"Kojak" (1973) TV series 1973-1978

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Creator:

Abby Mann

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

24 October 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

A bald police detective with a firey righteous attitude battles crime in his city.

Plot Keywords:

Kojak | Detective | Police | City | New York

Awards:

Won 3 Golden Globes. Another 7 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

Telly Savalas	...	Lt. Theo Kojak (118 episodes, 1973-1978)
Dan Frazer	...	Capt. Frank McNeil (112 episodes, 1973-1978)
Kevin Dobson	...	Det. Bobby Crocker (112 episodes, 1973-1978)
George Savalas	...	Det. Stavros / ... (110 episodes, 1973-1978)
Mark Russell	...	Det. Saperstein / ... (78 episodes, 1973-1978)
Vince Conti	...	Det. Rizzo / ... (61 episodes, 1974-1978)

Runtime:

60 min (118 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Finland:K-18 (DVD) (2005) (self applied) | Canada:PG | New Zealand:M | Australia:PG | Argentina:13 | Australia:M (some episodes)

Filming Locations:

Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Universal TV

Trivia:

Telly Savalas is seen throughout the series both sucking on his lollipop and smoking. The lollipop was used to cut back on smoking. His character Kojak even admitted once that he smoked too much and sucked on lollipops every day except on Sundays.

Quotes:

Kojak: Who loves ya, baby?

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Sonny and Cher Show: (#1.5)" (1976)

We Need The Rest Of The Seasons On DVD For The Real Kojak

Overall, this disappointed me because it wasn't the Kojak remembered until the final few episodes of this first season: you know, the "Who loves ya baby?" Kojak played so well by Telly Savalas.

It took half the episodes before Kojak even sucked on his first lollipop. In other words, the "Theo Kojak" as we remember him, took almost a year to develop and that took up most of this disk. I am hopeful that more seasons will come out on DVD because those would all be what I was looking for in the first place. So far, I haven't heard any word of that happening. Maybe this first season DVD did not sell well.

The last month of this season, when the shows got a lot more entertaining, were so not only because Kojak came to life but humor was injected with "Stavros" (George Savalas) and his pet plant "Shirley," as well as a few other neat touches.

One of the episodes in this first set interested me because it starred Lola Albright, the blonde who was a knockout on the old Peter Gunn television series. It was interesting to see her after a long absence. Speaking of women, this was the first look I had of Kojak's girlfriend who was something else - a great looker - but suddenly disappeared and never came back with no explanation!

The most interesting of the earlier shows was the one that featured James Woods as a student in a crime class. If you know Woods, you know he wound up playing an intense, evil guy.

The cast in here is good. Kojak's boss, "Frank" (Dan Frazer) was a good guy as was one of Kojak's assistants "Crocker" (Kevin Dobson) who got more screen time as the series went on. Stavros was always fun to watch, especially Kojak calling him "Curly" or "Fatso" or "Baldy."

Now that everything is on a roll, please, give us the rest of the series!