I just finished watching all 178 episodes of Barnaby Jones. I watched a few of them off and on back when they were first run. My parents loved this show.
I agree with others, the show went down hill starting with season 5. In the last couple of seasons, Buddy pretty much and sometimes literally "phoned it in". I admit to frequent use of "fast forward" towards the end of the series. There were a few good episodes near the end, but only a few. The last episode is definitely not how they wanted to go out. Obviously, another attempt to start a spin-off, which fortunately did not happen.
As fun as some of it was to watch, things like "chain of evidence" and other legal issues didn't seem to be important to the writers.
Dead-eye Barnaby. He was a great shot, often shooting from the hip. Somehow he killed lots of bad guys in the first part of the series, but later, he alway wounded the bad guy in the shoulder, arm, or hand. The Lone Ranger school of shooting. Also notice, never any blood, other than a stain here or there.
His six attempts to further the career of his daughter Bonnie were not pretty. She was a pretty good looking woman with below average talent. They were probably both very nice people.
