STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs
This is a worthwhile enough TV series that never really became a major hit but,ironically enough,most probably played a part in setting Michael Douglas on the road to superstardom.Karl Malden is a fairly effective leading man,he overacts a little a few times but he provides a solid basis for the rest of the cast to work from.Douglas himself comes across as very eager to please,apparently determined to prove he could make it on his own as a credible actor and not just go into the big time on the basis of being his father's son.As an on screen pair,Malden and Douglas seem to lack much witty banter and effective rapport,preferring instead to heavy handedly solve cases,which probably explains why the show was never as big a hit as,say,Starsky and Hutch or Charlie's Angels.But great competence has obviously been put into making it,and it does,in turn,come off as very professionally made.One would wonder whether the San Francisco setting could be attributable to the success of the film Dirty Harry at around the time of it's release as well.***
This is a worthwhile enough TV series that never really became a major hit but,ironically enough,most probably played a part in setting Michael Douglas on the road to superstardom.Karl Malden is a fairly effective leading man,he overacts a little a few times but he provides a solid basis for the rest of the cast to work from.Douglas himself comes across as very eager to please,apparently determined to prove he could make it on his own as a credible actor and not just go into the big time on the basis of being his father's son.As an on screen pair,Malden and Douglas seem to lack much witty banter and effective rapport,preferring instead to heavy handedly solve cases,which probably explains why the show was never as big a hit as,say,Starsky and Hutch or Charlie's Angels.But great competence has obviously been put into making it,and it does,in turn,come off as very professionally made.One would wonder whether the San Francisco setting could be attributable to the success of the film Dirty Harry at around the time of it's release as well.***