Word: kojak
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Charlie's Angels was rewritten to make each angel not only look but also sound different. "You must know that one character will say a line one way and another would say it differently," Silverman told the producers. "You must define these characters better." Originally, Writer Abby Mann wanted Kojak to be more human and more fallible. But Silverman wanted him tailored to fit the style of Star Telly Savalas. Now, complains Mann, who is no longer involved in the Kojak series, "Kojak is imperturbable. He's always right. He has become exactly the reverse of what I intended...
...Brothers Grimm than it is to 2001. My main reason for making it was to give young people an honest, wholesome fantasy life, the kind my generation had. We had westerns, pirate movies, all kinds of great things. Now they have The Six Million Dollar Man and Kojak. Where are the romance, the adventure, and the fun that used to be in practically every movie made...
...Crocker," Kojak would say, musing over the body of a just dispatched crook, "...don't worry. It happens." For Long John and Bentley, facing generals and then orals, facing the real prospect of unemployment in June, that was transcendent wisdom. It happens. No use worrying. The simple serene Greek wisdom of Theo Kojak. There was another side also appealing, to Kojak: he was a tough, single-minded avenger of slights, insults and crimes. On the trail of a double-crossing jewel thief or of a big-time narcotics gang, he'd snap orders to Crocker and Stavros, ignore the warnings...
Style? From the bald pate to the thin cigars to the vested suits, Kojak exuded a distinctive charm. (Long John learned from his barber that a shaved head was now a "Kojak" --in the old days they had been called "Yul Brynners.") Sure, he was rough, often abrasive. Admittedly there was little of the intellectual about him. But who would you want when you faced a cornered pack of diamond-smuggling mobsters: Theo Kojak or John Finely? So much for urbanity. And for all his gruffness, Kojak could display that heart of gold all macho crime fighters are obliged...
...they had reason to spend those warm evenings in front of the set. Bentley summed it up: "Kojak is something to believe in when the rest of the world has gone crazy." Long John wasn't so sure he believed in Bentley's theory; he was suspicious of anyone assigning grand motives to him--whether commencement speakers or his parents. But it was as good a theory as the next. And Kojak was a cheap and convenient life-line. Besides, he didn't have the liver for non-stop drinking and his backhand had always been suspect...