This article is about the television series. For San Francisco thoroughfares, see List of streets in San Francisco.

The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, USA, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros. Television (QM produced the show on its own for the remainder of its run), where it starred Karl Malden and Michael Douglas who were both detectives in the Bay Area. The show ran for five seasons, between September 16, 1972 and June 9, 1977 on ABC, amassing a total of 120 60-minute episodes. The series started with a pilot movie of the same title (based on the detective novel Poor, Poor Ophelia by Carolyn Weston) earlier in 1972.

The Series

History

The Streets of San Francisco debuted on ABC on Saturday, September 16, 1972, at 9 p.m. Eastern, competing against two popular CBS sitcoms, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Bob Newhart Show. Another critically acclaimed crime drama, The Rookies, debuted just five days before Streets; it was also seen on ABC. After Streets gained attention on Friday nights during the first season, the show was moved to Thursday, where it stayed for the remainder of the run, beginning with the second season, competing against other successful 1970s crime dramas, in different timeslots.