To Kill A Guinea Pig

 Cannon S01E18 To Kill A Guinea Pig

Cannon is an American detective television series produced by Quinn Martin that aired from 1971 to 1976 on CBS. William Conrad played the title character, private detective Frank Cannon. The series was the first Quinn Martin production to run on a network other than ABC.

In total, there were 122 episodes, plus the series' two-hour pilot and a 1980 "revival" television film, The Return of Frank Cannon.

Cannon was portrayed in the series as a veteran of the Korean War and a former member of the Los Angeles Police Department. He was street smart but also appeared to have an unusually high level of education outside the law enforcement field. Besides his familiarity with several languages, he showed extensive knowledge of such diverse subjects as science, art and history. Cannon was a widower, having lost his wife and son in a bomb attack while he was on the police force, as revealed in the two-hour pilot.

Conrad was an overweight actor, and the series, especially in its early episodes, made frequent mention of Cannon's weight. Other characters would often remark critically about it, while he himself would joke self-deprecatingly about his girth and great love of food. In fact, Cannon was a gourmet cook who enjoyed preparing food for his friends. Despite his large size, he was a man of action. While he preferred to use his wits to escape a difficult situation, he could engage successfully in fistfights and shoot-outs with bad guys.

The plots, as in other detective series, revolved around Cannon solving crimes for a variety of clients. In a number of early episodes, he was hired by insurance companies to investigate losses. Other episodes involved him working for former police colleagues or other people from his past. In some cases, he was forced into action to clear himself of falsified charges. Many episode plot lines involved Cannon traveling and having to deal with various and sundry incompetent and/or corrupt law enforcement agencies and officials.

Throughout the series' run, Cannon drove Lincoln Continentals. In the pilot movie, he drove a 1970 model year 53A four-door hardtop sedan, which later crashed.^[1] In the series, he switched to the two-door personal luxury cars, driving a new model year every season - in Season 1, he drove a 1971 Mark III,^[2] before switching to Mark IVs for later seasons.^[3][4][5][6] In the 1980 TV movie, however, he instead drove a 1978 Cadillac Coupe de Ville.^[7]