The Streets of San Francisco: Vol. 1, Season 1

THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO was one of the best crime dramas of the 70's, featuring screen veteran Karl Malden as Lieutenant Mike Stone and rising star Michael Douglas as Inspector Steve Keller. The series was produced by Quinn Martin and filmed on location in the City By The Bay.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about STREETS, besides the solid scripts and beautiful location scenery, was its powerhouse roster of guest stars. The series featured performances by many top actors from both new and old Hollywood, including Martin Sheen, Joseph Cotten, James Woods, Ida Lupino, John Ritter, Leslie Nielsen, Patty Duke, Nick Nolte, Rick Nelson, Larry Hagman and even a young Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Michael Douglas left the series in 1976 to pursue a movie career. His final episode was the two-part fifth season premiere, "The Thrill Killers", about a radical organization that kidnaps an entire jury. The story was inspired by the Patricia Hearst kidnapping case, which was still making headlines at the time. Douglas was replaced by Richard Hatch for the final year.

The first season has quite a number of outstanding segments, and it's great to see it finally coming out on DVD. Praise should go to the artist who did the cover design -- it's one of the coolest DVD covers I've seen in quite some time. Yes, having the season split up into two separate volumes is questionable, but regardless of how it's released, THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO is definitely worth adding to anyone's classic TV collection.

Agreeing with nearly every reviewer here about the quality of the show and the greediness of Paramount to not have the whole first season on these discs for the price you'd normally pay for a complete season, I have to add alittle about the show's appeal to someone who wasn't aloive at the time of its airing. I grew up in the 80s, but the residual culture of the 70s was quite strong in my neighborhood and childhood television experience. Watching this show brings me right back to all that was well with the world of my youth with its fros, leisure suits, big cars, loud colors and cymbol tinking sound tracks when the cops sneek around at night. And i love how you can see the mics under the casts' shirts and the camera in the windows' reflections. Or how the dead can be seen breathing or blinking. So refreshing compared to the over-hyped and over-gross details of death, murder and sex that are soooooo pervasive today. And the camera work is great. No jumping aorund like Law and Order to give you a headache! Oh how I wish the 70s and early 80s were still here. Every age has it's own sense of innocence when thought back upon, and this show captures that for me. Sounds wierd, but maybe you understand too.

The plots of SoSF are pretty good, the pace relaxing and the acting/guest appearances are superb. Buy this set (used?) or get it like I did at the library. Good times indeed! Enjoy!

SOSF was one of the best cop shows on TV and exemplified the 70s. Many of us who lived through that era and enjoyed the shows were salivating over the eventual (and LONG OVERDUE) DVD release. When I read an IMDB blog that Amazon had it on pre-order, I rushed to the site.

I was thoroughly disappointed and disgusted that this DVD is PART ONE of Season One! Part One!!! And the price is what you'd expect to pay for a full season on most other TV series, except some like Wiseguy, whose distributors were clearly trying to bloodsuck money from the fans. Clearly, that is the case here, too: when a fan get the full Season One, he/she will pay double. I won't: I'll wait until an Amazon seller drops it down to half price and get it then.

SHAME!!