Kojak


Kojak is an American action crime drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theophilus "Theo" Kojak. Taking the time slot of the popular Cannon series, it aired on CBS from 1973 to 1978.
In 1999, TV Guide ranked Theo Kojak number 18 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list.

Production

The show was created by Abby Mann, an Academy Award–winning film writer best known for his work on drama anthologies such as Robert Montgomery Presents and Playhouse 90. Universal Television approached him to do a story based on the 1963 Wylie-Hoffert murders, the brutal rape and murder of two young professional women in Manhattan.
Poor and corrupt police work and the prevailing casual attitude toward suspects' civil rights led the crimes in the Wylie-Hoffert case to be pinned on a young African American man, George Whitmore Jr., who had been arrested on a separate assault charge. After illegally obtaining a confession, the police had the suspect all but convicted until a second investigation by a different team of detectives exonerated the suspect and identified the real killer, Richard Robles, who was convicted in 1965 and sentenced to life in prison.
Mann developed the project as a gritty police procedural, but with a subtext focusing on institutionalized prejudice and the civil rights of suspects and witnesses. The result was a 1973 made-for-TV movie, The Marcus-Nelson Murders. The opening and closing titles of the film emphasized the point that it was a fictional account of the events that led to the creation of Miranda rights by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966. Selwyn Raab's book Justice in the Back Room provided Mann with some of his inspiration for the story of The Marcus-Nelson Murders, and the series subsequently included a credits reference to having been "suggested by a book by Selwyn Raab".
Savalas starred in The Marcus-Nelson Murders as a police detective whose last name was spelled "Kojack". The film served as a pilot for the Kojak television series. Kojak himself was a composite character, based on a number of detectives, lawyers, and reporters who were involved in the Wylie-Hoffert murder case.

Plot

Series

The series is set in the New York City Police Department's Eleventh Precinct, Manhattan South Patrol Borough. The series was also filmed in New York City.
The show revolved around the efforts of the tough and incorruptible Lieutenant Theophilus Kojak, a bald, dapper New York City policeman, who was fond of Dum-Dums and of using the catchphrases "Who loves ya, baby?", "Quit ya bellyaching", and "Cootchie-coo!". Kojak was stubborn and tenacious in his investigation of crimes—and also displayed a dark, cynical wit, along with a tendency to bend the rules if it brought a criminal to justice.
In the context of the script, Kojak's was seen as typical squad-room humor, which was picked up later in the TV drama Hill Street Blues. Savalas described Kojak as a "basically honest character, tough but with feelings—the kind of guy who might kick a hooker in the tail if he had to, but they'd understand each other because maybe they grew up on the same kind of block." Kojak's Greek American heritage, shared by actor Savalas, was featured prominently in the series.
In the early episodes of the series, he is often seen smoking cigarettes. Following the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on smoking, cigarette commercials were banned from American television in 1971, and public awareness of the dangers of cigarette smoking increased dramatically during the 1970s. To cut down on his own habit, Kojak began using lollipops as a substitute. The lollipop made its debut in the Season 1 episode "Dark Sunday", broadcast on December 12, 1973; Kojak lights a cigarette as he begins questioning a witness, but thinks better of it and sticks a lollipop in his mouth instead. Later in the episode, Kevin Dobson's character Crocker asks about the lollipop and Kojak replies, "I'm looking to close the generation gap." Although Kojak continued to smoke, as he was frequently seen lighting a cigarillo, the lollipop eventually became his identifying characteristic; in fact, when the series debuted a new opening montage in season five, Kojak is seen both lighting a cigarillo and popping a lollipop into his mouth.
His longtime supervisor was Capt. Frank McNeil, a man who never seemed to know what was going on. Later in the series, McNeil was promoted to Chief of Detectives in Manhattan. Kojak is the commander of the Manhattan South Precinct's detective squad. His squad includes one of his favorite employees, young plainclothes officer, Det. Bobby Crocker. Detective Stavros, played by Telly's real-life brother George Savalas, used the name "Demosthenes" as his screen credit during the first two seasons. George Savalas, under his real name, also received a Production Associate credit during the first season and a Production Assistant credit for the second season. Detective Saperstein, and Detective Rizzo, all gave Kojak support. Roger Robinson appeared in 12 episodes as Detective Gil Weaver.
Although the show primarily focused on Kojak's police work, it occasionally veered into other areas of the characters' lives, such as the first-season episode "Knockover", which included a subplot involving Kojak romancing a female police officer. In 1976, crime writer Joe Gores received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Episode in a TV Series Teleplay for the third-season episode "No Immunity for Murder".
The show was canceled after five seasons in 1978, due to falling ratings. Reruns of Kojak became successful in syndication and on TV Land.

TV movies

Years after the series ended, Savalas reprised the role in two CBS TV movies, Kojak: The Belarus File and Kojak: The Price of Justice . Kojak is not a character in either book. Dan Frazer, George Savalas, Mark Russell and Vince Conti made their final appearances in The Belarus File.
In 1989, ABC revived the series again with five additional TV movies. These films saw now-Inspector Kojak lead the NYPD's Major Crimes Squad. Andre Braugher was cast as Winston Blake, a young detective assigned to Kojak's command. Kevin Dobson returned for the fourth film It's Always Something.
Telly Savalas and Dan Frazer are the only cast members to appear in every episode of the original series. Kevin Dobson appeared in all but two episodes, while George Savalas appeared in all but three.

Characters

  • Telly Savalas as Lieutenant Theophilus "Theo" Kojak
  • Dan Frazer as Captain Francis "Frank" McNeil, Kojak's boss
  • Kevin Dobson as Detective 3rd Grade Robert "Bobby" Crocker
  • George Savalas as Detective Sargent Demosthenes Stavros
  • Mark Russell as Detective Mark Saperstein
  • Vince Conti as Detective Gino Rizzo
  • Roger Robinson as Detective Gil Weaver

    Music

Two main title themes were used for the show. The somewhat better-known first Kojak theme, in two distinct arrangements, is the work of Billy Goldenberg, who scored the first two episodes of the series. The first of these two arrangements was used for episodes 1–27. The second of these two arrangements was used for episodes 28–96. Kim Richmond scored the series' third episode. John Cacavas composed the second main title theme used for the show's fifth and final season. In addition, Cacavas composed the music score beginning with the series' fourth episode and continued throughout the remainder of the series.
Goldenberg's first Kojak theme had lyrics, written by Bill Dyer. The song, entitled We'll Make It This Time was performed by Sammy Davis Jr. on his 1976 album The Song and Dance Man.

Cars

Kojak drove an unmarked police car. A 1973 Buick Century police detective car with full wheel covers and a 1974 Buick Century 455 badged sedan with small wheel covers were used. Both cars were dark brown. The 1973 grille has three horizontal bars while the 1974 has five horizontal bars. A blue 1974 Century sedan was also featured. Later in the series, the brown Century was replaced by a 1975 copper color model. The New York orange with dark blue lettered license plate on the brown police detective car was 383-JDZ.

Episodes

Kojak aired for five seasons on CBS, from 1973 to 1978 for a total of 118 episodes. In the United Kingdom, the series premiered on 24 August 1974 on BBC1. In 1985, seven years after the series ended, Telly Savalas returned to play Kojak in seven TV movies beginning with Kojak: The Belarus File. The first two were aired by CBS and the latter five were aired on ABC as part of their ABC Saturday Mystery Movie theme block. His character was promoted to the rank of captain, and later inspector. Andre Braugher co-starred as Det. Winston Blake, and for one TV movie, Kojak: It's Always Something, Kevin Dobson returned as Bobby Crocker, now an assistant district attorney. Guest stars in these TV movies included Angie Dickinson, Marcia Gay Harden, Max von Sydow, Jerry Orbach and Suzanne Pleshette.

Broadcast history and Nielsen ratings

Remake

In March 2005, a new Kojak series debuted on the USA Network cable channel and on ITV4 in the UK. In this re-imagined version, African-American actor Ving Rhames portrays the character. The series only lasted one season.

In other media

Books

There was a series of novelizations written by Victor B. Miller.
  • Kojak #1: Siege. New York: Pocket Books, 1974
  • Kojak #2: Requiem for a Cop. New York: Pocket Books,1974
  • Kojak #3: Girl in the River. New York: Pocket Books, 1975
  • Kojak #4: Therapy in Dynamite. New York: Pocket Books, 1975
  • Kojak #5: Death Is Not a Passing Grade. New York: Pocket Books, 1975
  • Kojak #6: A Very Deadly Game. New York: Pocket Books, 1975
  • Kojak #7: Take-Over. New York: Pocket Books, 1975
  • Kojak #8: Gun Business. New York: Pocket Books, 1975
  • Kojak #9: The Trade-off. New York: Pocket Books, 1975.
Several titles were reprinted in the Pocket Books series for the British market by Star Books and one title, Marked for Murder, published in 1976, that was not in the American numbered series. Also, reprints with a different cover for Requiem for a Cop and Girl in the River were published in 1975.
Another book was published by Berkley Medallion Books in 1976. The author was Thom Racina and was titled, Kojak in San Francisco with a tagline, "The story that couldn't be shown on TV."
There were three annuals for Kojak published in 1977, 1978, and 1979.