I suppose those THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO DVDs are selling well, because CBS/Paramount has announced the release of another Quinn Martin crime drama from the same period. CANNON is that rarity among TV series: a one-hour drama with a single regular. William Conrad was the show's sole star, playing a somewhat portly private detective named Frank Cannon, who didn't let his unathletic build stop him from chasing bad guys, shooting villains in the shoulder with his snub-nosed .38, and driving his Lincoln Mark IV very fast. Like most QM shows, CANNON usually presented solidly written mysteries with above-par production values and guest stars. With MANNIX also coming to DVD this summer, this looks like a good time to a fan of old TV crime dramas.

See TV Shows on DVD's announcement here.

Obviously I consider this to be great news, since I just blogged about it a couple of months ago.

THE EQUALIZER last month and now CANNON. My wish list is getting shorter.

I think the second and third seasons were the best seasons of CANNON, though the first has some good episodes.

HCH

Completely off-topic, but in the back of my mind I'm recalling that there were a few episodes of this that were considered especially lurid, perhaps one even involving a Janos Skorzeny-style vampire wannabe?

Among those out on DVD?

STARSKY & HUTCH did one with John Saxon playing a villain who may or may not be a vampire. I don't recall one on STREETS, but a couple of its episodes did sway into horror territory. The feature-length pilot, which is on DVD, goes into horror mode near the end, when the heroes stumble into the child killer's dungeon. Another episode guest-starred John Davidson (of all people) as a female impersonator whose split personality leads him to murder. Director Harry Falk received an Emmy nomination for this creepy episode that definitely plays like horror. Stephen King once said it was one of the scariest TV shows he had ever seen.

Ok - that rings many a bell. It all got confuxled in me mind.

Is the John Davidson episode on DVD?

Not yet. At the current pace, hopefully next year.

Cool - thanks for the breakdown...

Is this more Bill Conrad than any man can handle?

On July 8, the very same day that CANNON comes to DVD, CBS/Paramount is also releasing...JAKE AND THE FATMAN.

Land o'goshen! We were just talking about CANNON at lunch here at our public defenders' office after I brought up how much I've been enjoying the first season of COLUMBO on disc.

Frank Cannon is the only TV character I've ever heard use the word "perspicacity." Can you imagine today's "dumb 'em down" TV writers even attempting to insert that into a script?

That's a coincidence. I was playing around with the word 'perspicacity' earlier today (my mind tends to wander while I'm compiling...)