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Kojak is an
American television series starring Telly Savalas as the
eponymous, bald New York City Police Department Detective
Lieutenant Theo Kojak. The Kojak TV show aired from
October 24, 1973 to March 18, 1978 on the CBS television
network. The Kojak Television series took the time
slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour
earlier. Kojak's Greek heritage, shared by actor Savalas,
was prominently featured in the series.
Telly Savalas
is often seen throughout the Kojak TV series sucking on a
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.
Kojak TV Show Season Episodes on DVD
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Kojak
Television Series - Season One on DVD (1973)
Amazon.com DVD Review - On the timeline of
successful TV cop dramas, Kojak offered bold
authenticity and paved the way for NYPD Blue.
As immortalized by Telly Savalas, veteran detective
Theo Kojak was introduced in the 1973 TV movie
The Marcus-Nelson Murders (not included in this
3-disc set), a ratings hit that encouraged CBS and
writer-producer Abby Mann to create a trend-setting
series (based on a book by Selwyn Raab) that
premiered on October 24 of that year. The Greek,
bald-headed, snappily attired Kojak brought
no-nonsense bravado to homicide cases in South
Manhattan--a setting that lent a gritty, urban edge
to intelligent plots that won the respect of real
cops with an emphasis on diligent police work
instead of overblown action and phony glamour. While
working cases with his captain Frank McNeil (Dan
Frazer) and closest colleagues Crocker (Kevin
Dobson) and Stavros (played by Savalas's brother
George, credited as "Demosthenes" for the first two
seasons), Kojak had a knack for bending the rules
(but never breaking them) if he knew it would solve
a crime. Kojak came at a perfect time for
Savalas and cop dramas in general. The actor's
career was slumping in the early '70s (he'd just
appeared in the Italian horror film Lisa and the
Devil), and he quickly put his personal stamp on
the role with street-wise sarcasm and trademark
lollipops (a perfect prop that Savalas adopted to
quit smoking). Consistently well-written, the series
was realistically rooted in a broad spectrum of New
York City crime. These qualities attracted plenty of
fresh and established talent, and these 22
well-preserved episodes include guest appearances by
Harvey Keitel, James Woods, Richard Jordan, Hector
Elizondo, John Ritter (in one of his first TV
roles), Paul Michael Glaser, Dabney Coleman, Tina
Louise, and a host of familiar TV veterans. For this
debut season, Savalas won the Emmy Award for
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, and
Kojak ran for five well-rated seasons, followed
by several TV-movie revivals in 1985, 1989, and
1990. The enduring popularity of Kojak was
further proven when the show was revived yet again
in March of 2005, with Ving Rhames in the title
role. --Jeff Shannon |
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