Product Description

Emmy and Golden Globe winner Telly Savalas is back as Lieutenant Theo Kojak, television’s greatest detective, in the unforgettable homicide series Kojak. He’s got style, street smarts and a penchant for lollipops, and he’s hitting the gritty streets of New York City in pursuit of some of television’s toughest criminals. Relive all his smart, edgy adventures in the mystery series that People Magazine raves is "a TV classic: slick, well-plotted and entertaining." And now, it’s an open-and-shut case with all 22 Season One episodes available on DVD for the first time ever!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16201 in DVD
• Brand: SAVALAS,TELLY
• Released on: 2005-03-22
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .80 pounds
• Running time: 1118 minutes

Amazon.com
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

Kojak Trivia

• Kojak's trademark lollypop was introduced as a cigarette substitute after Telly Savalas gave up smoking.
• The series was translated to Hungarian in the 1970s. The Actor, who gave his voice to Kojak, László Inke resembled Telly Savalas so much that a Hungarian movie was shot in which he actually played Kojak (the title is: Kojak Budapesten, and it was shot in 1980). While the original series is colored, the Hungarian film is black and white. Also, according to the plot of Kojak Budapesten, Kojak was born in Hungary, and had been a very clumsy cop before emigrating.
• All Kojak episodes except for a few were entirely filmed (except for a few exterior shots) in Studio City, CA at Universal Studios set on Stage 34.
• Telly Savalas was Jennifer Aniston's godfather.

Amazon.com
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

Customer Reviews

Greatest Detective Show Of All Time - But No More Seasons!
This was definitely a groundbreaking show with such an indominable lead in Telly Savalas, whose screen presence is all but unmatched. It was clear to me when they released this set that its purpose was to promote the new Kojak series with Ving Rhames (since cancelled), but I still assumed the release of one season must lead to the release of the remaining three.

Apparently not so.

After contacting Universal Home Video on this issues, I have been informed that they have no intention at all of releasing the rest of Kojak on DVD, must to my chagrin and annoyance. What a lousy way to treat the loyal fans of the show and loyal customer base for these unreleased shows! I highly recommend everyone who wants to see more Kojak contact Universal Home Video and demand the release of seasons 2-4.

http://www.universalstudios.com/homepage/html/contact_us/contact_form.cgi?email_id=10

THE BEST OF 1973-74
KOJAK was the best new series of 1973-74. Telly Savalas deserved his Best Actor Emmy for his portrayl of Lt. Theo Kojak, NYPD. The first season boasts 23 of the best one hour teleplays-dramas in the history of television. Authentic atmosphere and locations (the first season was shot primarily in NYC before shifting to L.A.) gave the premiere season a unique look absent in the following years. The first rate scripts by Jack Laird, Halstead Wells, Mort Fine and Gene Kearney were amplified by stellar performances by Savalas, Kevin Dobson (who came from the Long Island Railroad and stock to play Detective Bobby Crocker), George Savalas (Telly's brother, who went under the nom-de-gere Demosthenes for 2 seasons) and Dan Frazier. The guest stars were also outstanding, most noteable: Harry Guardino (DEAD ON HIS FEAT), Jackie Cooper (LAST RITES FOR A DEAD PRIEST), Tina Louise (DIE BEFORE THEY WAKE), Harvey Keitel (SIEGE OF TERROR) Paul Michael Glasser (DOWN A LONG AND LONLEY RIVER, which also features Jennifer Aniston's father, John, as mobster Albert Dansek) and a very young James Woods (DEATH IS NOT A PASSING GRADE). Telly was the man and he made the character his own: the charm, the ethnicity, the custom made suits. The first season of KOJAK continues to rank the best of the series 5, especially with the John Cacavas soundtrack of Season 1. FYI: What was to become Telly's signature line ("Who loves ya?") debuts in DIE BEFORE THEY WAKE. Without a doubt, we all loved you Telly!!!!

Warning....
This is a warning to anyone who buys multiple set DVDs. There could be a problem with "sticking" (the picture freezes or skips) with these DVDs. When ever you buy a multiple DVD set (or any DVD for that matter), quickly view or fast foward through all of the DVDs to make sure that there are no defects on any of them.

I believe that, unfortunately, the makers of these products are just out to make a quick buck, so they just rush, crank 'em out as quickly as possible, not worried so much about the quality of the final product.

As for the Kojak shows themselves, in my opinion, they're excellent. The show plots, dialog, and action (and Telly Savalas) are worth the price of the DVDs themselves (and the shots of '70's New York are priceless!!). The picture quality is good, although I do have to turn up the volume a bit to hear the sound. You can read more indepth reviews of "Kojak" on this site.

I brought these DVDs in March of this year and just a few days ago found out that there was a defect on one of them, on the third (3 of 3) DVD, of course! I didn't suspect anything wrong with the set, since while I have only a few DVDs, none of them have had this "sticking" problem. I was taking my time, watching one episode about one to three times every month after having just brought them. Then I get to the third DVD, episode 19 to be exact, and near the end, Kojak freezes, then about 5 minutes later (after a few tries to get it to play) skips to the end credits, freezes a few more times, then ends. And it was soooo good up until this point! And I can't return it because its waay after the 30 day return period. sh*@t!!

Again, check the DVDs you buy right away. You don't want to be stuck with a DVD you can't watch.