Yesterday we were as pleased as punch (that's an odd saying isn't it?) to bring you
Universal's announcement that
Kojak - Season 1 was coming to DVD on
March 8th. We've already passed on all the specs for this release yesterday, but now we've got further details. Let's start with Universal's description:
Relive the adventures of television's greatest detective with the complete first season of the unforgettable, award-winning crime series, Kojak. Available on DVD for the first time ever in this thrilling 3-disc collection.
Emmy and Golden Globe winner Telly Savalas is back as the outspoken Lieutenant Theo Kojak. He's got style, street smarts, and a penchant for lollipops, and he's hitting the gritty streets of New York in pursuit of some of television's toughest criminals. Follow the clues on all his smart, edgy adventures with some of television's hottest guest stars, including John Ritter, James Woods and Harvey Keitel.
Kojak, Season One. It's an open-and-shut case with all 22 Season One episodes available on DVD for the first time ever. Only from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Not Rated. Now, who loves ya' baby?
Dabney Coleman also guest stars, along with James Sloyan, Hector Elizondo, Scatman Crothers, Yvonne Craig, Ken Kercheval, Gretchen Corbett, Nicholas Colasanto, Lorraine Gary, Jackie Cooper, Pamela Hensley, Ann Jillian, Jayne Kennedy, Tina Louise, Isabel Sanford, Jack Colvin, Burton Armus, Paul Michael Glaser, John Aniston (Jennifer Aniston's father; Savalas is Jennifer's godfather), and John Hillerman.
As you can see, the announcement specifies that there are 22 episodes, and doesn't mention the pilot telefilm which launched the series 7 months before its regular weekly run began. Looking at the running time (a minute was added, bringing it to 1119) and the 22-episode count, it sure looks like that pilot is not inlcuded on this compilation. Also, Universal has not mentioned any extras. However, on past TV-DVD releases we've seen where they waited until later to publicly mention the supplements, so we might hear more about that later on.
Don't forget that this DVD release is a tie-in to the USA Network release of
the new Ving Rhames version of Kojak, which was so satisfying to the network that they immediately ordered the approval of a new weekly TV series with Rhames, before the new TV movie even aired! It's good to see that the character is in such capable hands; we wish the new production team well and look forward to seeing a well-done revisit to our bald-headed protector.
Amazon wasted no time in getting a
pre-order listing up for
Kojak - Season 1, selling it for just $27.99 (that's 30% off the $39.98 SRP). We've shown you a small, fuzzy version of the cover art, but here's a bigger, clearer, more final version of it. Enjoy!
UPDATE (1/6)
We now have a menu shot from the DVD set; here's a look at it:
