S05E13: The Cannibals

The initial murder takes place at or near 423 Miles Ave.

The scene in which Stone interviews an ex-con while riding through a car wash is very cool.

Ronny lives in room 429 at the Ben-Hur Apartments.

The business card of Bernard Rizino, "investment counselor," has his address as 150 Colle Street, phone 415-555-8300.

Dave Bradley is a US Marshal who "doesn't have any investigative authority in this case." He and his security team haven't lost anyone yet.

The final safe house is room 502 at the Ather Stone Hotel.

Tanner's car has plate 894 PRR.

S05E14: "Who Killed Helen French?"

The original title of this episode was "Helen French Is Missing" (no quotes in the actual title), which makes a lot more sense, because Helen French wasn't actually killed. The quotes in the title may imply that this is a question that is being asked by a character in the show rather than a question being asked by the show (to skirt around it misleading the audience to hide the twist). The script date in the Bob Jeffers collection at UCLA is 4/28/1976, which would make it one of the very first episodes shot for the fifth season.

Stone says it's been 12 years since he worked with vice.

Helen French "married the first man who stole her innocence" and has type O blood.

This is John Kerr's final appearance as ADA Gerald O'Brien and his first appearance since season three.

The judge's name is Farley Baker.

Doug French (full name: Douglas M. French) has a slow-motion flashback of murdering his wife. After his car is impounded by police, he drives a different car with plate 537 NGR. He withdraws the $5,000 from the Bank of Canton of California on 10/7/1976 (this would mean the events of this episode are happening at the same time as "Hot Dog" [S05E09]).

Sekulovich isn't seen but Stone tells him to book Susan Ross; Sekulovich (offscreen) says, "OK, Lieutenant."

Robbins is wearing a three-piece suit when he meets Angela in a hotel room (he usually favors a V-neck sweater over a shirt with no tie).

The synopsis says Robbins asks Angela to do something "actually 'kinky kinky'," but he says "not 'kinky, kinky'."

I would give this episode at least 2.5 stars (maybe 3) but I suppose this may depend on how well you accept the big twist at the end.

S05E15: "A Good Cop ... But"

The captain in this episode is not identified by name, but it's not the same actor who plays Captain Devitt in the next episode to be broadcast. It sounds like Lamber calls him "Ken" but the subtitles say "captain" at this point. The nameplate on his office door appears to read "Captain Mason" or something like that.

Judge Dudley Cramer presides over Birmingham's arraignment and preliminary hearing.

The concern about Lambert being gay is that someone on the jury might hold it against him, but there is no jury for a preliminary hearing, so why do they need to stall? As long as they find Moonshine by the trial they would be OK. (Although it would be wise to get his testimony on the record in case he gets "wasted" or disappears before the trial.)

Eddie Rodriguez calls his fellow cop "Detective Price," but shouldn't it be "Inspector Price"?

Ernie Bell drives a car with plate 894 PRR. He and Lambert attended the academy together and have been partners for five years.

Abe Johnson calls Lambert "Officer Lambert" not "Inspector Lambert" and so does Billings.

This is the first appearance of ADA Gerald Billings (although the character also appears as a non-DA lawyer in "Breakup" [S05E21], which was likely filmed much earlier). Might this originally have been Gerald O'Brien in the script? There are three ADAs this season, all with the first name Gerald! John Kerr, who played ADA O'Brien, was actually attending law school around this time and later became a practicing civil trial attorney. One episode in which he appeared was shooting at the same time as a law-school exam period and he had to get special permission to reschedule his exams. Perhaps he was simply no longer available and his character became Jerry Baker and then Jerry Billings when the ADA role was recast.

S05E16: Hang Tough

Inspector Eddie Boggs is four months shy of a pension after 20 years of service (if he takes early retirement).

His partner, Stan Michaels, asks why he wants to "snowflake" Spider, which apparently is slang for "planting evidence on him."

There is a new/different ME in this episode (not Bernie).

Lt. John Hanley, head of narcotics, goes to law school at night. A hooker refers to an Inspector Jenkins in vice.

Spider says, "somebody must have zapped her," referring to Amanda and apparently means gave her an overdose of heroin.

Robbins sends Boot Wilson's photo and description to local airfields, but wouldn't they know which plane (N6725X) was registered to him and find the plane and lock it up or something?

Wilson's Tucson PD mug shot number is 204507.

The Tri Star Airport must be in Marin County, because Stone and Robbins cross the Golden Gate Bridge on their way there.

The tracked music for the cops chasing the plane is from Richard Markowitz's motorcycle-chase cue from "Hot Dog."

S05E17: Innocent No More

Stone cooks Chicken Kiev for Jeannie.

Paul T. Brown is age 15. Helen King was 65. Billy Wilson is 16, but Mark Hamill was 25 at this point!

Bill Tanner and Sekulovich (who has his sergeant stripes back) are both in this episode.

The K BAY-TV car has the slogan "Now News" on the side.

ADA Jerry Billings makes another appearance.

Stone had the picture of Helen in his living room framed "20 years ago."

Jeannie is 5'2".

Stone wears a SF Giants cap at the beach, along with an outfit that only someone of his generation would consider appropriate for jogging. Jeannie is wearing an Arizona State track suit and T-shirt. Stone tells Jeannie he is 56; Malden was 64 by this time.

Billy Wilson's trial date is set for March 10 (which was a couple weeks after this episode aired.) Billy drives an older car.

The synopsis says Brewster "will be presiding over Billy’s trial" but this is not the case. Brewster is "presiding over the juvenile docket this month" and can therefore assign a judge to the case who he perceives will be most lenient.

The synopsis says Henry Brown is "Billy’s brother" but this is incorrect: he is Paul's brother.

Mr. Mike asks: "Who is the person who gets into the police car at 14:25 outside King’s place? It is not King, but a younger man." This guy is the eyewitness who almost ran down Tommy Dido; he is going downtown to help create a police sketch of the teen.

S05E18: Once A Con

The bus at beginning is a University Special route of Municipal Transit Lines. The murder takes place "at the southeast section of the campus where Bundy crosses Fielder." These streets seem to be bogus. The university is unnamed but the exterior scenes seem to be shot at SFSU, including many shots of a building featured in the climactic final chase at the fictional Rutledge University in Judgment Day" (S04E19).

Mary Wilson was going to be 21 next month; she was doing a paper on 19th century puppetry and was from Wisconsin. Her murder took place on 10/10/76, which would be right at the end of the events in "Hot Dog" (S05E09) and during the events of.

Young's SFPD booking photo number is 02754. His birthday appears to be 2/3xxx, which doesn't make sense if this means February 30 or 31; if it means February 193x, it still doesn't make much sense because John Rubinstein was born in 1946. Rubinstein was about 30, although his character is about 25.

Raymond B. Vasquez's booking photo number is 50724 (a premutation of Young's!) and Frank Q. Jackson's is 04547.

Tina Harrington and Jackie Collins live in apartment 12 of the Palms Apartment at 114 University Ave (also a bogus SF address, although this address exists in Berkeley near the marina).

Stone shoots out a tire on Judd Davis' car (plate 204 MLZ) when he tries to get away.

Stone says "Mr. Colgate?" then Sgt. Sekulovich brings in Davis, which doesn't make any sense. Who is Colgate?

Stone busted Young when he was 17 and two more times by 21, which was four years ago; Young has spent six of his seven adult years behind bars. Stone works homicide, so what did he bust Young three times for? The last time was for armed robbery, but if a death was involved Young would likely be serving a much longer sentence.

Jackie Collins (wouldn't this have been a recognizable name in 1976?) is a grad student.

Walter Young's address is listed in student records as 422 Monterey Blvd 3, San Francisco CA 94127 (is this the Camino State Prison?) and his ID number (which may be his SSN) is 570620084 (this is a valid SSN issued in CA in 1961). His schedule lists four business classes and a seminar in technology development, yet Collins says his record shows he should be at the physical therapy gym.

Stone types with two fingers

Young's girlfriend is Lisa Deming (not Denning, as in the synopsis); Miss Brown is the police stenographer who takes down her statement.

ADA Jerry Billings is in this episode.

Stone's attitude here seems to be at odds with his attitude in the previous episode, where he wanted to lock up all the juvenile punks as adults and throw away the key.

The synopsis says Young "must return to jail every night," but it's a prison (not a jail); it also says Young "returns to jail later than he should" on the night of the murder, but Officer Nelson threatens that if he ever signs in late, he'll "be back in the yard" so he can't have returned late.

After this episode, ABC put TSoSF on "hiatus" for several weeks. "From This Moment On," a special featuring music of Cole Porter, aired on Thursday, March 10, then on March 17 a new program, WESTSIDE MEDICAL (which had had a "preview" two nights before), took over the time slot for five weeks. A Frank Sinatra special aired on April 21, then TSoSF returned on April 28 to complete its run through June 9. TSoSF repeats aired for a couple weeks after that, then ABC burned off more of the 13 WESTSIDE MEDICAL episodes they had ordered.

S05E19: Interlude

Robert Drasnin's original score (his only one of the series) is not very interesting but he does open Act I with a clanging rhythm that plays off the cable car bell (which can be heard "in the clear" at the beginning of Act III, which has no act-in music). This is quite late in the season for an original score (compared to past seasons), but this episode was likely shot earlier than some of the ones that aired before it.

The assistant DA in this episode (S05E19) is Jerry Blake, but the assistant DA featured in S05E15, S05E17 and S05E18 is Jerry Billings (who also appears, but not as a DA in and S05E21, which was likely shot much earlier). The script for this show in the Bob Jeffers collection at UCLA is dated 7/15/1976, which is about three months before the date on the script for S05E15. Could this script originally have been intended to feature Billings in some sort of "character arc"? Or maybe it was supposed to be Jerry O'Brien, who showed up as the ADA in S05E14, which was likely shot before any of these others?

Stone suggests Jerry Blake do the exact same thing he criticized Jerry Billings for doing in the previous episode (pretending he has more evidence than he does to pressure a defendant into agreeing to a plea deal).

The killer in this episode is Roger Callaway (misspelled "Kellaway" several times in the synopsis).

Robbins had a lunch date with someone named Judy.

Carolyn Blake drives a station wagon with plate 758 PFU.

Fred "Dawson" (the pseudonym used by Dawes) supposedly lived in Mill Valley, but this address must have been bogus because Mill Valley is in Marin County, so Stone and Robbins wouldn't have been called to investigate this death (nor would Bernie the ME, who turns up a couple times in this episode).

The big-band music playing on the LP in Dawes' penthouse apartment is the same as the music playing on an LP at the beginning of "Who Killed Helen French?" (S05E14). The same tune is playing when Stone arrives on the scene — was the turntable set to repeat somehow?

The Blakes' anniversary date is set for the Marie-Olese restaurant at 7:30.

Carolyn Blake doesn't seem to notice the first two or three times Roger calls her "Amy."

Jerry Blake's personalized plate is BLAKE 7 (this seems rather dangerous for an ADA who might be the target of people he prosecutes) and the plate on the car driven by Roger when he tries to run over Jerry is EMX 8Q4.

The place where Roger approaches Carolyn as her son plays is the "southwest corner of Jefferson Park," which presumably is Jefferson Square Park. The address for the Blake residence, 121 Coast Street, appears to be bogus. It is supposedly around the corner from the intersection of "Ellis and Bates"; there is an Ellis Street about a block away from the park, but no Bates.

Calloway might have gotten one gun from Dillworth but where did he get the second gun that he uses to threaten the Blakes in Act V?

Theoretically Roger could have gone back to Carolyn's place after killing Dawes and then tailed her to the park, but this is not well explained.

S05E20: Dead Lift

Joe Schmidt is an American citizen and served in Vietnam. He encounters Irene Lupoff near Stow Lake. His landlord at the Graystone Hotel, which is at 1140 K Street, is Tom Lawler (an alcoholic). While working out he wears a tanktop that says "ACB Gym." His previous landlady is Mrs. Beauchamps.

Bob Andrews is running the police gym. Robbins drives a green Ford, plate 913 PRR. Stone calls him "Danny" once.

Schmidt's job at the Art Institute pays $10 an hour but Judith gets him a job at the Hoefer Dietrich Brown ad agency paying $300 a day.

Sekulovich has one line in this episode. (The subtitles spell his name Sekulavich, but Stone clearly says Sekulovich — he should know!)

Joe gets second place in the Mr. San Francisco contest, which earns him a large trophy. Afterwards he goes with Judith and her rude friends to the Irish Embassy pub and restaurant.

A Golden Gate cab has phone number 421-4701.

S05E21: Breakup

Does the title refer to the breakup of the marriage between Charlie and Ethel Finn?

Lawyer Lawrence Drake drives a Mercedes, plate 847 OJN; Betts tries to run him down with a light blue 1969 Ford, plate 871 FLL .

Stone knows Drake from the latter's eight years as a deputy DA. He has also previously met Drake's partner, Gerald Billings, who seems to be the same lawyer (played by the same actor) who has been an ADA in three previously aired episodes. This episode has one of the earliest script dates (4/28/1976) in the fifth season (even before the two-hour opening episode that introduced Robbins) and may have been the first (or at least one of the first) to be filmed, so it was likely originally scheduled to air much earlier in the fifth season. When Billings turns up as an ADA (in S05E15, S05E17 and S05E18), he appears to have been at that job for a while. Is there some missing origin story where his law partner's murder drove him to leave private practice and go to work for the DA's office? These other episodes appear to have been filmed toward the end of the production cycle (the date for the S05E15 script is 10/12/1976). Confusing matters further is S05E20, which has an ADA named Jerry Blake (with a script dated 7/15/1976).

Are Stone and Robbins initially investigating this case because it involves an attempted homicide or because it involves an ex-DA? Or both?

Sekulovich has two lines in this episode. Stone has a picture of Helen on his desk.

Betts drives a bluish-green Ford Ranchero (plate 92 165W) to the hospital. There is a 42-second reverse tracking shot of Betts walking down hospital corridors

At the beginning of Act IV, Stone and Robbins are leaving a restaurant and juice bar. Stone tried steamed eggplant for lunch. Stone's usual lunch is tuna fish on white. (The "More Trivia" says "they have a drink made out of steamed eggplant" but I don't think this is correct, steamed eggplant would be an entree.)

The "More Trivia" also says "the music is just stock" but this is not the case: the episode has an original score by John Elizalde (although at least one transition cue is tracked). Ordinarily an episode airing this late in the season wouldn't have an original score, but this episode was likely shot toward the beginning of the production cycle (and some of Elizalde's music from this score may have been tracked into episodes that ended up airing earlier).

Betts' mug shot photo has number 52647.

The empty lot where Charlie Finn contemplates suicide is referred to by his son as "Brandy Lane."

S05E22: "Let's Pretend We're Strangers"

The public defender's full name is Susan Kay Harper. Stone already knows her, of course.

Robbins' attire doesn't seem appropriate for court when Harper calls him as a witness

The electric piano and saxophone love music from "Hot Dog" is tracked in for Robbins and Harper's first date and later relationship scenes.

The mugshot for Billy Martin (that certainly would have been a familiar name in 1976!) has number 52704.

Tanner is mentioned and heard over the radio but not seen.

When Martin breaks into Harper's office, he pulls several files for her current clients out of her desk: Hugh Kelly, 1850 Kearney St.; Howard Hester, 1621 Booth Ave.; and Harvey Robinson, 1900 Filbert St. #3-C.

Martin turns himself in to Sekulovich, who apparently is working the night shift.

We see Robbins' Ford Bronco for the third and final time.

Harper calls Robbins "Clark Kent" so he calls her "Lois."

Dorsey Chandler says he found the mask in the garbage can with the jumpsuit but didn't creep remove it in Valerie's apartment and toss it?

Harper's public defender office is in room 414 if the Holbrook Building at 1 Sutter Street, in the vicinity of 58th and Sutter Street.

Robbins shoots Billy in arm, but he was unarmed. (Did he act rashly because he was mad about the guy attacking his girlfriend?)

The synopsis says: "He [Robbins] then offers to buy her [Harper] a drink, and she says OK if he makes that dinner." This is wrong: she offers to buy him a drink and he agrees if she makes it dinner.

The synopsis also says: "He [Billy] then goes to Robinson's house, smothers him while he is sleeping and sets his place on fire after adjusting the clock time. Then Billy goes to a meeting with Harper, creating a perfect alibi for himself." This is also backwards: Martin breaks into Harper's office while she is waiting for him at the diner (likely this diner appointment was a ploy to ensure she would be out of the office), then he shows up late, and then he goes to kill Robinson (which is why he set the clock back).

The review says, "If you look at the scene where Billy runs into him, Robinson barely notices him, and Billy is wearing his mask" but this is not the case. He removes the mask as he is leaving Valerie Foster's apartment, so Robinson could have seen his face in the hallway.

This episode is certainly not one of the better ones, but I might give it 2 stars instead of 1.5.

S05E23: Time Out

The prison inmates escape while in Cowell Hall at California Northern University. (This appears to be UC Davis, which does have a similar-looking Cowell Hall, but the fictional CNU is apparently supposed to be in San Francisco, otherwise Stone and Robbins would not be involved.) The prisoners have been taken here for a "rap session"; it's not clear where this is a "Scared Straight" type of event or if the students are studying sociology or something. (They should have set this in Keller's criminology class at Berkeley!)

The prison station wagon in which the escapees drive off has plate 051 HVF.

Telson was born 1/11/34, which would make him 43 but he seems younger than this; Washington was born 5/21/46; Kraft was born 4/12/38.

Tanner appears quite a bit in this episode.

Kraft carjacks Seaside Cab 68, phone number 555-9837.

There are several pieces of stock footage of Stone and Robbins' car from previous seasons, when it was a darker brown color. The guy driving it at end of Act IV is obviously not Robbins and looks more like Keller! The plate is 199 CTW and the gumball is dead center on the roof, which is not really possible. In Act V the plate is 596 LHC, but in the shots of Robbins actually driving the car has plate 907 PRR.

S05E24: The Canine Collar

The Hillsdale Animal Hospital vehicle is a Ford van, plate 47 065 R.

The ship belongs to the Pacific Far East Line.

Weber lives at 445 Park Presidio. The runaway vehicle that strikes him is a Ford Econoline pickup, plate Q59 104, owned by ZMAY'S Speedy Delivery Service.

Thor Olafson "has been on these ships for 17 years" and "spent half his life on ships."

Betty Richland is the full name of Weber's "friendly neighborhood lady" (Weber's wife died of cancer).

Olafson calls in a fake report about an animal to the address 1838 Carlton.

Weber buries his dog at the Pet's Rest cemetary [sic.]. Stone shows Weber a photo of Olafason wearing the clothes he is wearing THAT DAY — wouldn't Stone have a picture of him in purser uniform?

The Polish sailor who witnesses Andy Wilson's murder at Pier 45 is in the country illegally, according to Tanner. Stone tells Tanner to consider him a refugee and send him to the Polish American Seamen's Association, then tells the sailor, "Děkuji," which means "thank you" in Czech (Malden's mother was Czech). Tanner and the sailor are both smiling — I wonder if this bit was improvised, as it doesn't appear in the subtitles.

Outside Stone's office we can see a board listing the inspectors in the Homicide Division, with Lt. Mike Stone at the top, then D. Robbins, W. Tanner and several other names below those that are hard to make out.

Fred Spears drives a blue Ford station wagon, plate RMR 944.

The dog show looks like its taking place in some auxiliary building near the Cow Palace, rather than at the Cow Palace itself.

In the climactic fight with Weber and Olafson, in the long shot, George Dzundza has clearly been replaced by a stuntman.

This episode could easily have been a BARNABY JONES — it's that bad. It is certainly the worst entry out of all five TSoSF seasons.