I have always been a little leery about the tendency of popular television stars to leave one popular series and then try to repeat it almost immediately afterward. In 1968 GET SMART ended it's wonderful run on television, and Don Adams was known as one of the funniest dead pan comic actors on television. Within two years he had helped create this series, THE PARTNERS, wherein he and Rupert Crosse were two police detectives who fumble their ways to the correct solutions of their cases. Crosse had made a name for himself with an Oscar-nominated (best supporting man) role in the Steve McQueen film THE REIVERS. The casting seemed good, yet the series lasted one year only.
Because of my own suspicions I did not watch THE PARTNERS - I figured I would pick an episode at random to check. The episode I chose was this one, "Magnificent Perception". A crime has been committed and the police department is baffled. Then Adams and Crosse are told that they will be assisted by an internationally known psychic named Zinzer (Hans Conried). In typical loopy - "Get Smart" style - humor, Zinzer is constantly slightly off on his psychic visions. He's not wrong, but he is a little late in his comments. Finally, in the mounting public rejection of his assistance, Conried makes the statement that if his next vision is wrong he'll leave. We see a photo in the newspaper of him making that statement, and a headline "Zinzer leaving"!. But just as he's about to go Conried suddenly realizes why his work has been off - it seems that he never adjusted his watch to Eastern Standard Time, the time zone he is currently in.
The episode was fairly amusing, particularly due to the cast leads of Adams, Crosse, and best Conried (another of his classy eccentrics). The result was good, and yet I never was drawn to view the series again. The show ended in 1972, and my suspicion is that Crosse's health decline (he died of cancer in 1973) may have helped kill the show. Ratings possibly were too low to consider replacing Crosse with another actor. But it was not the worst comedy show that I ever watched, and capable of a few good chuckles.
Because of my own suspicions I did not watch THE PARTNERS - I figured I would pick an episode at random to check. The episode I chose was this one, "Magnificent Perception". A crime has been committed and the police department is baffled. Then Adams and Crosse are told that they will be assisted by an internationally known psychic named Zinzer (Hans Conried). In typical loopy - "Get Smart" style - humor, Zinzer is constantly slightly off on his psychic visions. He's not wrong, but he is a little late in his comments. Finally, in the mounting public rejection of his assistance, Conried makes the statement that if his next vision is wrong he'll leave. We see a photo in the newspaper of him making that statement, and a headline "Zinzer leaving"!. But just as he's about to go Conried suddenly realizes why his work has been off - it seems that he never adjusted his watch to Eastern Standard Time, the time zone he is currently in.
The episode was fairly amusing, particularly due to the cast leads of Adams, Crosse, and best Conried (another of his classy eccentrics). The result was good, and yet I never was drawn to view the series again. The show ended in 1972, and my suspicion is that Crosse's health decline (he died of cancer in 1973) may have helped kill the show. Ratings possibly were too low to consider replacing Crosse with another actor. But it was not the worst comedy show that I ever watched, and capable of a few good chuckles.
