Friday, September 9, 2011

Anne Francis in Honey West (1965)

Times were changing for women in 1965. The pill had been introduced five years earlier, surreptitiously kicking off the liberation movement and women in life and in popular culture had started taking charge of their sexuality, as well as their destinies. Enter Honey West, whose debut in literature predated the pill by three years, but whose appearance on screen (first in a 1965 Burke's Law episode, then in her own eponymous television show later that year) was emblematic of the new, take charge, 60's woman. Honey is a PI, who does everything with style. She has Sam Bolt (John Ericson) - a hunk of a partner - a pet ocelot named Bruce, a jazzy sports car and an array of gadgets that would make a bond girl jealous. Each week she sets about solving a mystery for her tony clients and gets into clinches - both romantic and threatening - with the suave men she encounters.

This series has something of a cult following. It can be found on DVD and in part, on YouTube. The episode above was uploaded by thorlynn and is the first of the series.

Obscurity factor: 2 (somewhat well known to a small segment of the population, on DVD & YouTube)

9 comments:

  1. It is interesting that Anne Francis is so well remembered for starring in this show, but it only ran for one season. I have read many references to it, and had thought it must have been more popular in its day.

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  2. I've read it was a question of it being cheaper to import The Avengers than to produce an original series. They felt that Emma Peel would satisfy the public's desire for a strong female PI figure.

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  3. Yes, after I wrote my first comment I did a little digging and read that about "The Avengers." It was also scheduled against "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," which was the second highest rated TV series that season. That certainly did not help the ratings for "Honey West."

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  4. Hmm... Honey West and Gomer Pyle... For me that's not a toss up. :/

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  5. Well, according to the Nielsen ratings, you would have been in the minority! :) During the 1965-66 season I was still a bit young to really be aware of what was on TV, at least during prime time. I do recall that during 1967-68 season my Friday night viewing was "Off to See the Wizard" followed by "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." followed by off to bed!

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  6. I seem to recall this series being on the cusp of the trend away from PI's and toward spy's. I even recall some Honey West episodes portraying her as a secret agent. I know for sure Amos Burke transformed from a wealthy police chief to a secret agent.

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  7. Yes, they were running after the "Bond" business...

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  8. this is now being aired on ME-TV - I caught a couple of episodes last week in the middle of the night. Fun and VERY mid-60s :-)

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  9. Nice! It is a fun show. I watched it years ago when they had it on TV Land or Nick at Night...

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