| Full Show Summary The weekly adventures of Frank Cannon, an overweight, balding ex-cop with a deep voice and expensive tastes in culinary pleasures, who becomes a high-priced private investigator. Since Cannon's girth didn't allow for many fist-fights and gun battles (although there were many), the series substituted car chases and high production values in their place. |
| Date Aired | Cannon Episodes |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
| 14 September 1971 | Season 1, Episode 1: The Salinas Jackpot |
| 21 September 1971 | Season 1, Episode 2: Death Chain |
| 28 September 1971 | Season 1, Episode 3: Call Unicorn |
| 05 October 1971 | Season 1, Episode 4: Country Blues |
| 12 October 1971 | Season 1, Episode 5: Scream of Silence |
| 19 October 1971 | Season 1, Episode 6: Fool's Gold |
| 26 October 1971 | Season 1, Episode 7: The Girl in the Electric Coffin |
| 09 November 1971 | Season 1, Episode 8: Dead Pigeon |
| 16 November 1971 | Season 1, Episode 9: A Lonely Place to Die |
| 23 November 1971 | Season 1, Episode 10: No Pockets in a Shroud |
| 30 November 1971 | Season 1, Episode 11: Stone Cold Dead |
| 07 December 1971 | Season 1, Episode 12: Death Is a Double Cross |
| 14 December 1971 | Season 1, Episode 13: The Nowhere Man |
| 28 December 1971 | Season 1, Episode 14: Flight Plan |
| 04 January 1972 | Season 1, Episode 15: Devil's Playground |
| 11 January 1972 | Season 1, Episode 16: Treasure of San Ignacio |
| 18 January 1972 | Season 1, Episode 17: Blood on the Vine |
| 01 February 1972 | Season 1, Episode 18: To Kill a Guinea Pig |
| 08 February 1972 | Season 1, Episode 19: The Island Caper |
| 15 February 1972 | Season 1, Episode 20: A Deadly Quiet Town |
| 22 February 1972 | Season 1, Episode 21: A Flight of Hawks |
| 29 February 1972 | Season 1, Episode 22: The Torch |
| 07 March 1972 | Season 1, Episode 23: Cain's Mark |
| 14 March 1972 | Season 1, Episode 24: Murder by Moonlight |
| Season 2 | |
| 13 September 1972 | Season 2, Episode 1: Bad Cats and Sudden Death |
| 20 September 1972 | Season 2, Episode 2: Sky Above, Death Below |
| 27 September 1972 | Season 2, Episode 3: Bitter Legion |
| 04 October 1972 | Season 2, Episode 4: That Was No Lady |
| 11 October 1972 | Season 2, Episode 5: Stakeout |
| 18 October 1972 | Season 2, Episode 6: The Predators |
| 25 October 1972 | Season 2, Episode 7: A Long Way Down |
| 01 November 1972 | Season 2, Episode 8: The Rip-Off |
| 15 November 1972 | Season 2, Episode 9: Child of Fear |
| 22 November 1972 | Season 2, Episode 10: The Shadow Man |
| 29 November 1972 | Season 2, Episode 11: Hear No Evil |
| 13 December 1972 | Season 2, Episode 12: The Endangered Species |
| 20 December 1972 | Season 2, Episode 13: Nobody Beats the House |
| 03 January 1973 | Season 2, Episode 14: Hard Rock Roller Coaster |
| 10 January 1973 | Season 2, Episode 15: The Dead Samaritan |
| 17 January 1973 | Season 2, Episode 16: Death of a Stone Seahorse |
| 31 January 1973 | Season 2, Episode 17: Moving Target |
| 07 February 1973 | Season 2, Episode 18: Murder for Murder |
| 14 February 1973 | Season 2, Episode 19: To Ride a Tiger |
| 21 February 1973 | Season 2, Episode 20: The Prisoners |
| 28 February 1973 | Season 2, Episode 21: The Seventh Grave |
| 07 March 1973 | Season 2, Episode 22: Catch Me If You Can |
| 14 March 1973 | Season 2, Episode 23: Press Pass to the Slammer |
| 21 March 1973 | Season 2, Episode 24: Deadly Heritage |
| Season 3 | |
| 12 September 1973 | Season 3, Episode 1: He Who Digs a Grave (1) |
| 12 September 1973 | Season 3, Episode 2: He Who Digs a Grave (2) |
| 19 September 1973 | Season 3, Episode 3: Memo from a Dead Man |
| 26 September 1973 | Season 3, Episode 4: Hounds of Hell |
| 03 October 1973 | Season 3, Episode 5: Target in the Mirror |
| 10 October 1973 | Season 3, Episode 6: Murder by Proxy |
| 17 October 1973 | Season 3, Episode 7: Night Flight to Murder |
| 24 October 1973 | Season 3, Episode 8: Come Watch Me Die |
| 31 October 1973 | Season 3, Episode 9: The Perfect Alibi |
| 07 November 1973 | Season 3, Episode 10: Dead Lady's Tears |
| 14 November 1973 | Season 3, Episode 11: The Limping Man |
| 21 November 1973 | Season 3, Episode 12: Trial by Terror |
| 28 November 1973 | Season 3, Episode 13: Murder by the Numbers |
| 05 December 1973 | Season 3, Episode 14: Valley of the Damned |
| 12 December 1973 | Season 3, Episode 15: A Well Remembered Terror |
| 19 December 1973 | Season 3, Episode 16: Arena of Fear |
| 02 January 1974 | Season 3, Episode 17: Photo Finish |
| 16 January 1974 | Season 3, Episode 18: Duel in the Desert |
| 23 January 1974 | Season 3, Episode 19: Where's Jennifer? |
| 06 February 1974 | Season 3, Episode 20: Blood Money |
| 13 February 1974 | Season 3, Episode 21: Death of a Hunter |
| 20 February 1974 | Season 3, Episode 22: The Cure That Kills |
| 27 February 1974 | Season 3, Episode 23: Bobby Loved Me |
| 13 March 1974 | Season 3, Episode 24: Triangle of Terror |
| 20 March 1974 | Season 3, Episode 25: The Stalker |
| Season 4 | |
| 11 September 1974 | Season 4, Episode 1: Kelly's Song |
| 18 September 1974 | Season 4, Episode 2: The Hit Man |
| 25 September 1974 | Season 4, Episode 3: Voice from the Grave |
| 02 October 1974 | Season 4, Episode 4: Lady in Red |
| 16 October 1974 | Season 4, Episode 5: The Deadly Trail |
| 23 October 1974 | Season 4, Episode 6: The Exchange |
| 30 October 1974 | Season 4, Episode 7: The Avenger |
| 06 November 1974 | Season 4, Episode 8: A Killing in the Family |
| 13 November 1974 | Season 4, Episode 9: Flashpoint |
| 20 November 1974 | Season 4, Episode 10: The Man Who Couldn't Forget |
| 04 December 1974 | Season 4, Episode 11: The Sounds of Silence |
| 11 December 1974 | Season 4, Episode 12: The Prisoner |
| 18 December 1974 | Season 4, Episode 13: Daddy's Little Girl |
| 01 January 1975 | Season 4, Episode 14: The Conspirators |
| 15 January 1975 | Season 4, Episode 15: Coffin Corner |
| 22 January 1975 | Season 4, Episode 16: Perfect Fit for a Frame |
| 29 January 1975 | Season 4, Episode 17: Killer on the Hill |
| 05 February 1975 | Season 4, Episode 18: Missing at FL307 |
| 12 February 1975 | Season 4, Episode 19: The Set Up |
| 26 February 1975 | Season 4, Episode 20: The Investigator |
| 05 March 1975 | Season 4, Episode 21: Lady on the Run |
| 12 March 1975 | Season 4, Episode 22: Vengeance |
| 19 March 1975 | Season 4, Episode 23: Tomorrow Ends at Noon |
| 02 April 1975 | Season 4, Episode 24: Search and Destroy |
| Season 5 | |
| 10 September 1975 | Season 5, Episode 1: Nightmare |
| 17 September 1975 | Season 5, Episode 2: The Deadly Conspiracy |
| 24 September 1975 | Season 5, Episode 3: The Wrong Medicine |
| 01 October 1975 | Season 5, Episode 4: The Iceman |
| 08 October 1975 | Season 5, Episode 5: The Victim |
| 15 October 1975 | Season 5, Episode 6: The Man Who Died Twice |
| 22 October 1975 | Season 5, Episode 7: A Touch of Venom |
| 29 October 1975 | Season 5, Episode 8: Man in the Middle |
| 05 November 1975 | Season 5, Episode 9: Fall Guy |
| 12 November 1975 | Season 5, Episode 10: The Melted Man |
| 19 November 1975 | Season 5, Episode 11: Wedding March |
| 26 November 1975 | Season 5, Episode 12: The Hero |
| 03 December 1975 | Season 5, Episode 13: To Still the Voice |
| 10 December 1975 | Season 5, Episode 14: The Star (1) |
| 10 December 1975 | Season 5, Episode 15: The Star (2) |
| 17 December 1975 | Season 5, Episode 16: The Games Children Play |
| 07 January 1976 | Season 5, Episode 17: The Reformer |
| 14 January 1976 | Season 5, Episode 18: House of Cards |
| 21 January 1976 | Season 5, Episode 19: Revenge |
| 28 January 1976 | Season 5, Episode 20: Cry Wolf |
| 04 February 1976 | Season 5, Episode 21: Quasar Kill |
| 11 February 1976 | Season 5, Episode 22: Snap Shot |
| 18 February 1976 | Season 5, Episode 23: Point After Death |
| 25 February 1976 | Season 5, Episode 24: Blood Lines |
| 03 March 1976 | Season 5, Episode 25: Mad Man |
| Cannon | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action Crime Mystery Drama |
| Developed by | Edward Hume |
| Starring | William Conrad |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 5 |
| No. of episodes | 122 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Quinn Martin |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | QM Productions CBS Productions |
| Distributor | Viacom Enterprises (1983-1985) CBS Television Distribution |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | September 14, 1971 – March 3, 1976 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Barnaby Jones |
Cannon is an American detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from 1971 to 1976. The primary protagonist is the title character, private detective Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad.
Cannon is the first Quinn Martin series to be aired on a network other than ABC. A 'revival' television film, The Return of Frank Cannon, was aired on November 1, 1980. In total, there were 122 episodes plus the series two-hour pilot and the television film, The Return of Frank Cannon. The plots in the episodes revolved around Cannon solving a crime. Cannon's clients in the series varied widely, and the variation in clients led to considerable variation in the formats of the episodes. In a number of early episodes Cannon is hired by an insurance company who wants him to investigate a loss. Other episodes involved Cannon being hired by a police detective, a former lover, by a parent concerned about a missing child, or by a child concerned about a parent. In some episodes Cannon is hired by someone being threatened. There are also episodes in which Cannon is forced to get involved in order to exonerate himself.[1]
Series star William 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 and in 1974 Telly Savalas won for Kojak.
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, in the third season, Sheen guest starred as a lawyer who murdered Cannon's client.
Other guest stars included: Willie Aames, Sharon Acker, Claude Akins, Lou Antonio, Anne Baxter, Alan Bergmann, Whitney Blake, Whit Bissell, Lloyd Bochner, Sorrell Booke, Antoinette Bower, Brooke Bundy, Ahna Capri, Cathy Lee Crosby, William Daniels, Burr DeBenning, Severn Darden, Micky Dolenz, Dennis Dugan, Andrew Duggan, Shelley Duvall, Dana Elcar, Jason Evers, Mike Farrell, Joan Fontaine, Bert Freed, Leif Garrett, Paul Michael Glaser, David Soul, Dabbs Greer, Clu Gulager, Peter Haskell, Mark Hamill, Robert Hays, David Hedison, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Kim Hunter, David Janssen, Claudia Jennings, L. Q. Jones, Kate Keenan, Dan Kemp, Tom Kennedy, Sondra Locke, Robert Loggia, Tina Louise, Barbara Luna, George Maharis, Robert Mandan, Nora Marlowe, Ralph Meeker, Vera Miles, Donna Mills, Leslie Nielsen, Nick Nolte, Sheree North, Lee Paul, Steve Pendleton, John M. Pickard, Stefanie Powers, Judson Pratt, Denver Pyle, Eldon Quick, Dack Rambo, Wayne Rogers, John Rubinstein, Roy Scheider, Tom Skerritt, Peter Strauss, Vic Tayback, Malachi Throne, Ronne Troup, Joan Van Ark, Vincent Van Patten, John Vernon, Jessica Walter, Jess Walton, Cindy Williams, William Windom, Dana Wynter, and Anthony Zerbe.
In an era before cell phone use, Cannon was using a 'mobile phone' in his car, which was very rare at the time. Cannon, would first ask the mobile operator to dial a call for him. Phones of this type were precursors to modern cell phones. The phone prop itself, in his car, was a Motorola brand MTS mobile phone.
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Nielsen ratings[2] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Rank | Rating | Tied with | ||||
| Pilot | 1 | March 26, 1971 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
| 1 | 24 | September 14, 1971 | March 14, 1972 | 28 | 19.8 | Room 222 | ||
| 2 | 24 | September 13, 1972 | March 21, 1973 | 14 | 22.4 | N/A | ||
| 3 | 25 | September 12, 1973 | March 20, 1974 | 9 | 23.1 | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | ||
| 4 | 24 | September 11, 1974 | April 2, 1975 | 20 | 21.6 | Mannix | ||
| 5 | 25 | September 10, 1975 | March 3, 1976 | N/A | N/A | N/A | ||
| TV-movie | 1 | November 1, 1980 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||
Frank Cannon met Barnaby Jones (Buddy Ebsen), an aging veteran private investigator who had retired and turned over his agency to his son, Hal, when Hal is killed. With the aid of Cannon and Hal's widow, Betty Jones (Lee Meriwether), he hunts down Hal's killer. Afterwards, Jones decides to come out of retirement. The premiere episode of Barnaby Jones, 'Requiem for a Son' was planned as a second-season Cannon episode, but when Barnaby Jones was sold as a separate series the script was reworked into the premiere of that series. William Conrad appeared as a special guest star.
There was a second 'crossover' between the series. The first part of the two-part episode, 'The Deadly Conspiracy', was aired as the second episode of the fifth season of Cannon on September 17, 1975; the second part aired two nights later as the fourth-season premiere of Barnaby Jones.
Notably, in its final season, Cannon featured LGBT characters in two episodes, 'Point after Death'[3] and 'Bloodlines'[4].
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.
| DVD name | Ep no. | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1, Volume 1 | 13 | July 8, 2008 |
| Season 1, Volume 2 | 13 | December 2, 2008 |
| Season 1 | 24 | March 18, 2016 |
| Season 2, Volume 1 | 12 | June 2, 2009 |
| Season 2, Volume 2 | 12 | February 16, 2010 |
| Season 2 | 24 | April 1, 2016 |
| Season 3 | 24 | January 10, 2013 |
| Season 4 | 24 | N/A |
| Season 5 | 25 | N/A |
| The Complete Series | 122 | September 2, 2015 |
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]
A series of nine tie-in novels were published in the 1970s by Lancer/Magnum in the United States and Triphammer/Corgi in the United Kingdom.[10]
In an episode of his Thames Televisionseries, 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 bar 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.
The comedian Franklyn Ajaye does a routine where he mentions that it takes Frank Cannon so long to get out of his car 2-3 times a show that there is hardly time for anything else.
In Mystery Science Theater 3000, one of the more absurd inventions displayed by the Mad Scientists was a William Conrad Refrigerator Alert; it sounds off if William Conrad raids your refrigerator.
Impressionist Billy Howard included Cannon as one of the detectives parodied in his novelty hit record 'King of the Cops'.