Madman

Aside from the made for TV movie "The Return of Frank Cannon" (1980), this is the final time to see Cannon. And, for a final episode, it looks as if the writers ran out of conventional ideas and went for something very unconventional...though it seemed to work for me.

This episode is about mind control drugs being used by the US Army...something, sadly, that really DID happen during the 1960s...when such experiments were considered 'necessary'. In this episode, a soldier runs amok on base--trying to kill his doctor and shooting at others. Frank Cannon is asked to investigate by the wife of the shooter, as she cannot understand the sudden change in her husband. From the minute he arrives, the base commander stonewalls his investigation....good thing Cannon is friends with a general who is more than willing to get to the bottom of what's really happening here.

This is an interesting, albeit paranoid episode of the show. But, as I mentioned above, there had been mind altering experiments done in the past...so the idea isn't so far-fetched after all. Weird but well done...and a radical departure for the show...especially since a private eye would have no ability to really go onto a military base and investigate much of anything in real life.

It was big news in Hollywood at the time that CANNON was leaving the air. The series may not necessarily have been cancelled, though the ratings dipped significantly, the series running up against BARETTA. The show even left its long time Wednesday slot and moved to Sundays, taking the old MANNIX time slot.

The fifth season had some dynamic episodes and definitely could have had a longer life. There's also been some chatter that William Conrad may have bowed out due to personal reasons, and to note his wife passed a few years later. He may have wanted to spend time with his family. CBS certainly supported him, and thank you's were extended from all the good folks (and some superstars) who worked on the series.

It's still around in reruns, which would have made him quite happy. In fact, it's been said JAKE AND THE FATMAN was an offbeat salute to this classic cop show. Hopefully, METV will eventually run it too.

The final episode is excellent, all about controversial mind experiments in the US Army. Actually, beginning in the 1950s, there were investigations as to whether military personnel were secretly given illegal drugs. Later, documentary shows, like 60 MINUTES and 20/20 did stories on military suicides and whether they could have been the result of subliminal drug activity.

Cannon investigates strange happenings on an army base. The cast is top notch, with Conrad's old Warner Brothers pal Simon Scott playing a general, and looking every bit of the part. Soap opera star Quinn Redeker (DAYS OF OUR LIVES and THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS) plays Sgt. Wilson and Peter Mark Richman plays a colonel. A staple in tv shows for decades.

Cannon did make a brief comeback in 1980 in a two hour movie, THE RETURN OF FRANK CANNON, all about a mysterious murder on a ranch, likely inspired by an earlier episode that starred Julia Adams.

All us kids of the 70s will never forget William Conrad. When he passed in 1994, TVLAND featured his show for years, and the funny "Cannon diet" promotion. He is remembered to this day at Warner Brothers, and his connection to the iconic Maltese Falcon.

SEASON 5 EPISODE 25 remastered CBS/Paramount dvd box set. 7 dvds. Released 2016. Final season collectors set with a classy cover. Thank you to the graphics department at CBS.

This March-1976 episode aired only 4 or 5 months after the Church Committee hearings exposed the MKULTRA mind-control experiments conducted by the CIA on unwitting Americans. The experiments were supposedly ended in the early 1970s, though there is considerable evidence (look up the assassination of Nick Deak) that the program was simply renamed. Of course, it's far fetched that a private detective could ever effectively investigate such activity, let alone get any cooperation from the military brass. But considering the fact that many people who were born after the 1980s have no idea that any of this ever happened and would call such stories "baseless conspiracy theories", it's good have this episode around as a reminder of the fact that there was a time when the media was far more willing to investigate what our government does to us than it is today.