Yep Hookman, Draw Me a Killer, and One Big Happy Family is as good as it gets! Can’t beat that season opener trio!! But I disagree that the rest of season 6 is uneven or fails to measure up. Secret Witness, Murder is a Taxing Affair, A Bullet for El Diablo, Anybody Can Build a Bomb, Death with Father, One Born Every Minute, Nightmare in Blue, Mother’s Deadly Helper, 30,000 Rooms and I Have the Key are all top notch episodes. Sure maybe they can’t top Hookman but then what can?

What you say actually describes season 7 more than 6. It too opens with a series of strong episodes (The Young Assassins, A Hawaiian Nightmare, and especially I’ll Kill ‘Em Again) but then fails to maintain that same high quality, especially after Al Harrington departs. When Doug Mossman steps in I feel some of the episodes become kinda dull or generic. I’m thinking Bones of Contention, Hara-Kiri: Murder, Ring of Life (Don Knight being the only bright spot), And the Horse Jumped Over the Moon, etc. Even the earlier ones with Ben (Steal Now - Pay Later and The Two-Faced Corpse) don’t do anything for me. Both pretty dull.