The Streets of San Francisco is an American police procedural television drama series produced by Quinn Martin Productions which revolves around two police officers who investigate homicides in San Francisco - one of them a veteran with over 20 years of experience and the other a plainclothes rookie with no experience.
The series aired in the USA on ABC from 16 September, 1972 to 9 June, 1977. There are 121 hour-long episodes in five seasons.
The Streets of San Francisco originally aired in South Africa on the old SABC service in the 1980s, dubbed into Afrikaans as Die Strate van San Francisco and simulcast on Radio South Africa. It later aired on StarSat's (formerly TopTV) FOX Retro channel and on DStv's FOX Crime channel. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 5 premiered on FOX Crime on Friday 24 January 2014, at 17h50. New episodes broadcast daily, on weekdays. There are 24 episodes in the fifth and final season.
Synopsis
The show revolves around two police officers who investigate homicides in San Francisco.
The centre of the series is veteran cop and widower, Lt Mike Stone (Karl Malden), who has more than twenty years of police experience and is now assigned to the Homicide Detail of SFPD's Bureau of Inspectors.
He is partnered with a young, plainclothes detective and energetic partner, Assistant Inspector Steve Keller (Michael Douglas), a college graduate, age twenty-eight, who has no experience in the police force.
Stone becomes a second father to Keller as he learned the rigors and procedures of detective work. Eventually, Keller is promoted to full inspector.
After the second episode of the fifth and final season, Douglas left the show after successfully producing the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which won the Academy Award for Best Film for 1975.
His character's absence was explained by having him take a teaching position at a local college, while Lt. Stone was partnered with another detective, Insp. Dan Robbins, played by Richard Hatch, who had started his career on the ABC soap All My Children and would later go on to Battlestar Galactica.
The change was not popular with audiences, and the show ended in 1977, due to low ratings.
Seasons
Note: broadcast details for the original run of the show on the SABC are unavailable
Season 1 (26 episodes)
Channel: FOX Retro | Premiere: 27 Oct 2011 | Finale: 1 Dec 2011 | Weekdays, 17h35
Channel: FOX Crime | Premiere: 10 Jul 2013 | Finale: 12 Aug 2013 | Weekdays, 18h10
Season 2 (23 episodes)
Channel: FOX Retro | Premiere: 2 Dec 2011 | Finale: 3 Jan 2012 | Weekdays, 17h35
Channel: FOX Crime | Premiere: 13 Aug 2013 | Finale: 12 Sep 2013 | Weekdays, 18h10
Season 3 (23 episodes)
Channel: FOX Retro | Premiere: 4 Jan 2012 | Finale: 3 Feb 2012 | Weekdays, 17h35
Channel: FOX Crime | Premiere: 13 Sep 2013 | Finale: 15 Oct 2013 | Weekdays, 18h10
Season 4 (23 episodes)
Channel: FOX Retro | Premiere: 8 Feb 2013 | Finale: 12 Mar 2013 | Weekdays, 13h25
Channel: FOX Crime | Premiere: 16 Oct 2013 | Finale: 15 Nov 2013 | Weekdays, 17h50
Season 5 (24 episodes)
Channel: FOX Retro | Premiere: 13 Mar 2013 | Finale: 15 Apr 2013 | Weekdays, 13h25
Channel: FOX Crime | Premiere: 24 Jan 2014 | Finale: 26 Feb 2014 | Weekdays, 17h50