The Streets of San Francisco: Season 2, Volume 2

By the end of The Streets of San Francisco’s sophomore season, the relationship between veteran cop Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and hotshot rookie Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) has deepened, with none of the generational tension that underscored Season One. They are partners and genuine friends (Stone still calls Keller "buddy boy," and Keller needles Mike about only reading the sports pages), but Stone still has much to teach him. In the episode, "Rampage," Keller discovers that a former Berkley classmate might by one of a group of neighborhood vigilantes. He may have mellowed towards Keller, but he’s still the old hardnosed Mike Stone while questioning suspects. In "Death and the Favored Few," he stands up to a socially connected blue blood who knows more than she’s telling about a sleazy, scandal sheet publisher’s murder. In "A String of Puppets" (one of two episodes directed by Richard Donner), Stone suspects that the best parole officer in the whole department is the ringleader of a gang of thieves. "You’re way off on this one," a colleague protests. (He's not.) Streets is a by the book police procedural; nothing flashy. Some cases unfold like mysteries, others clue viewers in as to who the culprit is, and still others hit close to home, as witness "Commitment," in which Stone is framed for the murder of an undercover cop. A fortuitous partering of old and new Hollywood, Malden and Douglas are able to carry this series without backup, although some stellar guest stars work the Streets in these episodes, including Nick Nolte, Leslie Nielsen, Charles Martin Smith (Toad in American Graffiti), Claude Akins, and dynamite entertainer Lola Falana. --Donald Liebenson