret.
...Maurice Healy