Very well executed

Sadly Over-hyped

Brilliant and touching

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I just finished going through the Honey West episodes for the second time in the last few years. Overall, it's a fun show. Anne Francis is fantastic as Honey. Smart, sexy, funny - she played Honey perfectly. As good as she is, I think John Ericson deserves as much credit for making the show what it was. Other than being a bit too overprotective at times, his Sam Bolt is an excellent partner for Honey. And I don't want to forget Irene Hervey as Aunt Meg. Her comic relief is generally well done.When Honey West is good, it's very good. Episode #4 A Matter of Wife and Death, Episode #21 Like Visions and Omens... and All That Jazz, and Episode #30 An Eerie, Airy, Thing are three examples of Honey West at its very best. For anyone unfamiliar with the show, these would be good jumping off points. Unfortunately, the writing was incredibly uneven (to put it politely). Episode #24 Slay, Gypsy, Slay, Episode #25 The Fun-Fun Killer, and Episode #27 Little Green Robin Hood are among the worst. When Honey West was bad, it was real bad. While I would have liked to have seen Honey West with a longer run, the writing in the latter episodes is so bad that it's probably best things ended when they did.A few other random thoughts: I may be alone, but I never cared for Bruce. It looked like he was going to rip-off someone's hand at any given moment.As sexy as Anne Francis could be, that AC Cobra she drove just might have been sexier. What an incredible looking car! I've complained about it any number of times, but one of the things that annoyed me the most about Honey West was the poor stunt double. He/she looked nothing like Francis.I've read all the comparisons and connections between Honey West and The Avengers. As mush as I enjoy Honey West, you really can't compare it with the innovative and creative "stuff" they were doing on The Avengers.

I never heard of this series during its original run. It has been mentioned here that it ran in competition to "Gomer Pyle, USMC", and my family always watched that. MeTV, however, is now running two episodes of "Honey West" every weekend, and I have watched several episodes. Both of the stars are absolutely gorgeous, and it is worth watching for that reason.This thing that strikes me is how completely the premise was copied by "Remington Steele". Even the naming of the male character seems to have been inspired by the name of Sam Bolt. "Moonlighting" might have also gained inspiration from "Honey West."

This show gets points from me for nostalgia. Objectively speaking, however, some episodes are dreadful, especially any involving guys in gorilla or bear suits (Sam himself dons such a suit in one episode) or phony gypsies--although in the episode "Slay Gypsy Slay" Sam does a revelatory turn disguised as an old prospector; you suddenly realize that the actor who played Sam could act like more than one type of person. Aside from that, that episode is awful and its not the only one that is. Still, other episodes are OK or at least have more than one redeeming moment.One thing that becomes clear, when you study the credits of each episode, is that the best ones were written by William Link and Richard Levinson, the writing team that later created the "Columbo" TV series. Every time you see their names on the screen, you know you are about to see a "Honey West" episode that will be a cut above the rest.All that said, I am glad I bought the DVD. There are about 30 episodes in the season. Nowadays you are lucky to get 22. The old commercials included on the DVD are nostalgic as well, and sometimes hilarious. Watching the show again makes me realize I have acquired some taste since then, and it is a little disappointing to realize how flawed the show was. (It was an Aaron Spelling show, not to speak ill of the dead.) He had seen "The Avengers" before the rest of America had, he tried to come up with his own imitation of it, and he missed the mark a bit.One thing he got right however, was choosing Anne Francis to do the honors. She is terrific as Honey West.

Honey West was cool, liberated, and above all, sexy. My first love on TV. She went off the tube almost as soon as I'd found her, and I had to subsist on a diet of Donna Reed, Doris Day, and other actresses that didn't have the same erotic spark.