Streets of San Francisco: Season Five, Volume Two

All right! Here we are with the STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO Season Five, Volume two! While the scripting for this season was still very good, with Richard Hatch (as Det. Dan Robbins); somehow the show didn't have the same feel to it as it did with the long standing partnership of Karl Maldon and Michael Douglas (departing after episode two) that made the show so famous. Nevertheless, it was still a very good enjoyable year for the show and it will be wonderful to finally have the entire series on dvd. Here is what we will have to look forward to with this October 30, 2012 release:

The special guest stars for this volume (2) will include:

Johnny Weissmuller Jr., Tim O'Conner, Marlyn Mason, Alan Fudge, Bruce Glover, Ned Beatty, Susan Oliver,
Christopher Atkins, Jack Donner, Mark Hamill, Carl Weathers, John Rubinstein, Linda Marsh, Lindon Chiles,
Louis Nettleton, Arthur Roberts, Diana Muldaur, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barry Cahill, Jerry Ayers, Pernell Roberts,
Sharon Acker, Marla Adams, John Friedrich, Linda Kelsey, Mark Wheeler, George McCallister, Ray Sharkey,
Ken Garas, Dennis Patrick, and many more!

The episode list is as follows:

1. THE CANNIBELS - A mobster's son steals from his father, then turns into a witness against him.
2. WHO KILLED HELEN FRENCH? - A wife beater's wife disappears.
3. A GOOD COP....BUT - A policeman and an informer are the only witnesses to a cop-killer's crime.
4. HANG TOUGH - A crooked cop is ousted by a stoolie.
5. INNOCENT NO MORE - When teen members beat the rap in juvenile court, Mike Stone gets them tried as adults.
6. ONCE IN A CON - A prison inmate in a special study program is accused of killing a co-ed.
7. INTERLUDE - A man in a mental institution escapes to find the killer of his wife.
8. DEAD LIFT - A body builder is dangerously thin-skinned.
9. BREAKUP - An ex-con goes after the prosecutor who sent him to prison.
10. LET'S PRETEND WE'RE STRANGERS - Dan Robbins falls in love with a public defender who managed to get a guilty man freed.
11. TIME OUT - Four "model" prisoners escape.
12. THE CANINE COLLAR - A smuggler hides diamonds in a dog collar, and now must find it.

Really looking forward to this release - collection complete!

Great writing. Team dynamics changed without Keller and still works. Malden always great. Sorry there are not more episodes. Great to have the entire season

This volume brings us the final 12 episodes of "Streets" and while the guest stars IMO weren't as good as on Voume 1, this is still worth buying, if only for the awesome "Who Killed Helen French" episode. This is one of those episodes that could only have been made in the '70s and has so many intriguing twists and turns you'd swear it was a two-hour episode. Other highlights include the Arnold Schwarzenegger appearance in "Dead Lift"; the gay-themed "A Good Cop...But" and "Once a Con". Even when the stories are less than excellent, the guest star performances make up for it, as in "Let's Pretend We're Strangers" with Linda Kelsey or "Hang Tough" featuring Ned Beatty.

The video quality of these 12 episodes is excellent and I still prefer Richard Hatch over smug Michael Douglas in this show. I only wish Hatch had been afforded more time on the series.

FIVE STARS. An addictive slice of '70s crime drama.