Cannon (1971–1976)

The cases of a fat private detective.

Stars:

William Conrad, Patrick Culliton, Tom Pittman

Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
William Conrad	...	Frank Cannon (121 episodes, 1971-1976)

Storyline

The weekly adventures of Frank Cannon, an overweight, balding ex-cop with a deep voice and expensive tastes in culinary pleasures, who becomes a high-priced private investigator. Since Cannon's girth didn't allow for many fist-fights and gun battles (although there were many), the series substituted car chases and high production values in their place.

---

Plot Keywords:

detective | private detective | private eye | fat man | character name in title

---

Genres:

Action | Crime | Mystery | Drama

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 September 1971 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Quinn Martin Productions (QM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (120 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Frank Cannon was a pipe smoker. He was shown with a pipe in the first two seasons but it was seen occasionally in the third and fourth season before it was subsuquently dropped altogether. In reality, William Conrad was a pipe smoker.

---

Quotes

[repeated line]
Frank Cannon: My name's Frank Cannon, I'm a private investigator.

---

Crazy Credits

In all five seasons, the credits are shown in capital and lower case letters.

---

Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Stranded in Space (1991)

User Reviews

A well made and thought provoking show.

Still today "Cannon" is my favorite detective show. William Conrad was great as the title detective, he played the role to perfection. Unlike other detectives, Cannon was bald and overweight, yet he still solved the cases. The stories were well written and interesting, always great. And to top it all off, the opening theme music was memorable (I can still remember it even now). All in all a great series.