Season three for The Streets of San Francisco, and the ratings and award recognition continued unabated. In fact, despite retaining its rank of 22nd in the national ratings, the numbers actually went up in season three, and the show’s Emmy nominees this season not only included stars Karl Malden and Michael Douglas but also the show as Best Drama and episode director Harry Falk. Though it didn’t win in any of those categories, the show really seemed to have found a welcome audience and was continuing to turn out very involving, highly watchable episodes.
The Streets of San Francisco: Season 3, Volume 1
Directed by William Hale et al
Studio: CBS/Paramount
Year: 1974
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 616 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English
Subtitles: SDH
MSRP: $42.99
Release Date: July 3, 2012
Review Date: June 20, 2012
The Season
3.5/5
The series is actually a fairly standard crime drama. With the crimes almost always shown in the opening few minutes, there is no real mystery as to the perpetrators’ identities, and sometimes the police detectives seem to get a handle on who the guilty parties might be very easily (perhaps too easily in some cases). There are only two real mysteries among the twelve episodes represented on this three disc set, both of them fairly routine and easily solved. And yet, even with those lapses, the show’s writers have gone out of their way to introduce unusual subjects around which to build their crime stories. An alcoholic cop, a schizophrenic female impersonator, an alluring hit woman: all prove worthy adversaries for the program’s two lead detectives Lieutenant Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and college educated Inspector Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) as his eager-to-please partner. Among other cases the duo must solve in these first twelve episodes of season three: an attractive assassin out to kill the Chinese ambassador, Stone’s former partner who has revenge on his mind, and an episode revolving around child abuse which with less preachy writing and a tad less melodrama could have really been outstanding.
Producer Quinn Martin always kept a steady stream of top notch Hollywood talent employed in guest roles in his shows. Among the guest stars in season three’s first half of episodes are Leslie Nielsen, Susan Strasberg, Jock Mahoney, Barry Sullivan, Brenda Vaccaro, Bill Bixby, Andrew Duggan, Denny Miller, Bernie Kopell, Herb Edelman, John Davidson, John Fiedler, Don Stroud, Pippa Scott, Edward Mulhare, Brock Peters, Mitch Vogel, Dabney Coleman, Robert Walden, Maidie Norman, Kenneth Tobey, Robert Hogan, Mariette Hartley, Marge Redmond, Clint Howard, Mike Evans, Hari Rhodes, Larry Pennell, Dennis Cole, Christopher Stone, and Murray Hamilton.
As usual with Quinn Martin productions, the episode layouts fall into a very traditional pattern: four acts and an epilog. Here is the rundown of the twelve episodes from this first half of season three:
1 – One Last Shot
2 – The Most Deadly Species
3 – Target Red
4 – Mask of Death
5 – I Ain’t Marchin’ Any More
6 – One Chance to Live
7 – Jacob’s Boy
8 – Flags of Terror
9 – Cry Help!
10 – For Good or Evil
11 – Bird of Prey
12 – License to Kill
Video Quality
4/5
The episodes are framed at their original 1.33:1 television aspect ratio. They’ve obviously been remastered because sharpness and color saturation are really strong in most of the episodes with only some occasionally faulty focus-pulling leading to soft, hazy shots. Greens and reds are particularly strong throughout these twelve episodes, and flesh tones are accurate if occasionally oversaturated. There are a few dust specks here and there, and there’s some minor moiré patterns to be seen, but overall, the encode deals spectacularly with the pinstriped, plaid, and herringbone jackets the men wear with nary a flicker of an artifact. Each episode has been divided into 7 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track is decoded by Dolby Prologic into the center channel. Though dialog is clear, occasionally high pitched voices and other sound effects do exhibit some distortion, and ADR is often glaringly obvious. However, despite a lack of bass in the music and sound effects, it’s an effective mono encode, In all, it’s a very typical audio track for its era.
Special Features
0/5
Apart from previews of other Paramount TV releases such as Perry Mason - 50th Anniversary Edition, Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, The Streets of San Francisco, and The Untouchables, there are no bonuses with the set.
In Conclusion
3.5/5 (not an average)
The first half of season three of Quinn Martin’s The Streets of San Francisco is every bit as entertaining as the previous set releases. It’s an above average police drama that fans will enjoy seeing again looking very nice indeed for a show of its age.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
