Harry O - The Complete First Season

I've always enjoyed private eye or police shows that featured good writing and quirky characters. When it comes to quirky, you can't beat "Harry O": an irascible ex-cop who often has to ride the bus because his old sports car, and Austin-Healey, often breaks down; an ex-cop who can quote Kipling, and enjoys a good book more than watching the boob tube; a guy who is slowly (key word being slowly) repairing a boat (called "The Answer") which he someday intends to sail; and a man who is happiest when left alone by most people (agreeable, pretty women being the exception). Like just about every role he tackled, David Jansen does a terrific job, investing Harry with the right touch of irascibility, charm, compassion and intelligence.Just watched the first season on DVD, after not seeing the show for over forty years (I caught about 1/3 of the episodes on television, back when it aired). Wasn't sure if it would hold up all these years later, but I was delightfully surprised. If one -- especially if one is a younger viewer, who grew up long after rotary phones and phonographs died out, and the internet was already passe' -- takes into account the time period, the shows are well-written, well-acted and generally five star as a whole. Harry -- a sort of TV relative of Travis McGee, since he lives on the beach (first in San Diego, then in Santa Monica) -- only takes cases he wants to take, since he's living on a pension (he retired from the police force after being shot in the back). His cases range from missing persons to murder. And a lot of them are genuine puzzlers that will keep viewers guessing, such as "The Last Heir" (a sort of Agatha Christie, locked room mystery set in the desert). Henry Darrow played Harry's San Diego police department foil, Manny, with just the right touch; and Anthony Zerbe (who won an Emmy for his role) plays Harry's Santa Monica police contact, Lt. Trench, with zest and wit. There are lots of famous guest stars in the first season, many of them old TV stars, including Kurt Russell, Jim Backus, Stefanie Powers, Linda Evans, Sal Mineo, Robert Reed (as a hit man! I'm giving nothing away) and Maureen McCormick (the last two known for roles on "the Brady Bunch"). Cab Calloway (!) made an appearance as jazz/blues pianist (the same episode that featured Jim Backus, and some terrific jazz music), in "Sound of Trumpets". Farrah Fawcett has a recurring role from the middle of the season on, as neighbor and sometime girlfriend, Sue (a flight attendant -- or stewardess, as they called 'em back then). Ironic, since this show was cancelled after the second season, but not due to bad ratings or critical reviews: Studio President Silverman decided to go with a show called "Charlie's Angels", sacrificing the good writing and acting of "Harry O" for the T&A and young faces of Farrah Fawcett's star-making, but ultimately empty TV fare.If I could meet Fred Silverman today, I'd punch his lights out. He robbed us of at least three more seasons (most shows shouldn't run more than five to seven seasons) of a great, private eye show, one that is -- quality-wise -- right up there with classics like, say, "Mannix" and "The Rockford Files".

Right up front I'll admit that I wasn't a huge fan of "The Fugitive" when it aired on network television for four seasons starting in 1963. Oh, I watched it, along with most other Americans, but I was very young at the time and the show didn't make a strong impression on me. Nor did actor David Janssen, who played the title role.Fast-forward 10 years to 1973, though, when Janssen returned to network television as crusty private detective Harry Orwell in the short-lived series "Harry O." That one DID make a strong impression on me, and I've been anxiously awaiting its arrival on DVD for--well, for about as long as DVDs have been around. At last my waiting is over. Warner Brothers finally released the first season in a six-DVD set that includes all 22 episodes plus the original pilot, all in color. Hopefully the second and final season will follow soon. All six DVDs come in a case no thicker than the type that normally contains just one DVD--it's very efficient packaging.If you grew up at a certain time and had any interest in quality television shows, you're probably already familiar with "Harry O," and buying this set will be a no-brainer. If you've never heard of it but are a David Janssen fan, you should treat yourself to this series. He brings a maturity and world-weariness to the role of Harry Orwell that were missing from his portrayal of Richard Kimble in "The Fugitive." Orwell seems to be a character specifically designed for Janssen to play, and the actor's performances in the show are superb--as are those of the supporting cast, especially Anthony Zerbe, and guest stars including Stefanie Powers, Linda Evans, Martin Sheen and Cab Calloway.Here's the place where I'd normally gripe about the fact that this DVD set is: a) burned-to-order on disks of questionable longevity, and b) quite expensive considering the utter lack of extras. But I guess I'm slowly accepting the reality that high-priced, made-to-order DVDs are better than none at all. And this set IS marginally cheaper than "The Fugitive" and "The FBI," in which each season was split into two DVD sets, each about the same price as the entire first season of "Harry O."The data side of Disk 6 in my set came with a very deep, inch-long radial scratch. None of the DVDs were loose inside the case when the order arrived, so the damage didn't occur during shipment. I watched that disk immediately, just in case I might have to return it, but it worked fine. So now I've started back at the beginning, watching each and every episode of this superb series that demonstrates just how good television drama could be 40 years ago.

As others have noted, this is an excellent private eye drama from the 70's well worth revisiting. Janssen, whose gravelly voice was probably down to the excessive smoking and drinking to which he was prone (and which eventually killed him) is characteristically excellent as the detective who drives a broken down car or catches buses to his cases, but whose gruff exterior contains a empathetic heart. While sometimes it is hard to take his apparent irresistibility to women - especially of the dolly bird type - seriously, Harry still otherwise comes across as believable and cherishable as a character. The picture quality is very good as the original was short on film. I want to live on the shore like him!.

One of the most memorable of the plethora of cop shows that graced our tvs in the late 60s and 70s - for me, the highlight of David Janssen's career - I always found the Fugitive too formulaic and the "tied to the tracks until the next episode" syndrome annoying at times. This was wonderful - the world-weary ex-cop (invalided out through being shot; with bullet still causing problems) still ends up working with the police force on many cases. He lives off his disability pension and sporadic PI work. His car is a nightmare and 2 of his best friends are mechanics!Initially, Henry Darrow was the reluctant police lieut "sidekick", and very good he was too - some episodes in Harry O relocated from San Diego to LA and acquiring new police sidekicks in the form of Lieut Trench and Sgt Roberts. Trench is played by the always watchable Anthony Zerbe and the sarcastic exchanges between him and Harry are hilarious and continued through all of the 2nd and final series - Harry has some parsimonious habits such as freeloading the police dept coffee and always checking phone boxes for "dropped" coins which form a running background theme - the stories themselves are probably more cop than PI most of the time and often what starts as a "simple" case turns very complicated along the way.Providing more light relief is the hilarious character of Lester Hodges, a Trust fund kid ably played by Les Lannom - he regards Harry as a criminologist guru and is very reminiscent of Ellery Queen - there are only a few episodes featuring "Lester", but they are gems, and he drives both Harry and Trench 'round the bend - nice touch that Lester even dresses like Harry, tries to walk like him but occasionally reverts to the classic trenchcoat so beloved of Sam SpadeSlightly iffy picture transcription here and there, but given the age of the show forgiveable - all in all it's a gem and a must for all detective series fans - so step back in time to when a detective often had to catch the bus because of his rubbish car, no mobile phones and no personal computers - just good dogged detective work with plenty of humour and some interesting recurring as well as one-off guest stars. Farrah Fawcett-Majors, pre-Charlie's Angels, is charming as next door neighbour/girlfriend Jill

The word "Classic" is bandied around too much. Harry O is MY classic TV show from the 70s. I can now recapture those 'lost' moments from my youth when I looked forward to seeing my favourite show after a hard day's work, solid stories, great acting, now lost from modern shows that are 'woke'

This series I use to watch when I was a lad and that’s a long time love watching old programs

Janssen's best series, yes, even better than "The Fugitive", finally got it on dvd, I was a bit disappointed that the pilot tv-movie is on disc 6 as a bonus, and the 2nd pilot is only available to purchase seperatley, but that can't take away from the quality of the show itself.