As a kid, I never watched "Barnaby Jones", though it was airing. Why? Because I thought the notion of an old man chasing criminals was dumb....ditto with "Cannon" and a morbidly obese guys chasing the baddies. Imagine my surprise many years later when I actually TRIED these shows...only to realize they are amazingly entertaining and well written. Of the two, I prefer "Cannon", but considering they had the same production company, they are very comparable. And, it turns out the pair made two 2-part episodes...and they are among the best of their shows.
All this being said, "Barnaby Jones" jumped the proverbial shark starting in season five. I have no idea why, but Barnaby's cousin Jedediah 'J. R.' Jones was brought on as a series regular. Perhaps the producers thought Buddy Ebsen was getting older and needed to have less burden placed on him, perhaps Ebsen himself demanded the change, or perhaps Mark Shera (J. R.) was holding the producer's family hostage. All I know is that the introduction of him really hurt the show. While there were some very good J. R. episodes, too often he came off as a sex-crazed sexist and an incompetent. Him talking about his love life or hitting on the latest client just seemed sad and unprofessional...and really annoying. It got so bad, I was hoping a criminal would shoot J. R. or Barnaby would punch him to shut him up! I cannot blame Shera entirely...he was delivering the awful dialog they wrote for him.
But it wasn't just J. R. that disappointed. In late season 6 and forward, the number of poorly written episodes increased dramatically....as if they were running out of ideas. Again and again, episodes were made with glaring logical errors or depending too much on Jedediah's and Betty's old friends who are in trouble. There were also quite a few where Betty did the investigating....going from secretary to private eye!! And, you also can't help but wonder if all this is because Ebsen was getting on in years, as he began to be seen less and less in these later shows and the show, unfortunately, was no longer really about him. In fact, in many of these later shows, he only appears in the beginning and end of the show and really wasn't necessary for most plots.
So my verdict is for seasons 1-4, I'd score it an 8. For seasons 5-8, I'd score it a 4. There were a few really good episodes in these later seasons...but too many I couldn't help but score 1 or 2 or 3! Overall, that would give the entire series a 6.
All this being said, "Barnaby Jones" jumped the proverbial shark starting in season five. I have no idea why, but Barnaby's cousin Jedediah 'J. R.' Jones was brought on as a series regular. Perhaps the producers thought Buddy Ebsen was getting older and needed to have less burden placed on him, perhaps Ebsen himself demanded the change, or perhaps Mark Shera (J. R.) was holding the producer's family hostage. All I know is that the introduction of him really hurt the show. While there were some very good J. R. episodes, too often he came off as a sex-crazed sexist and an incompetent. Him talking about his love life or hitting on the latest client just seemed sad and unprofessional...and really annoying. It got so bad, I was hoping a criminal would shoot J. R. or Barnaby would punch him to shut him up! I cannot blame Shera entirely...he was delivering the awful dialog they wrote for him.
But it wasn't just J. R. that disappointed. In late season 6 and forward, the number of poorly written episodes increased dramatically....as if they were running out of ideas. Again and again, episodes were made with glaring logical errors or depending too much on Jedediah's and Betty's old friends who are in trouble. There were also quite a few where Betty did the investigating....going from secretary to private eye!! And, you also can't help but wonder if all this is because Ebsen was getting on in years, as he began to be seen less and less in these later shows and the show, unfortunately, was no longer really about him. In fact, in many of these later shows, he only appears in the beginning and end of the show and really wasn't necessary for most plots.
So my verdict is for seasons 1-4, I'd score it an 8. For seasons 5-8, I'd score it a 4. There were a few really good episodes in these later seasons...but too many I couldn't help but score 1 or 2 or 3! Overall, that would give the entire series a 6.