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.
Plot
The show revolved around two police officers who investigated homicides in San Francisco. The centre of the series was a veteran cop and widower, Lt Mike Stone (
Karl Malden), who had more than twenty years of police experience and was now assigned to the Homicide Detail of
SFPD's Bureau of Inspectors (ex:
Detective Division). He was partnered with a young,
plainclothes detective and energetic partner, Assistant
Inspector Steve Keller (
Michael Douglas), a college graduate, age twenty-eight, who had no experience in the police force. Stone would become a second father to Keller as he learned the rigors and procedures of detective work. Eventually, Keller was promoted to full inspector. As the series went on, Douglas became a star in his own right. Mike's daughter, Jeannie Stone (
Darleen Carr), made occasional appearances.
After the second episode of the fifth and final season, Douglas left the show after successfully producing the film
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won the Academy Award for Best Film for 1975. He in turn would also establish a film career. His character's absence was explained by having him take a teaching position at a local college, while Lt. Stone was partnered with another detective, Insp. Dan Robbins, played by
Richard Hatch, who had started his career on the ABC soap
All My Children and would later go on to
Battlestar Galactica. The change was not popular with audiences, and the show ended in 1977, due to low ratings. Also in 1977, writer James J. Sweeney won an
Edgar Award from the
Mystery Writers of America for his teleplay for the season four episode "Requiem for Murder".
Guest stars
Many actors guest-starred on the show; some were relatively unknown at the time and became successful stars in their own feature films or television series. Guest stars included:
Leslie Nielsen,
James Woods,
Nick Nolte,
Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Cal Bellini,
Pat Conway,
Patty Duke,
Richard Eastham,
Don Keefer,
Flip Mark,
John Ritter,
Robert Wagner,
Rick Nelson,
Wayne Maunder,
Dick Van Patten,
Mark Hamill,
Stefanie Powers,
Martin Sheen,
Tom Bosley,
Tom Selleck,
Larry Hagman,
Bill Bixby,
Norman Fell,
Anthony Geary,
Beverly Washburn,
Michael Constantine, and
Meredith Baxter, among many others. Even Michael Douglas' own mother,
Diana Douglas, guest-starred in a season two episode, "Chapel of the Damned".
Character actor Robert F. Simon appeared eight times as Captain Rudy Olsen.
Gary Vinson appeared toward the end of his career.
TV movie
An NBC TV movie,
Back to the Streets of San Francisco, aired in early 1992. Karl Malden returned as Mike Stone, now promoted to Captain of Inspectors. The plot involved Stone investigating the murder of his former long-time partner Keller while also investigating a different brutal murder. He also must decide which of two inspectors should be recommended for the position of Lieutenant. Actress
Debrah Farentino and Actor
Conor O'Farrell played the two inspectors.
Series revival
In July 2008, it was reported that
CBS, whose
sister company owns the rights to
The Streets of San Francisco, had commissioned a pilot script for a new version of the series.
Sheldon Turner (
The Longest Yard) and
Robert Port (
Numb3rs) are penning the script, with
Simon West on board to direct the potential pilot.
[The Streets of San Francisco: CBS Wants to Revive Popular Cop Show]
DVD releases
Region 1
CBS DVD (distributed by
Paramount) has released the complete first and second seasons of
The Streets of San Francisco on DVD in Region 1. The first and second season were released in Region 2 by August 2009.
[amazon.co.uk]
| DVD Name |
| Ep # |
| Release Date |
| Season 1- Volume 1
| 15
| April 10, 2007
|
| Season 1- Volume 2
| 13
| September 25, 2007
|
| Season 2- Volume 1
| 11
| July 1, 2008
|
| Season 2- Volume 2
| 12
| November 11, 2008
|
Region 2
Paramount Home Entertainment has released the first two seasons of
Streets of San Francisco on DVD in the UK.
| DVD Name |
| Ep # |
| Release Date |
| Season 1
| 26
| August 18, 2008
|
| Season 2
| 23
| September 14, 2009
|
Notes
Reflist
External links
Quinn Martin shows
DEFAULTSORT:Streets of San Francisco, The
