Kojak: Season One

Audiences have always loved the cop drama, rooting for the good guy as he tracks down the heinous criminal. There is a certain vicarious thrill to be had with such stories. Now, television police dramas like NYPD Blue and the Shield push the limits striving for complete brutal realism but shows like this owe a lot to a classic cop show, Kojak. While not as intense as its descendents there was a lot to be said about what this show did for the genre. Lieutenant Theo Kojak (Telly Savalas) is a tough New York City detective, able to rule the streets he protects. He also had style, with his hat placed upon his bald head at a rakish angle and his well tailored three piece suits be took on the criminals of the Big Apple with flair and attitude. His trademark lollypop did not appear until about the 8th episode when Savalas gave up smoking. This was one of the first cop shows that displayed the emotional impact the crimes had upon the detective. Kojak became emotionally involved in his cases, although he rarely allowed that to interfere with his abilities as a detective.

In one episode Kojak has to step in for one of his detectives who suddenly needed an operation. The case was the homicide of a wealthy Lawyer and all the clues pointed to finding a young woman who was having an affair with the victim. The twist here was the detective who is partnered with Kojak, a long time friend, is the actual murderer. In another episode Kojak must race against time to clear the name of a fellow cop who was murdered and implicated in being dirty. Sure, by modern standards the plots are rather simple but some thirty plus years ago this was great stuff. What helped to set this series apart from other cop shows of the time was the way it pushed the attitude in your face. Kojak was not one to take any nonsense from anyone. In one scene he just walks up to a mob boss, sits down and orders a drink. When the mobster insults our hero Kojak literally pulls the chair out from under him, humiliating the don in front of his lackeys.

Kojak had the makings of a great hero. He lived for the job but was able to enjoy life in New York on his off hours. He cared about the job and the moral responsibilities that came with the badge. He held himself and other cops to a higher standard and demanded the best out of all the detectives under him. Aspects of this was included in such classic series as The Naked City but with Kojak there was sense of reality albeit one conducive to the limits set by Standards and Practices on the early seventies. This character and format is so timeless that there is about to be a new Kojak series gracing the television sets of the world.

In order to make a series like this work you need an actor for the lead that is a force of nature, like Kojak himself. The producers nailed the casting with Telly Savalas. Although much of his early career was playing criminals the role of Kojak fit so perfectly that it became the capstone of his long career and the role he was most identified with. Much of the character was taken from Savalas’ own life. Son of a Greek immigrant, a student of psychology and a man known for making an immediate impression, Savalas embodied the character he played. Ving Rhames has some mighty big shoes to fill taking on this role. Savalas brought to Kojak a feeling of always being in charge. Even in discussions with his boss you came away with the sense that it was Kojak that was actually in complete control.

The format of the series provided the perfect stage for this powerful character. First of all as a lieutenant detective Kojak was in charge of a squad. This afforded him the opportunity to command other, lesser detectives, sending them on the more mundane tasks freeing Kojak to the more important task of piecing together the evidence. Under Kojak’s command where a good assortment of regulars, each one contributed to the overall New York feeling that pervaded the series. Kevin Dodson played Sergeant Bobby Crocker, Kojak’s right hand man. At any given moment Kojak would bellow ‘Crocker’ only to have Bobby run to his master eager for instructions. There was a little touch of nepotism involved in the casting here, George Savalas was Detective Stavros, the curly haired comic relief of the group. Keeping a nice ethnic diversity reflecting New York City was Vince Conti as Rizzo and Mark Russell as Saperstein, both there to do the leg work. Veteran character actor Dan Frazer has the lamented task of playing Captain Frank McNeil, the man who was in charge on paper if not in practice of Kojak. This ensemble cast did an excellent job of showing the workings of this team.

One un-credited character in this series was New York City. While most of the series was obviously shot on the back lots of Universal the footage included of the real city really helped people like me, a life long native of NYC, to identify with the show. It was something to see those old green and black police cars with the red globe on top, the streets around Brooklyn Bridge and the bright lights of Time Square the way they where back then.

The series was created by master writer Abby Mann. His body of work included some of the greatest dramas to ever grace the silver screen. With such psychological dramas as Ship of Fools and Judgment at Nuremberg to his credit he was no stranger to the difficult task of keeping the audience enthralled. The basic ideas in Kojak where novel for the time, having a lead character that held our interest by his acting and not the usual television ‘pretty boy’ was new fairly new to the media. He created a character in Kojak that we could trust and wanted to see prevail week after week. Look for some notable directors taking the helm here. Included are Richard Donnor and Leo Penn.

Universal is making some great choices in what television season sets they are bringing to DVD. Series like this are classic and should be made available to a whole new generation of viewers. The technical specifications where pretty much run of the mill. The audio was Dolby Mono coming out through the center speaker. It will help if your center speaker is full range other wise there will be a loss of any lower frequencies. The video does exhibit signs of the thirty years that have passed. There are white specks that are present throughout most of the episodes but they where kept to a minimum. Overall the colors held up nicely and the video clearer than many series from this time. This is a classic series that deserves a place in any collection.

Posted 3/12/05