Episodes cast for
"Kojak" (1973) More at IMDbPro »

Season: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Year: 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978

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Season 1

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Season 1, Episode 0: The Marcus-Nelson Murders

8 March 1973
A homicide detective begins to suspect that the black teenager accused of murdering two white girls is being framed by his fellow detectives.

Season 1, Episode 1: Siege of Terror

24 October 1973
A robbery of armored car guards morphs into a deadly hostage standoff, with bulldog Lt. Theo Kojak as the negotiator. Half the Talaba Brothers gang escapes with the cash, but when the other half is cornered, they invade a surplus store, crammed with guns and ammo. The robbers also have bargaining chips: the 5 people in the building, plus a badly wounded patrolman, who dove in the store to warn of the incoming robbers. While young Detective Bobby Crocker pursues the thieves who got away, his boss at Manhattan South, the dapper, bald Kojak smooth-talks Jerry Talaba to get the hostages out. Hothead Talaba demands a crewed, fueled 707 at JFK, or he'll start killing the hostages, then toss them out before the TV cameras and hundreds of spectators - one by one.

Season 1, Episode 2: Web of Death

31 October 1973
A police detective kills a Manhattan lawyer, after setting up an elaborate alibi for himself. First, Nick Ferro lets Pinky, who he just busted on the street, inject some horse the junkie bought. Ferro then phones in the collar. While Pinky is nodding off in Ferro's car, the policeman digs a gun with a silencer out of a sidewalk hiding place, and cabs to the male attorney's hotel love nest. Ferro switched the rest of the street heroin for another packet, and turns in a baggy of soap powder at the precinct, along with the addict, after the shooting. Why did one of Lt. Kojak's most decorated badges want the mouthpiece dead?

Season 1, Episode 3: One for the Morgue

7 November 1973
When mobster Michael X. Tomasso is shot during a speech all clues lead to a Harlem based rival. But Kojak suspects something fishy is going on and decides to dig deeper.

Season 1, Episode 4: Knockover

14 November 1973
A newbie from Baltimore is gunned down at a Manhattan bus stop by a thug she knows, who wants only her huge, expensive ring, but can't pry it off before he has to flee. Lt. Kojak discovers the ring was swiped from a safety deposit box, in a recent, unsolved bank knock-over. Few fences will handle such a mammoth heist of insured valuables. Tony Curcheo, a Vegas mobster is in town, and ducks Kojak, who consequently suspects Tony's in NYC to cash out those hot goods.

Season 1, Episode 5: Girl in the River

21 November 1973
The elusive 'Excalibur' killer has returned to New York after an absence of two years and Kojak is determined to catch him this time. All of the victims are single women strangled with a stocking with a quarter in it, then left in water with the mark of Excalibur on their forehead and a purple cord around their neck. Clues soon lead Crocker to a bar called The Body Boutique where a regular group of artists, models and gurus hang out.

Season 1, Episode 6: Requiem for a Cop

28 November 1973
The entire precinct is shocked when one of their most trusted officers, Tom Donnoly is shot dead carrying $10.000 in his pocket. Kojak has just 48 hours to clear Donnoly's name and make sure he gets buried with honors.

Season 1, Episode 7: The Corrupter

5 December 1973
Manhattan is awash with re-cut stolen gems after a legit jeweler is killed, but Kojak ties the honest gem-smith's silent partner to Lawrence, a shady power broker. The partner was "The Prettiest Girl in New York," then fell on hard times, but was taken into the gem business by the honest Max Krouse. Now Celia Lamb is back living high under Lawrence's oily thumb. Kojak perceives the guilt Celia holds about her savior Max, and hopes to use it to bring down Lawrence and the gem chop shops.

Season 1, Episode 8: Dark Sunday

12 December 1973
Kojak begins sucking lollipops, after a wheel-man brags he's in on a caper which will make the NYPD more laughable than the Keystone Kops. Soon, a fellow gang member ices Artie the driver and dumps the corpse in a park. The gang member who jerked the trigger was only supposed to stash Artie out of town, so the gang leader's antsy that when Artie's body and belongings are discovered, the police will be on alert. Lt. Kojak keeps the murder out of the obits, but has no clue what the gang's target is. Loud-mouthed Artie owes a lot of people bread, and some tell Kojak's detectives that Artie'll cough up their cash on Monday. So Kojak has less than a week to foil the mammoth heist, plus his struggles to give up smoking make him even more caustic than usual.

Season 1, Episode 9: Conspiracy of Fear

19 December 1973
Kojak's operative, an undercover lawyer, is killed investigating endless opportunities for graft provided by an elaborate makeover for an inner city neighborhood. The hoods make the murder appear to be an auto accident, delighting those who'll benefit from the bottomless pork barrel. The developer has a spotless rep, plus a mistress working for the planning commission, forcing Kojak to use unconventional tactics to confront the cabal.

Season 1, Episode 10: Cop in a Cage

2 January 1974
Kojak receives threats against his life just as his niece is about to get married.

Season 1, Episode 11: Marker to a Dead Bookie

16 January 1974
Lt. Kojak fails to bring down a wily heroin kingpin, so he ups the ante by putting himself up for sale, pretending he's got no shot at Captain's bars, so he's going for dirty money instead. Theo Kojak's top undercover operative Gil sets up an elaborate scam with the dealers, where the heroin Gil seized from Janis will be traded back to the smugglers, and bags of sugar will be put in their place in the Manhattan South property locker. But Janis connives to switch the deal around, so he has his own personal Theo on the inside, on the take.

Season 1, Episode 12: Last Rites for a Dead Priest

23 January 1974
Kojak and his men are after a gang of a jewel thieves. The bag-man was shot and identified but is still on the run. So Kojak figures his accomplices will try to get to the man before the cops find him.

Season 1, Episode 13: Death Is Not a Passing Grade

30 January 1974
Kojak is a guest instructor at a police science class. One of his students is committing burglaries with his brother-in-law and likes to leave false clues at the crime scene. These include a pen with Kojak's name on it and even Kojak's hat.

Season 1, Episode 14: Die Before They Wake

6 February 1974
The deaths of a junkie and a television commentator put Kojak onto the trail of a drug/prostitution ring.

Season 1, Episode 15: Deliver Us Some Evil

13 February 1974
Kenny Soames, a friendly young delivery man for a local pharmacy, sets up a residence for a big heist and uses his delivery van for the getaway. He then plans to leave the country with his girlfriend and $100,000 from his confederates.

Season 1, Episode 16: Eighteen Hours of Fear

20 February 1974
A young girl smuggles a stolen Canadian blank plate to New York in a leg cast. Her accomplice, an artist, is killed by a mob hit man but the girl manages to slip away from him at a hotel thanks to a friendly traveling salesman. Kojak investigates the murder of the artist and the killers trail leads him straight to the innocent salesman from Encino.

Season 1, Episode 17: Before the Devil Knows

27 February 1974
Cat burglar David plunges to his death when a banker cuts his cord for burgling $1 million in bonds the financier embezzled. David's partner Le Jeune gets away with the bonds, but must use a Wall Street fence who's another crooked banker - and works with the murderer. Kojak's belief that Le Jeune wouldn't kill his longtime partner so obviously is confirmed when the murderer's much younger wife fingers her husband to clear herself from accessory to embezzlement.

Season 1, Episode 18: Dead on His Feet

6 March 1974
On the trail of a ring counterfeiting lottery tickets, a detective's partner is killed. Det. Furore feels guilty for giving in to his partner's quest for front page heroism, plus being felled by stomach pains when he had a chance to shoot his friend's killer. When Furore's diagnosed with terminal cancer, he realizes he's sacrificed having his own life for devotion to Det. Ryan and Ryan's wife. Kojak worries that Furore's quest for salvation will result in murder, blowing their long-pursued case against the counterfeiters.

Season 1, Episode 19: Down a Long and Lonely River

20 March 1974
Ex-con Lou is determined to settle old scores with his ex-wife and her mobster boyfriend who set him up to serve hard time. Lou's fiancée, a wide-eyed prison sociologist, enlists Kojak's help to keep Lou from killing and/or being killed.

Season 1, Episode 20: Mojo

27 March 1974
Kojak investigates the theft of powdered morphine from a pharmaceutical company.

Season 1, Episode 21: Therapy in Dynamite

10 April 1974
A nebbish helps his therapy group by bombing the nemeses they whine about. Kojak can't find a pattern in the serial murders, especially after an innocent secretary who just moved to Manhattan is blown up, but he knows there is one because she was killed in a parking space with her name on it. NYPD holds back that the bombs all come in brown paper bags, to fend off serial confessors. Danny Zucco can't wait for his next group to see the joy he's brought to his adopted family.

Season 1, Episode 22: The Only Way Out

8 May 1974
A boy asks Kojak to find his father who's gone missing. What they don't know is that he is being held captive.

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Season 2

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Season 2, Episode 1: The Chinatown Murders: Part 1

15 September 1974
Kojak races to stop a Mafia war, incited by Chinatown hoodlums. First, the young tong mobsters ripoff a knock-over of a Crespi family policy operation, by low-level soldiers of the Scalesi clan. Not suspecting that the masked murderers are Chinese, the Crespis dispatch their Jewish consigliere to recoup the loss from Scalesi godfather Don Cheech, and discern if the Scalesies are muscling in on their territory. All atwitter, Lt. Kojak calls in NYPD Cosa Nostra expert Sgt. Polucci, to help stave off a full-scale gang war.

Season 2, Episode 2: The Chinatown Murders: Part 2

15 September 1974
Sammy Loo's Chinese bandits step up their incendiary action, by shanghaiing ailing Scalesi boss Don Cheech in an ambulance, along with his nurse and meds. The tong gangsters resent being left out of the American Mafia diversity program that let Irish, Jews etc. in on the upper level of organized crime. With a $2 million dollar ransom from the Scalesi clan, the Manhattan tong can compete with the combo. Kojak finds that the disrupters are Chinese, but how can the NYPD or Italian gangsters root out the kidnappers in Chinatown, where they'll stand out like a Black Hand ?

Season 2, Episode 3: Hush Now, Don't You Die

22 September 1974
A college girl hurries home after being raped by two men, one of whom kills the other at the scene and flees. Kojak suspects a rape by two men, and sets out to identify the woman as well as the other rapist, while the father of the girl sets out to kill the surviving rapist.

Season 2, Episode 4: A Very Deadly Game

29 September 1974
When Kojak works with the FBI to apprehend a drug dealer. He sends one of his detectives to work with an FBI agent posing as buyers. When the dealer arrives he shoots both men and takes off with the money. He meets a partner who then shoots him and makes off with the money. When Kojak gets a description of the partner and gives it to his FBI contact, he is ordered by another agent not to give Kojak anymore info. It isn't long before Kojak suspects that the agent is holding out on him, he follows him and meets the other agent whom he knows and finds out that the agent is looking for the killer and has a personal stake in it. When the man refuses to work with Kojak, Kojak tells him to stay out of his way.

Season 2, Episode 5: Wall Street Gunslinger

6 October 1974
Kojak works on a Wall Street robbery that involves three murders. When usual methods fail, Kojak goes undercover as a Greek millionaire. He suspects a well-known stockbroker whom he hopes to catch attempting to sell the stocks to him. Things go awry when the thieves find out that the Greek millionaire Kojak is impersonating is actually in Europe. Kojak is kidnapped and counts on his colleagues saving him.

Season 2, Episode 6: Slay Ride

13 October 1974
A pair of suicides at the same hotel makes Kojak believe that they were actually murders as he finds connections between the victims. Discovering that a young Army wife had fallen from a roof at an earlier convention (which they had attended) leads Kojak to her call girl sister. She has convinced the soldier that it is his duty to punish the men involved. As he's about to kill the last person related to the girl's death, Kojak must prevent another next murder.

Season 2, Episode 7: Nursemaid

20 October 1974
A gun shop owner is coerced into obtaining a quantity of handguns for the hoodlums to whom he owes gambling debts. When a young gang member is killed and the weapon traced to his store, he is eliminated to prevent his talking to police. His motherly bookkeeper witnesses his abduction and is taken into protective custody, pending her appearance before the grand jury. Safeguarding the sassy senior is not an easy task as the hoods try to silence her-permanently. Kojak is the only officer she really trusts.

Season 2, Episode 8: You Can't Tell a Hurt Man How to Holler

27 October 1974
If you were falsely arrested for a crime, who would you trust? The cops or a friend who bails you out of jail? When small time criminal Hawthorn Yantzee is suspected of murder, Kojak is convinced that he was framed and tries to find the real culprit. Yantzee doesn't cooperate as he thinks that his new 'friend' Stutz (the one actually responsible for the murder and the frame) will help him. When he discovers Stutz's real plans, Yantzee allows Kojak to send him to Stutz's flat with a wire on, hoping to get conclusive testimony that will clear him.

Season 2, Episode 9: The Best Judge Money Can Buy

3 November 1974
A dishonest judge (Phillip Mackie, Jr.) is found in his car, dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. Though no marks of restraint were found, Kojak suspects murder and begins to investigate. A private investigator is seen at the funeral delivering a satchel (which contains incriminating tapes); a girlfriend of the deceased is also there. A crooked lawyer seeks to subvert the senior Mackie (also a judge) in order to allow a mob boss to be released on bail during his appeal and flee the country. To protect his son's reputation, Mackie agrees but reconsiders when he learns that his daughter-in-law conspired with Bronson to arrange the murder of his son. Kojak's faith in justice is confirmed.

Season 2, Episode 10: A Souvenir from Atlantic City

10 November 1974
Two off-duty police officers are killed when a bomb explodes in a bowling alley. A police informer (Paolo Olivarez), who had come to warn them, arrives too late and though slightly injured is able to hobble away. A Bronx detective demands that Kojak allow him to help bring in his informer; they trace him to his sister Marinella's in New Jersey. Back in New York, the bombers booby trap Paolo's apartment; when that fails, they notify him that they have kidnapped his sister to ensure his silence. Knowing that they want to kill him, Paolo offers to trade himself for her freedom. Kojak learns of his plans and where the bombers' HQ is; he faces a hostage situation involving Marinella, and Paolo is frantic. Will Kojak call their bluff?

Season 2, Episode 11: A Killing in the Second House

17 November 1974
Ray Kauffman, a former homicide detective dismissed for corruption, takes photos of a rich man's wife, Janet Seymour. The husband is distraught and commits suicide. Kauffman, who is still in the house, convinces the business manager (Tony Howard) that they should fake a murderous intruder so that Janet will get the insurance. He keeps the suicide note and the gun Howard had picked up and, after Howard is arrested, plants them in his apartment. He offers to sell the suicide note to Janet, enabling Howard's freedom. Kojak has realized Kauffman is more capable of faking the murder scenario than Howard, and when another murder occurs, Kojak is sure of who is the criminal.

Season 2, Episode 12: The Best War in Town

24 November 1974
On his first day on the job, a young rookie cop gets into a shootout with a gang of mob killers.

Season 2, Episode 13: Cross Your Heart and Hope to Die

1 December 1974
An obsessed neighbor murders anyone he thinks is a threat to his relationship with a mentally fragile young woman.

Season 2, Episode 14: The Betrayal

15 December 1974
Detective Calucci's arrangement with an informant has led to several busts, but Kojak thinks Calucci is being compromised.

Season 2, Episode 15: Loser Takes All

22 December 1974
What a tangled web: a wife (Paula Thomas) who's having an affair with a classy crook (Michael Hagar), her husband Waverley who eavesdrops on them through a vent, a police informer (Benny) that the husband feeds info to, and a scheme to rip off a million dollar diamond shipment. The husband is killed; the shipment is stolen, Kojak gets shot, and the classy crook gets away. The bullet recovered from Kojak is from the gun that killed Waverley; Hagar is arrested but there's no evidence except Waverley's dying declaration to Benny. Knowing how Paula loved her husband in spite of the affair, Kojak tells her what he suspects, not realizing Paula's idea of justice does not involve police proceedings.

Season 2, Episode 16: Close Cover Before Killing

5 January 1975
A greedy businessman (Morton Tallman) commissions an arson, but his partner Nick threatens to tell the police if it happens. Tallman kills his partner and turns a large bookcase over his body, expecting the fire to cover his tracks. The ME finds a blunt instrument trauma to the head and no soot in Nick's lungs, proving he died before the fire. In spite of a young man's being identified as fleeing from the scene, Kojak is convinced Tallman is involved and sets out to find the evidence. It seems the fire is connected to a larger arson insurance scam, as well as some mob loans to businesses in trouble.

Season 2, Episode 17: Acts of Desperate Men

12 January 1975
A lonely bookkeeper becomes involved in a young man's quest for revenge against those who wronged his father.

Season 2, Episode 18: Queen of the Gypsies

19 January 1975
When a bank gets robbed by men arriving in an ambulance, one of their masks slips. A young woman who apparently passed a counterfeit bill sees him but fails to pick out his mug shot. She is identified as a gypsy; her family is involved in various scams. She contacts the bank robbers and recruits them to rob six banks in one day. Kojak pretends to see the future in his lollipop while interrogating the gypsy con-artists and takes Marina in for questioning. Meanwhile her ingenious plan goes into operation without her.The men plan to cut her out, but Merina has other ideas-maybe even letting the police in on it IF she receives immunity. She has private reasons that surprise even Kojak.

Season 2, Episode 19: Night of the Piraeus

26 January 1975
Kojak investigates three murders connected to a rare stamp smuggled from Greece.

Season 2, Episode 20: Elegy in an Asphalt Graveyard

2 February 1975
Two men put a cushion over a beautiful blond's mouth and then hang her from the chandelier. The ME thinks it's suicide, but Kojak believes Azure Dee was murdered. Having met her as a young runaway strung out on drugs, Kojak had been proud of her progress. Azure had long since gotten clean from drugs and was now a call girl with a select and moneyed clientèle. To the consternation of his boss, Kojak insists on pursuing it as a homicide, calling attention to the total absence of personal items from her apartment. Her phone bill in the mailbox connects her to the Meadows family; her doorman provides leads regarding the males she entertained (including a judge). At her funeral, a young man shoots at Farley Meadows and is shot running away. Kojak finally puts the pieces together and arranges a confrontation in the Meadows home with all the suspects present.

Season 2, Episode 21: The Goodluck Bomber

9 February 1975
A serial bomber tagged by the papers as the "Good Luck Bomber," gives warning, leaves mocking notes, and constructs devices which the bomb squad is unable to defuse. He seems to have no motive, makes no demands, espouses no causes he's fighting for.....just what is going on? The prime suspect, Joe Milner, has a prior record and is egotistical regarding his explosive expertise. At one point, he helps disable a bomb placed in a hospital; the police are mystified. When a bomb threat is received by a refinery, Milner agrees to help-for a million dollar fee. Kojak sets a trap at the refinery to find out who really set the bomb.

Season 2, Episode 22: Unwanted Partners

16 February 1975
Protection racketeers preying upon neighborhood bars fall out of favor with each other, leading to violent enforcement action taken against bar patrons and even an undercover detective posing as a bartender. The crime boss cuts the ties to his loose-cannon right-hand man, who decides to take over the racket and cut out the boss. But even with a wired informant, Kojak can't get the goods on the perps. Ultimately, Detective Crocker is tested when he has to decide whether to trust the loyalty of a friend or the force.

Season 2, Episode 23: Two-Four-Six for Two Hundred

23 February 1975

Season 2, Episode 24: The Trade-Off

2 March 1975
Kojak catches a big-time drug dealer with a massive amount of heroin. A call comes offering a trade: the evidence "disappearing" in exchange for Captain McNeil's wife who has been kidnapped. Kojak can't tell anybody and faces a seemingly impossible dilemma. His last hope is that Mrs. McNeil has managed a clue in the letter she left for her husband.

Season 2, Episode 25: I Want to Report a Dream

9 March 1975
Stavros receives a call from a psychic:"I want to report a dream." Since it involves murder, he checks the files. When the details match, Kojak gets involved. Are the dead really communicating, or does the psychic know who the murderer is?

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Season 3

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Season 3, Episode 1: A Question of Answers

14 September 1975
When local and federal officers want to catch a loan shark, Kojak persuades a boyhood friend to go undercover as part of a deal to dismiss a case pending against him. Pressure mounts as the Feds renege on providing funds and the loan shark sends muscle. Kojak feels responsible and, when a bombing occurs, sets a trap for the killer.

Season 3, Episode 2: My Brother, My Enemy

21 September 1975
Rick Daly is a young, trigger-happy cop with good intentions to help people. In response to a knife-killing, he is too quick on the trigger and winds up killing a preteen boy. Kojak attempts to shield Daly when the public reacts, demanding revenge, but gets suspicious when cracks appear in Daly's story. Now the tables are turned; the cops feel Kojak is persecuting Daly. When the guy is found who Daly was pursuing, Kojak confronts Daly on the roof where the shooting occurred to nail down the truth.

Season 3, Episode 3: Sweeter Than Life

28 September 1975
During a family party, Kojak's camera was stolen. When it turns up at a murder scene, Kojak discovers his nephew is an addict and was somehow involved. He pays a former boxer to oversee his nephew's detox and attempts to sort out the connection with the murder.

Season 3, Episode 4: Be Careful What You Pray For

5 October 1975
The hijacking of a truckload of plumbing donated to a school results in murder, plus major embarrassment to the NYPD, because Det. Crocker was speaking at the struggling Catholic high school at the time. Kojak pushes his shields to the max, to stop the spiraling crime toll from the caper. Stavros focuses on a strange clue: Why is the Coney Island sand at the heist's fake sewer repair scene, in seed-bags from the Pacific Northwest ?

Season 3, Episode 5: Secret Snow, Deadly Snow

12 October 1975
A plastic surgeon is found dead in his car, apparently shot to death. A drug dealer is arrested, but Kojak is forced to let him go when the medical examiner informs him that the surgeon, who was a heavy cocaine addict, was not killed by the bullet but was already dead of natural causes.

Season 3, Episode 6: Life, Liberation and the Pursuit of Death

26 October 1975
A psychology professor is killed by one of two of his students who wanted to blackmail him into giving them higher grades. A woman witnesses the student as he throws the professor's body off of a pier. When they find out that the witness works in a high-pressure advertising job and is under severe stress, the two students plan to psychologically manipulate the woman into committing suicide.

Season 3, Episode 7: Out of the Frying Pan...

2 November 1975
After a night drinking, an off-duty cop and his friend are attacked by a group of thieves. The friend is killed with the cop's gun. Though ordered to beat duty, the cop, who has battled alcoholism over the years, impedes Kojak's investigation by trying to find those responsible for his friend's death himself.

Season 3, Episode 8: Over the Water

9 November 1975
While in a New Jersey town Kojak interferes with a young man's attempt to pick up a girl over and fight her boyfriend to do so. It turns out the young man is Mike Viggers Jr., whose mobster father, well known to Kojak, effectively runs the town. Humiliated by Kojak, young Viggers determines to have the detective killed and is not going to be deterred even by his father's strong objections.

Season 3, Episode 9: The Nicest Guys on the Block

16 November 1975
Detective Gil Weaver is in a bind as he learns that an old school friend is involved in a group that's plotting to fence a million dollars worth of diamonds, and that he will have to take advantage of that old friendship in order to bring the group down.

Season 3, Episode 10: No Immunity for Murder

23 November 1975
A man is killed, apparently by a prostitute and her partner, but Kojak begins to suspect that it is much more than a simple "Murphy job". As he investigates, he finds that federal authorities are hampering his efforts, and apparently protecting the wealthy businessman he suspects of involvement.

Season 3, Episode 11: A Long Way from Times Square

30 November 1975
Kojak and Crocker go to Nevada to execute a subpoena on Arnold Saxler to have him testify on the murder of a councilman for whose mobster murderer he worked but Saxler has root s in Nevada which cause difficulties for the NYPD pair.

Season 3, Episode 12: Money Back Guarantee

7 December 1975
After a police officer is killed in a routine traffic stop, Kojak discovers the people responsible are part of a large insurance and auto theft operation.

Season 3, Episode 13: A House of Prayer, a Den of Thieves

14 December 1975
Former New York cop Vince LaGuardia (and old friend of Kojak) is now living in Las Vegas. When a wanted counterfeiter is murdered, LaGuardia's investigation involves the activities of a hood and an evangelist. Pilot for an unsold series.

Season 3, Episode 14: How Cruel the Frost, How Bright the Stars

21 December 1975
Christmas Eve is anything but peaceful for Kojak and his men. A woman is convinced her boyfriend is going to commit some kind of crime-but she doesn't know what; and a jealous husband is looking to kill his cheating wife.

Season 3, Episode 15: The Forgotten Room

4 January 1976
When a prostitute is murdered the investigation seems completely stymied until Kojak finds the vital clue in a room no one knows about - except for the killer.

Season 3, Episode 16: On the Edge

11 January 1976
An aging detective with a troubled home life is hard-driven to crack one last headline-grabbing case, even if it means breaking the rules to get it done.

Season 3, Episode 17: A Wind from Corsica

18 January 1976
An escaped prisoner comes to the city looking for revenge. But even worse is that he is sick with the plague and threatens the whole city with an epidemic.

Season 3, Episode 18: Bad Dude

25 January 1976
A hit man from Detroit is in town and Kojak races the clock to find the intended victim before it's too late.

Season 3, Episode 19: A Grave Too Soon

1 February 1976
A body dumped on the street turns out to be an undercover cop. The trail leads Kojak to a Mafia boss who may be out to avenge the death of his own sons.

Season 3, Episode 20: The Frame

8 February 1976
Kojak arrests a thief, a long time nemesis, but can't find any incriminating evidence in his apartment. The thief then claims Kojak extorted $3,000.00 from him. While awaiting review from Internal Affairs, can Kojak clear his name?

Season 3, Episode 21: Deadly Innocence

15 February 1976
A man is killed in a hit and run incident. Kojak eventually learns the death was no accident and is linked to the victim's son, a Vietnam war hero who was also a heroin addict.

Season 3, Episode 22: Justice Deferred

22 February 1976

Season 3, Episode 23: Both Sides of the Law

7 March 1976

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Season 4

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Season 4, Episode 1: Birthday Party

26 September 1976
Three liquor-store robbers, two men and a woman, kill a cop while escaping. The woman and the younger man get away, but the older killer is captured. When allowed to make his one phone call, he talks in Greek to the younger robber, telling him about Kojak's niece and the birthday party she is having in East River Park. The killers stake out the party and kidnap the little girl, demanding the leader's release as a ransom for letting the child go. Kojak uses a painting the little girl included in a ransom note to figure out where they might be headed.

Season 4, Episode 2: A Summer Madness

3 October 1976

Season 4, Episode 3: Law Dance

10 October 1976

Season 4, Episode 4: Out of the Shadows

17 October 1976
In an episode originally scheduled as the season opener (it was pushed back a few weeks to allow "Birthday Party," considered a better audience draw, to get the slot), a serial killer plunges a knife into anyone who stiffs him consumerwise -- six murders to date. The chief suspect is a troubled young man who sprays graffiti on walls talking about the character "The Grim Reaper."

Season 4, Episode 5: A Need to Know

24 October 1976
Kojak's team snares child molester Dettrow, who they are forced to release because he has diplomatic immunity and is helping out the FBI. Kojak won't give up on nailing the arrogant serial sex offender, and doubts the FBI's pledge to keep Dettrow under wraps. Dettrow's psychiatrist counsels Kojak that such a compulsive is most likely to nab a child when he's under pressure. Kojak's shields tail the elusive Dettrow to prevent another molestation, so when they spot the East German embassy chauffeur sweating through a furtive meeting with a Red Chinese, Kojak fears Dettrow will soon snatch another boy.

Season 4, Episode 6: An Unfair Trade

31 October 1976

Season 4, Episode 7: A Hair-Trigger Away

7 November 1976

Season 4, Episode 8: By Silence Betrayed

14 November 1976

Season 4, Episode 9: A Shield for Murder: Part 1

21 November 1976

Season 4, Episode 10: A Shield for Murder: Part 2

21 November 1976

Season 4, Episode 11: The Pride and the Princess

28 November 1976

Season 4, Episode 12: Black Thorn

5 December 1976

Season 4, Episode 13: Where Do You Go When You Have Nowhere to Go?

12 December 1976

Season 4, Episode 14: Dead Again

19 December 1976

Season 4, Episode 15: The Godson

4 January 1977

Season 4, Episode 16: The Condemned

11 January 1977

Season 4, Episode 17: When You Hear the Beep, Drop Dead

18 January 1977

Season 4, Episode 18: I Was Happy Where I Was

25 January 1977

Season 4, Episode 19: Kojak's Days: Part 1

1 February 1977

Season 4, Episode 20: Kojak's Days: Part 2

8 February 1977

Season 4, Episode 21: Monkey on a String

15 February 1977

Season 4, Episode 22: Kiss It All Goodbye

22 February 1977
Crocker shoots a bystander while a robbery is going down, and the woman is paralyzed.

Season 4, Episode 23: Lady in the Squadroom

8 March 1977

Season 4, Episode 24: Sister Maria

15 March 1977

Season 4, Episode 25: Another Gypsy Queen

22 March 1977

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Season 5

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Season 5, Episode 1: The Queen of Hearts Is Wild

2 October 1977
Kojak is ordered not to interfere with a Federal investigation when he locates a witness to the killing of a police officer in pursuit of the man who murdered a store owner. The killer is caught but will soon be released without her identification. Kojak learns that she is the girlfriend of a mobster who is known for his extreme violence. Kojak's problem? Get her cooperation, jail the mobster and secure her testimony without jeopardizing the Federal case.

Season 5, Episode 2: A Strange Kind of Love

9 October 1977
A taxicab driver listens to a female late-night talk-radio host during his beat. The host frequently inveighs against evildoers in the city, and the psychotic driver decides to take her up on it - stalking the people who she names and gunning them down.

Season 5, Episode 3: Laid Off

16 October 1977
A New York City budget crisis results in "last hired, first fired" for a friend of Kojak's who had recently joined the police force. As the rookie's bills mount, he winds up in debt to a numbers-running gang as well and joins it, secretly feeding information to Kojak from inside the gang.

Season 5, Episode 4: Cry for the Kids

23 October 1977

Season 5, Episode 5: Once More from Birdland

30 October 1977
A singer helps clear her father of a murder for which he was imprisoned 14 years earlier.

Season 5, Episode 6: Caper on a Quiet Street

6 November 1977
A year ago, a gang of thieves knocked over a bank, killed three people and got away with $6 million. They then split up, leaving one member to hide the loot. Now that the heat has died down, the gang plans to reunite and divide the cash. The bag man, however, is recognized by a cop and suffers a fatal heart attack while running away. The thieves decide to scour the neighborhood where the bag man died, and eventually focus on an apartment building which they invade with assault rifles. Kojak, trying to slip into the building, is cornered by a woman who used to be the gang leader's girlfriend but dumped him for his violence. She holds Kojak at bay with a gun but then leaves him - whereupon Kokak douses another thug with a water hose and escapes - in order to keep the gang leader from killing a group of apartment-house tenants he holds hostage.

Season 5, Episode 7: Letters of Death

13 November 1977

Season 5, Episode 8: Tears for All Who Love Her

20 November 1977
A femme fatale in the truest sense of the term persuades her gangster husband's bodyguard to help her murder him. Kojak, formerly involved with her, turns the investigation over to Crocker (but continues to act behind the scenes). The mob boss suspects the widow and orders a hit; she continues to wield her wiles on all concerned. The murder weapon, with her fingerprints, is still around though, and both Kojak and Crocker are in on the arrest.

Season 5, Episode 9: The Summer of '69: Part 1

4 December 1977
A young woman is found stabbed to death in the trunk of a car, the MO that of the serial murderer who terrorized Manhattan some eight years earlier (the summer of '69). The main suspect as the "Clothesline Killer" was shot and killed by Kojak while trying to escape. Theo (and his bosses) then question whether or not he killed the right man, especially after more bodies start turning up.

Season 5, Episode 10: The Summer of '69: Part 2

10 December 1977
Kojak goes on vacation to continue to work the case after being told he's transferred to administration and during the course of his investigation he reunites with several people who were in his life during the original case, including a young woman with whom he had a brief affair.

Season 5, Episode 11: Case Without a File

17 December 1977
Kojak investigates the murder of a private detective.

Season 5, Episode 12: I Could Kill My Wife's Lawyer

24 December 1977
Everett Coughlin is a divorce attorney, a Satan in a business suit, who mercilessly harasses a cop (whose wife he represents). Even his client doesn't know some of the lawyer's tricks, such as hiring a thug to bomb the cop's pleasure boat. The bomber is killed when the bomb explodes prematurely; Kojak, the cop and the cop's wife team to try to put the attorney out of business and hopefully in jail.

Season 5, Episode 13: Justice for All

7 January 1978
Kojak has been recruited to be lead investigator for a powerful law firm--great salary and benefits. His involvement with a series of deaths due to "hot smack" leads him to believe the offer has strings. A young man who has bankrolled the drug operation is represented by the firm, and his father has bribed a lower echelon dealer to confess ($150,000 per year in prison). Kojak decides to remain on the force because of his sense of justice.

Season 5, Episode 14: Mouse

21 January 1978
When an enforcer for a bookie pushes a "mouse" of a man too hard, he winds up needing an ambulance. Kojak doesn't believe the eyewitness description of the assailant. How could such a small man have done the deed? He (Abernathy) was furious because a surgeon who "killed" his mother with an unnecessary surgery was pressuring him for money the doctor needed to pay his bookie; the enforcer was part of the pressure. When Kojak learns the circumstances, he arrests Abernathy (but omits Miranda warnings, warrants, and other civil protections); in interrogation Kojak sees the mouse turn into a MAN. Justice is served.

Season 5, Episode 15: Chain of Custody

28 January 1978
Tired of paying a loan shark, Kojak's tailor decides to swear out a warrant. While officers are en route, Henessey shoots the tailor and steals a cab to escape. Understandably frustrated when the case falls apart due to an incompetent ADA, Kojak verbally attacks him just outside the courtroom. He is convinced there was a fix in place and refuses to back down. IAD suspends him, but Kojak is determined to catch his friend's killer. Is the fix the judge or the ADA--or both?