Cannon (TV series)

Cannon was portrayed in the series as a veteran of the Korean War and a former member of the Los Angeles Police Department. He was street smart but also appeared to have an unusually high level of education outside the law enforcement field. Besides his familiarity with several languages, he showed extensive knowledge of such diverse subjects as science, art and history. Cannon was a widower, having lost his wife and son in a bomb attack while he was on the police force, as revealed in the two-hour pilot.

Conrad was an overweight actor, and the series, especially in its early episodes, made frequent mention of Cannon's weight. Other characters would often remark critically about it, while he himself would joke self-deprecatingly about his girth and great love of food. In fact, Cannon was a gourmet cook who enjoyed preparing food for his friends. Despite his large size, he was a man of action. While he preferred to use his wits to escape a difficult situation, he could engage successfully in fistfights and shoot-outs with bad guys.

The plots, as in other detective series, revolved around Cannon solving crimes for a variety of clients. In a number of early episodes, he was hired by insurance companies to investigate losses. Other episodes involved him working for former police colleagues or other people from his past. In some cases, he was forced into action to clear himself of falsified charges.

Conrad as Frank Cannon.

Series star William Conrad was the only main cast member. Conrad was nominated for an Emmy Award in both 1973 and 1974 (Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series), but Richard Thomas won for The Waltons in 1973 and Telly Savalas won for Kojak in 1974.

There were very few recurring characters. In the first season, Martin Sheen appeared twice as ex-policeman Jerry Warton, but the character did not extend beyond the first year. In fact, Sheen guest-starred in the third season as a completely different character: a lawyer who murdered Cannon's client. The only other actors to appear in multiple episodes as the same character were Charles Bateman (five episodes as Lieutenant Paul Tarcher) and Arthur Adams (three episodes as Officer Bill Murray).

Cannon debuted in a two-hour movie on March 26, 1971 that served as the pilot. In the movie, Cannon's wife and child are killed in a car bomb meant for him, prompting him to resign from the Los Angeles police force and become a private detective.[1] The pilot was picked up to series for the 1971–72 television season, and the first one-hour episode aired September 14, 1971. The first season aired on Tuesday nights at 9:30 PM Eastern, following the popular Hawaii Five-0.[2] It moved to 10:00 PM Wednesday nights in season 2, then moved up to 9:00 PM Wednesdays for season 3 where it remained for the rest of the series run. Following three consecutive seasons in the Top 20 Nielsen ratings, Cannon fell to 39th in season 5 and was cancelled.[3]

CBS DVD (distributed by Paramount) has released the first two seasons of Cannon on DVD in Region 1. Season 3 was released on January 10, 2013, via Amazon.com's CreateSpace program. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Amazon.com.[5]

On May 4, 2015, it was announced that Visual Entertainment had acquired the rights to the series in Region 1.[6] They subsequently released Cannon - The Complete Collection on September 2, 2015.

On March 18, 2016, VEI re-released the first season on DVD and on April 1, 2016, they re-released the second season.[7]

In Region 4, Shock Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Australia.

Cannon received three Emmy Award nominations, for Outstanding Drama Series in 1973 and for William Conrad as Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1973 and 1974.[8]

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated Cannon for three Golden Globe Awards, for Best Television Series - Drama in 1974 and for William Conrad in 1972 and 1973 as Best Actor in a Drama Television Series.[9]

In an episode of his Thames Television series, British comedian Benny Hill parodied 1970s American detective series. In the skit, Hill played several staple characters of the genre: Frank Cannon, Robert Ironside, Theo Kojak, Sam McCloud (ironically, all b the latter were airing on BBC1 at the time rather than on Hill's home of ITV) and, although he was not a part of the genre, Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Cast member Jenny Lee-Wright played the role of Pepper Anderson.

• Cannon at IMDb 
• Cannon at TV.com