Cannon – Season Two, Volume One (CBS DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C- Episodes: B
By the
time of the latter half of Season Two
of Cannon, William Conrad had really
found his way with the character and the show was a deserved hit. You can read more about the first season at
this link, then search for the second half of that season elsewhere on this
site:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7356/Cannon+–+Season+One,+Volume+One
This
newest DVD set has 12 more hour-long shows that happen to round out the season
and actors/guest stars of note include Severn Darden, Michael Tolan, Larry
Linville, Richard Hatch, Ken Lynch, Norman Foster, Lloyd Bochner, Scott
Hylands, Jesse Vint, Mickey Dolenz, Jessica Walter, Robert Webber, Patrick
Riley, Patrick O’Neal, Mike Farrell, Sherry North, Kenneth Tobey, David Thorpe,
Phyllis Thaxter, Robert Pine, Pamela Franklin, Rosemary Murphy, Dana Elcar,
James A. Watson, Tracy Reed, Victor Campos, Andy Romano, Ray Kellogg, George
Maharis, Stephanie Powers, Robert Mandan, Kathleen Freeman, Max Gail, Jr., Clu
Gulager, Julie Adams, Lois Nettleton, Simon Scott, Bert Freed, Jared Martin,
Richard Eastman, Kevin Dobson, William Daniels, Linden Chiles, Louise Troy,
Alex Rocco, Nina Patterson and Andrew Duggan.
By this
time, the show found its way and though some points of the shows can be
mundane, other times, the show works and works very well as among the best of
the detective shows of its time and the 1970s cycle overall. Conrad is as good as he gets and it is also
one of the most enduring of such shows from Quinn Martin. It is in an odd way as good a place to start
as any with the series and a welcome set.
Let’s see how the rest of them hold up.
The 1.33
X 1 image is an improvement over the too-often softer images on the first
season sets, now with sharpness to go with those clean, colorful moments and
now, a few demo shots. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono is better, nice and clean enough for its age, though maybe some work
could be done to fix them up here and there.
Extras include episodic promos, but nothing new or vintage otherwise,
which ought to be corrected in the next sets and hopefully, CBS will get around
to issuing Conrad’s Nero Wolfe by
then.
- Nicholas Sheffo
