LOL, some episodes of Barnaby Jones are exactly the same - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

1960'sTVfan · 11-28-2019, 07:43 PM

Lately I've been watching episodes of Barnaby Jones on MeTV, they come on during the overnight when I'm usually not awake so I DVR the shows and watch them the next day. I've watched several of these now and I've noticed that many of them follow the same formula and pattern. The people are put in different situations but otherwise the episodes play the same. A murder takes place early in the episode, then about mid way into the episode another person is murdered, this is usually someone who knows about the first murder and threatens to tell the police about it, so that person is murdered so they can't talk, then the rest of the episode focuses on Barnaby Jones zeroing in on the killer. The episodes are good but after you watch a few of these they get predictable and you can guess what's going to happen.

I haven't noticed this with other Quinn Martin detective shows like Cannon and Streets Of San Francisco, those episodes seem to have a looser structure and are more unique from each other, while Barnaby Jones seems to follow a more rigid structure with a sameness quality to many episodes.

Duster76 · 11-28-2019, 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

Lately I've been watching episodes of Barnaby Jones on MeTV, they come on during the overnight when I'm usually not awake so I DVR the shows and watch them the next day. I've watched several of these now and I've noticed that many of them follow the same formula and pattern. The people are put in different situations but otherwise the episodes play the same. A murder takes place early in the episode, then about mid way into the episode another person is murdered, this is usually someone who knows about the first murder and threatens to tell the police about it, so that person is murdered so they can't talk, then the rest of the episode focuses on Barnaby Jones zeroing in on the killer. The episodes are good but after you watch a few of these they get predictable and you can guess what's going to happen.

I haven't noticed this with other Quinn Martin detective shows like Cannon and Streets Of San Francisco, those episodes seem to have a looser structure and are more unique from each other, while Barnaby Jones seems to follow a more rigid structure with a sameness quality to many episodes.

I've been doing exactly the same thing, DVR and watching it the next day. Last evening I watched the episode "Theater of Fear", season 4 episode 2, this episode a couple of twists and turns aside was very close to season 3, episode 24, it even had a similar title, "Bond of Fear". I was wondering if anyone would write a piece on it.

1960'sTVfan · 11-28-2019, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duster76

I've been doing exactly the same thing, DVR and watching it the next day. Last evening I watched the episode "Theater of Fear", season 4 episode 2, this episode a couple of twists and turns aside was very close to season 3, episode 24, it even had a similar title, "Bond of Fear". I was wondering if anyone would write a piece on it.

So you've been DVR'ing and watching the episodes too, very cool. I was thinking of buying the DVD's but I found out seasons 2-8 have edited episodes and I didn't want to waste my money on that, so I figured I might as well just DVR the shows from MeTV and watch them that way.

This was the mid 1970's and all three of these QM shows were on during that time, Cannon, Streets Of SF and Barnaby Jones, so I figure there were probably only so many scripts to go around and the Barnaby Jones team ended up recycling the same basic formula for many of those episodes.

SWAT was cancelled after the 75-76 season, leaving actor Mark Shera a free agent and he joined the Barnaby Jones cast for season 5 in 1976-77. So I figure or at least hope that when Shera joined the cast there was some more diversity in the way the episodes were written and produced.

Duster76 · 11-28-2019, 11:12 PM

[QUOTE=retroTVfan4ever;5637779]So you've been DVR'ing and watching the episodes too, very cool. I was thinking of buying the DVD's but I found out seasons 2-8 have edited episodes and I didn't want to waste my money on that, so I figured I might as well just DVR the shows from MeTV and watch them that way.

This was the mid 1970's and all three of these QM shows were on during that time, Cannon, Streets Of SF and Barnaby Jones, so I figure there were probably only so many scripts to go around and the Barnaby Jones team ended up recycling the same basic formula for many of those episodes.

SWAT was cancelled after the 75-76 season, leaving actor Mark Shera a free agent and he joined the Barnaby Jones cast for season 5 in 1976-77. So I figure or at least hope that when Shera joined the cast there was some more diversity in the way the episodes were written and produced.[/QUOT

You're right, I purchased the season 2 set, I was stunned at the poor quality and edits (I owned season 1 which was excellent quality), buying any of the other seasons didn't make sense.

Buddy Ebsen was 68 years old as season 5 began, he and wanted to cut down on his workload so Mark Shera was added to the cast.

1960'sTVfan · 11-28-2019, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duster76

You're right, I purchased the season 2 set, I was stunned at the poor quality and edits (I owned season 1 which was excellent quality), buying any of the other seasons didn't make sense.

Buddy Ebsen was 68 years old as season 5 began, he and wanted to cut down on his workload so Mark Shera was added to the cast.

The 1st season from CBS DVD is the only one with all uncut episodes. Too bad season 1 is an abbreviated season with only 13 episodes as Barnaby Jones was a mid season replacement debuting on the schedule in January 1973.

I wonder if the uncut episodes would have been on the DVD's if CBS had continued releasing them. When VEI entered the picture and issued the DVD's, suddenly edited episodes showed up.

VEI also released the complete series DVD of Cannon and that set is good with uncut episodes.

1960'sTVfan · 11-30-2019, 10:25 PM

"Honeymoon With Death" is a good episode, I just got through watching this one, good story and it breaks away from that repetitive formula some episodes have. I'm not recording every episode, I'll record a few then skip a few, I try to record the ones that sound the most interesting.

1960'sTVfan · 12-17-2019, 10:48 AM

Another episode I enjoyed is "Dead Heat", good story although it follows the same familiar pattern: a murder takes place early in the episode, then another murder occurs about mid way into the episode, and the rest of the episode focuses on Barnaby Jones zeroing in on the killer. Will have to see what the 5th season episodes look like when Mark Shera joins the cast.

Duster76 · 12-17-2019, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

Another episode I enjoyed is "Dead Heat", good story although it follows the same familiar pattern: a murder takes place early in the episode, then another murder occurs about mid way into the episode, and the rest of the episode focuses on Barnaby Jones zeroing in on the killer. Will have to see what the 5th season episodes look like when Mark Shera joins the cast.

It's interesting you mentioned that episode, I enjoyed it too, but there was an issue I had with the murder of Gwen (Jacqueline Scott) by Ray Dixon (Pat Hingle). Gwen was his alibi, the last thing the Dixon character needed was anything suspicious happening to her.

With respect to season 5, Mark Shera was added because Ebsen wanted to reduce his workload. I'm not a big fan of the of the final four seasons, I'll probably do what you now, tape some to watch and skip some.

1960'sTVfan · 12-18-2019, 12:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duster76

It's interesting you mentioned that episode, I enjoyed it too, but there was an issue I had with the murder of Gwen (Jacqueline Scott) by Ray Dixon (Pat Hingle). Gwen was his alibi, the last thing the Dixon character needed was anything suspicious happening to her.

I agree, maybe the Dixon character was out of his mind, he seemed pretty obsessed with his son becoming a successful swimmer. I'm recording tonight's episode, "Hostage", sounds like a good one. I recorded the episode "The Lonely Victims" and watched it tonight, it was OK but I liked "Dead Heat" better. "The Lonely Victims" is another episode with that same familiar pattern, a murder early in the episode then another murder mid way into the episode. It is amazing how many episodes follow this pattern.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duster76

With respect to season 5, Mark Shera was added because Ebsen wanted to reduce his workload. I'm not a big fan of the of the final four seasons, I'll probably do what you now, tape some to watch and skip some.

Ebsen wanted to reduce his workload and also maybe a younger actor (Shera) was brought in to handle some of the action scenes that Ebsen was not able to do. I plan to record some of the season 5 episodes and watch those, not sure yet about seasons 6-8.

1960'sTVfan · 12-18-2019, 11:47 AM

Since I've now seen several of these Barnaby Jones episodes and noticed how similar in structure many of them are, when I watched the "Dead Heat" episode recently and the middle part came along when the man and woman got into a dispute, I said to myself, uh oh here it comes, he's going to kill her!

1960'sTVfan · 12-19-2019, 11:00 AM

I enjoyed the "Hostage" episode, suspenseful story and it broke away from that familiar predictable pattern many of these episodes have. I thought it was funny at the end though how easy it was for Barnaby Jones to get that Cory guy to spill the beans and confess to everything.

Duster76 · 12-20-2019, 01:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

I enjoyed the "Hostage" episode, suspenseful story and it broke away from that familiar predictable pattern many of these episodes have. I thought it was funny at the end though how easy it was for Barnaby Jones to get that Cory guy to spill the beans and confess to everything.

Hostage was one of the best episodes of season 4, Lee Meriwether had a lot to do, one thing I am appreciating watching the show for the first time since the original airing (and many of these episodes I do not remember seeing) is how important she was to the flow of the show. She brings a lot of enthusiasm to the part whether she has a big part or small part in the episode.

The Cory spilling the beans felt like they were running a little over timewise and needed to wrap the episode up.

1960'sTVfan · 12-20-2019, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duster76

Hostage was one of the best episodes of season 4, Lee Meriwether had a lot to do, one thing I am appreciating watching the show for the first time since the original airing (and many of these episodes I do not remember seeing) is how important she was to the flow of the show. She brings a lot of enthusiasm to the part whether she has a big part or small part in the episode.

The Cory spilling the beans felt like they were running a little over timewise and needed to wrap the episode up.

Yes it was good to see a different type of episode for a change and Meriwether was more of a focus point this time as she was the one taken as Hostage. You might be right about the ending, maybe they needed to wrap it up fairly quickly because it seemed just a little too easy for Barnaby to get the confession out of Cory.

I've skipped the last few episodes but will record the one tonight and see how I like it.

1960'sTVfan · 01-23-2020, 12:28 PM

"Final Ransom" is an excellent Barnaby Jones episode, the story is about a kidnapping case that's been dormant for ten years, but the case becomes active again when the man who was involved in the kidnapping is released from prison after doing ten years time for an unrelated charge. A really good episode with a rather emotional ending, well worth seeing.

Duster76 · 03-23-2020, 11:55 PM

I wanted to comment on a season 7 episode, and also mention the overall future of the of the series at this stage of its history. The show was now in its 7th season, Buddy was closing in on 71, and had already reduced his participation in the series. The show was like a wheel series with a Barnaby led episode, followed by a JR led episode, followed by a Betty led episode. It was still doing well in the ratings, but Quinn Martin was probably concerned with the possibility that Buddy might throw in the towel at season's end. With that in mind, it looked to me like one of the episodes was a back door pilot for a new series. "The Medium" episode 13 of season 7, had the feel of a potential spinoff. The episode featured Sarah Kennedy as a reluctant crime solving medium assisting JR. Her character was very detailed, a hippie type, animal lover, very eccentric with a gift, and JR trying to anchor her in the real world while dealing with her far out personality. At the end of the episode she shows up at Barnaby's office with a title board featuring a new business idea she had come up with, Jones and Cleo (name of her character) finder of missing persons.

11-28-2019, 07:43 PM	#1
1960'sTVfan Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 30, 2009 Posts: 6,076	LOL, some episodes of Barnaby Jones are exactly the same Lately I've been watching episodes of Barnaby Jones on MeTV, they come on during the overnight when I'm usually not awake so I DVR the shows and watch them the next day. I've watched several of these now and I've noticed that many of them follow the same formula and pattern. The people are put in different situations but otherwise the episodes play the same. A murder takes place early in the episode, then about mid way into the episode another person is murdered, this is usually someone who knows about the first murder and threatens to tell the police about it, so that person is murdered so they can't talk, then the rest of the episode focuses on Barnaby Jones zeroing in on the killer. The episodes are good but after you watch a few of these they get predictable and you can guess what's going to happen. I haven't noticed this with other Quinn Martin detective shows like Cannon and Streets Of San Francisco, those episodes seem to have a looser structure and are more unique from each other, while Barnaby Jones seems to follow a more rigid structure with a sameness quality to many episodes.

11-28-2019, 11:12 PM	#4
Duster76 Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2008 Location: New jersey Posts: 1,644	[QUOTE=retroTVfan4ever;5637779]So you've been DVR'ing and watching the episodes too, very cool. I was thinking of buying the DVD's but I found out seasons 2-8 have edited episodes and I didn't want to waste my money on that, so I figured I might as well just DVR the shows from MeTV and watch them that way. This was the mid 1970's and all three of these QM shows were on during that time, Cannon, Streets Of SF and Barnaby Jones, so I figure there were probably only so many scripts to go around and the Barnaby Jones team ended up recycling the same basic formula for many of those episodes. SWAT was cancelled after the 75-76 season, leaving actor Mark Shera a free agent and he joined the Barnaby Jones cast for season 5 in 1976-77. So I figure or at least hope that when Shera joined the cast there was some more diversity in the way the episodes were written and produced.[/QUOT You're right, I purchased the season 2 set, I was stunned at the poor quality and edits (I owned season 1 which was excellent quality), buying any of the other seasons didn't make sense. Buddy Ebsen was 68 years old as season 5 began, he and wanted to cut down on his workload so Mark Shera was added to the cast.

11-30-2019, 10:25 PM	#6
1960'sTVfan Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 30, 2009 Posts: 6,076	"Honeymoon With Death" is a good episode, I just got through watching this one, good story and it breaks away from that repetitive formula some episodes have. I'm not recording every episode, I'll record a few then skip a few, I try to record the ones that sound the most interesting.

12-17-2019, 10:48 AM	#7
1960'sTVfan Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 30, 2009 Posts: 6,076	Another episode I enjoyed is "Dead Heat", good story although it follows the same familiar pattern: a murder takes place early in the episode, then another murder occurs about mid way into the episode, and the rest of the episode focuses on Barnaby Jones zeroing in on the killer. Will have to see what the 5th season episodes look like when Mark Shera joins the cast.

12-18-2019, 11:47 AM	#10
1960'sTVfan Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 30, 2009 Posts: 6,076	Since I've now seen several of these Barnaby Jones episodes and noticed how similar in structure many of them are, when I watched the "Dead Heat" episode recently and the middle part came along when the man and woman got into a dispute, I said to myself, uh oh here it comes, he's going to kill her!

12-19-2019, 11:00 AM	#11
1960'sTVfan Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 30, 2009 Posts: 6,076	I enjoyed the "Hostage" episode, suspenseful story and it broke away from that familiar predictable pattern many of these episodes have. I thought it was funny at the end though how easy it was for Barnaby Jones to get that Cory guy to spill the beans and confess to everything.

01-23-2020, 12:28 PM	#14
1960'sTVfan Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 30, 2009 Posts: 6,076	"Final Ransom" is an excellent Barnaby Jones episode, the story is about a kidnapping case that's been dormant for ten years, but the case becomes active again when the man who was involved in the kidnapping is released from prison after doing ten years time for an unrelated charge. A really good episode with a rather emotional ending, well worth seeing.

03-23-2020, 11:55 PM	#15
Duster76 Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 01, 2008 Location: New jersey Posts: 1,644	I wanted to comment on a season 7 episode, and also mention the overall future of the of the series at this stage of its history. The show was now in its 7th season, Buddy was closing in on 71, and had already reduced his participation in the series. The show was like a wheel series with a Barnaby led episode, followed by a JR led episode, followed by a Betty led episode. It was still doing well in the ratings, but Quinn Martin was probably concerned with the possibility that Buddy might throw in the towel at season's end. With that in mind, it looked to me like one of the episodes was a back door pilot for a new series. "The Medium" episode 13 of season 7, had the feel of a potential spinoff. The episode featured Sarah Kennedy as a reluctant crime solving medium assisting JR. Her character was very detailed, a hippie type, animal lover, very eccentric with a gift, and JR trying to anchor her in the real world while dealing with her far out personality. At the end of the episode she shows up at Barnaby's office with a title board featuring a new business idea she had come up with, Jones and Cleo (name of her character) finder of missing persons.