Les rues de San Francisco

The Streets of San Francisco, as with most Quinn Martin series, is a standard crime drama. What makes the show better than most crime dramas is the father/son chemistry between Karl Malden as veteran Detective Lt. Mike Stone and Michael Douglas as the younger partner Inspector Steve Keller, the 70's, R&B-style theme music by Patrick Williams and the cool, pre-MTV opening credits.

What really made this show better than most is the fact that Quinn Martin did spend the extra money and filmed the show entirely in San Francisco. In the 70s, most prime time TV shows were filmed in Los Angeles. I believe Hawaii Five-O was one of only a few prime-time dramas from the early 70s that was filmed on location.

When Douglas left the series and Richard Hatch (from the original Battlestar Galactica, not the Richard Hatch from the first Survivor) replaced him, I quickly lost interest in the show. The chemistry between Malden and Douglas was very important to the show and Hatch had the thankless task of creating a character that in the long run was bland.

Despite the show's final season, I'm certain that if I had the TV on and heard the drum beats of The Streets of San Francisco theme, I am very sure that I will probably spend the rest of the hour watching the show.

This was definitely a good show and it really fed off the dynamic of the older cop (Malden) and the younger cop (Douglas). The chemistry between the two was what made the show great and it would eventually be the springboard to the later success that Michael Douglas would have in later years. Also, this show is definitely overlooked when it comes to classic police dramas. Too bad it had to come out in an era when the super cop shows dominated the television landscape.

San Francisco was still like THIS! Karl Malden dispensing wisdom, Michael Douglas dispensing testosterone, new Fords as far as the eye can see, and only a hint of the depravity that the city exudes. Good stories, well directed, thoughtful in short doses. Worth your time until Douglas exits, then it fades to black.

I like those crime shows of gone times, as crime shows and movies where about crime and not about personal drama of the detectives or suspects. The show now lives mainly from the great chemistry between Karl Malden and Michael Douglas and the fine 70s flair in Frisco. The stories may look from today's perspective to some rather simple and standard but remember this show was aired first in the 70s, so this is not the copy but the original. Still good + refined by nostalgia.

Just the opposite of Dirty Harry. Where Eastwood spent his time ranting against and beating up, shooting, or threatening hippies, women, and Blacks, these were San Francisco detectives in a show with a social conscience even while they tried to catch criminals.

Gays are depicted positively. Blacks shown sympathetically, even if guilty of crimes. Outcasts of all kinds are shown as victims of circumstances.

Probably the height of its progressive sensitivity was an episode with one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's first roles. He plays a bodybuilder who accidentally kills a woman who mocked his muscle flexing. Surprisingly, his acting was better than in most of his films.