267 Kojak

First  watched  :    September  1976

Kojak   made  a  huge  impact  when  first  screened  in  the  UK  in  the  summer  of  1974  culminating  in  its  star, bald  character  actor   Telly  Savalas  topping  the  singles  chart  with  his  murmured  version  of   Bread's  If  in  the  early  months  of  1975,  surely  one  of  the  worst  number  ones  of  all  time. At  school  one  lad  in  my  class  got  upset  when  he  was  teased  about  his  dad's  lack  of  hair  so  mention  of  the  series  was  banned. Because  of  its  time  slot  it  was  something  only  Mum  watched  until  it  got  an  8.10  pm  slot  on   a  Thursday  in  September  1976.

Savalas  was  the  titular  police  lieutenant  in  South  Manhattan, conscientious  but  not  above  bending  the  rules  slightly  to  get  his  man.  His  boss  Frank  McNeil  ( Dan  Frazer ) was  generally  supportive  and  he  had  a  loyal  team  of  detectives  , the  impetuous  Crocker  ( Kevin  Dobson  )  , the  interchangeable  Saperstein  and  Rizzo  and  dopey  lump  Stavros  played  by  Savalas's  real-life  brother  George .  The  relationship  was  initially  disguised  by  George  being  credited  as  "Demosthenes"  in  the  cast  list.

What  I  liked  about  Kojak  in  contrast  to  later  police  series  was  that  it  concentrated  on  the investigation   in  hand  rarely  delving  into  the  private  lives  or  back  stories  of  the  detectives  unless  they  impinged  directly  on  the  case.  The  dialogue  was  dense  and  full  of  New  York  street  slang  so  it  wasn't  always  that  easy  to  follow  but  you  usually  got  the  sense  by  the  end. Along  with  The  Streets  of  San  Francisco  on  the  other  channel  it  made  urban  America  seem  a  pretty  frightening  place.

Kojak  was  pulled  in  1978  to  Savalas's  dismay  due  to  falling  ratings  though  there  was  a  string  of  TV  movies   running  from  1985  to  1990  .  Savalas  died  of  cancer  in  1994  putting  paid  to  any  more  though  there  was  a  one  series  revival  of  the  show  with  Ving  Rhames  in  the  role  in  2005 . I'm  not  sure  that  was  screened  in  the  UK.

George  had  died  of  leukemia  aged  60  in   1985  having  spent  the  years  after  the  series  ended  touring  as  a  performer  of  Greek  songs.  Frazer  died  in  2011  leaving  Dobson, still  a  working  TV  actor  at  72,  the  only  survivor  of  the  four  main  players.