F.B.I. from WBA (1 Viewer)

[Wvtvguy]

I've never watched this show but love tv from the era. Is there a particular period in which the show was stronger than others? I'm basically just looking to buy whenever I see a good deal so that could mean any season. Are earlier seasons better & is there any point I should avoid?

 

[Randy Korstick]

All the seasons are good and well worth watching. Its an excellent show and one of my best discoveries on DVD.
Seasons 3-6 are generally considering the prime of the show but as I said all are worth watching.

 

[HenryDuBrow]

I think particularly the earlier episodes are utterly brilliant and very strong, but I like all the seasons I've seen so far.

 

[Jack P]

As I keep going through S8, I notice again the intrusiveness of action groups where *no one* is ever killed, no matter their getting shot, or left for dead by the baddies etc. (and I'm talking about the incidental people like security guards who were always the ones you expected to see get bumped off) in the next scene the word will be, "Critical but recovering." or "he's going to make it." When this means no one among the guilty is a killer any longer, it takes a lot of the bite out of the series from years past leaving us with a greater emphasis on armed robbers etc.

 

[Jack P]

I apologize for belaboring this point, but when its no longer a case of a shot security guard at a bank not getting killed but someone implausibly surviving a boat explosion in the episode I was just watching ("He's in critical condition, but he's expected to live" or a variation thereof, is a line you can practically do a drinking game around in this season and the previous one) that's when I have to throw up my hands and sadly acknowledge that this once great series had by this point just about jumped the shark. Watching S8 makes it easy to see why they decided the next (and final) year to shake things up by dumping William Reynolds (whose character long ago stagnated IMO) for Shelley Novack and sprucing up the main title by bringing back the original long version of the theme music from S1-2. There are still some good episodes and great guest stars, but like many long-running shows, "The FBI" reached its point where it experienced a decline in quality from what it had been and S8 (which was never even syndicated in the past and wasn't part of the Good Life reruns) is a clear sign of it.

 

[younger1968]

I will wait to see when the price drops and/or if there will be complete series released. The set is very pricey, especially if you order it from Canada.

 

[stuartfanning]

I will wait to see when the price drops and/or if there will be complete series released. The set is very pricey, especially if you order it from Canada.

If ordering from outside the USA this is the best place I have found.

http://www.importcds.com/movies/3711396/fbicomplete-eighth-season

 

[HenryDuBrow]

Great prices there Stuart, I shall be keeping that store in mind.

 

[hypnohighball]

Season 9, the final season is on sale now at WA!

http://shop.warnerarchive.com/product/the+fbi-+the+complete+ninth+season+1000505928.do?sortby=ourPicks&refType=&from=Search

 

[Jack P]

It's so great to see this series finished in ultimately just 3.5 years. S9 brings a shake-up to the show with William Reynolds replaced by Shelley Novack (though Reynolds does pop up in a couple episodes without billing) and also a new opening credits sequence that restores the full version of the opening theme music to its S1-2 version.There was a time when I thought this QM show would never make it to DVD because it was controlled by Warner yet ultimately his longest running show made it to completion ahead of some other QM titles that CBS continues to stall us with.

 

[hypnohighball]

I've really been enjoying this show - I'll be sad when I've finished watching season 9 when it arrives.

 

[Jack P]

Copy came yesterday. The first two episodes still use the S8 style opening with the truncated theme of S3 to S8 but starting in the third episode we get the new intro with the full theme music, which is really nice to hear again. It's clear that in general they decided that the show had gotten a bit stale the previous couple seasons and overall it has a more spruced up look to it. The season debut in fact is a remarkable change from format in which the focus is entirely "process" and not devoted to the guest villain. Things return to form with the next episode but it was nice to see them break format this one time.

 

[Regulus]

I'm going to keep an eye on this one for the holidays. If the rumor about Death Valley Days turns out to be baloney I'll get seasons 6 to 9 instead(Among others).

 

[hypnohighball]

I'm going to keep an eye on this one for the holidays. If the rumor about Death Valley Days turns out to be baloney I'll get seasons 6 to 9 instead(Among others).

Yes, if you hold out I'm sure you can save some $, what with all the sales that will surely be coming for the holidays. I just couldn't wait and ordered it the day I got the email that it was released.

 

[Jack P]

I just spotted a classic example of how these shows were never aired in production order. I mention how William Reynolds appears in two episodes in S9. They aired his second appearance first, because when you go by airdate order, the first time you see Reynolds again, there is no reaction whatsoever from Erskine over seeing his old partner again. Then in the second episode aired, there is a warm friendly reunion indicating this is the first time they've seen each other in a while. Sloppy planning!

 

[Regulus]

Yes, if you hold out I'm sure you can save some $, what with all the sales that will surely be coming for the holidays. I just couldn't wait and ordered it the day I got the email that it was released.

You ordered a copy of Death Valley Days? PLEASE don't say it was from a "Trading Site". I already have about 110 Episodes and the quality ranks from about 6 (OK, but some pixelation and blurriness to 1 (BARELY watchable). These disks are tiding me over, and I'll be more than happy to take them to my bar and introduce them to "Mr. B.F.Hammerr" if the rumor is true (and not just a "Best Of" set.

 

[Jack P]

I have finished going through S9. It's terrific this show is finally finished on DVD, but sadly the last three seasons drevealed a show that had creatively stagnated. I won't belabor the point about the asinine refusal to have people die at any time in the last three seasons (QM shows that were running at this point like Barnaby Jones and Streets Of San Francisco were hardly squeamish in that regard so it had to be some kind of FBI edict perhaps to maintain cooperation) there is also the fact that the storylines and the guest villains just come off as stale and predictable with no one putting in a particular memorable guest spot.That said, the last two episodes did offer a tantalizing break of the usual format that if applied might have squeezed some more life out of the old warhorse. The next to last episode gave us a classic "process" type episode in which the identity of the villain is kept secret until the last act and its ultimately not who we think it might be. In addition, a young Mary Frann guests as a female FBI agent and her scene with Erskine and Daniels have more of a Hawaii Five-O type feel to them showing the FBI agents using their skills rather than just responding to convenient tips and phone calls on where to go. Adding someone like Frann or a woman as a regular and giving us three in the field to hash things out would have livened things up completely and put some focus back on the stars and made uninteresting guest villains/plots more palatable.The last episode also shakes things up by having Daniels seriously injured and his life in danger as Erskine is stranded in the desert with the villain he's just cornered. They still don't let Erskine open up again to the more fully-dimensional character of Season 1 but it is another welcome change of pace and a stronger note to close the series on than most of S9 had been.This evening I went back to one of the stronger S1 episodes "The Giant Killer" with Robert Duvall and after so much exposure in the last year to the downside of the series run the contrast is startling. Here is the show in its fresher, earlier days showing more attention to process unfolding and letting the leads be more front and center, and also showing a little more believability in their emotions than the more wooden ciphers they would become as the years went by. Erskine and Ward clash over whether he should stay behind to try and determine the suspect's identity or go out in the field (as the years went by Phillip Abbot's presence grew so one-note predictable. Always a phone call at one point. "Yes Arthur?" "Lewis here's all the background info on short notice I'm giving you to justify my having a scene in this episode"). There is also a generous amount of stock location footage of Washington in S1 that better sold the illusion of the show being based there which was also gone as the years went by. Best of all, I like the fact that S1 is free of Marvin Miller's narration which as the years went by was just intrusive and served little point.This is my favorite QM series but it sadly stayed around too long. Its a reminder that we should be fortunate that other great QM shows like "The Fugitive" and "Streets Of San Francisco" didn't overstay their welcome (Streets arguably with just its final season)

 

[stuartfanning]

What surprised me was that the producers did nothing to enliven the show after Hoover died. It was felt that Hoover's control on the series kept it how it was, so after he died why no changes?

 

[Jack P]

S9 with the cosmetic touch-up replacing Reynolds with Novack and revamping the title sequence was pretty much their only concession overall to do things different. But except for the first episode of S9 and the last two aired things remained pretty much the same in terms of the writing and thinking the guest stars could carry the show which by this point they couldn't.I think the other cosmetic change to reflect the post-Hoover period is that FBI agents as depicted were now starting to accept the 70s trends in suits and hairstyles after resisting them longer (which ironically makes them seem less dated when you see them now!). But the show needed a shake-up writing wise (and would it have hurt to have Erskine just once acknowledge the existence of his long-departed from the cast in S1 daughter?)

 

[Harry-N]

The latter years of THE FBI coincided with the public and governmental pressure on the networks to tone down the violence. Show producers were urged to run credit sequences first instead of violent teasers, gunplay was reduced greatly, and people dying was also frowned upon. These policies affected all of the dramatic shows of that early-mid-70s era like MANNIX, CANNON, THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, and THE FBI.

Harry