Several months ago, Adam Brantley Hill – yes, the nephew of Ronald Brantley, who was featured in this newspaper for decades as The Coffee Breaker – suggested that I check out Amazon Prime and watch “Kojak.” I didn’t know the entire series was available anywhere, but in the world of streaming it seems like you can find pretty much anything.

Dr. Hill was right to recommend “Kojak.” Over the past few weeks, I have spent a lot of time with the series and realized that I didn’t have a full appreciation for it. The show began as a TV movie (remember those?) in 1973. CBS ordered a series based on that original work, and five years’ worth of episodes and several other TV movies came from there. Lieutenant Theodopolous “Theo” Kojak is a New York City police detective, Manhattan South precinct. His workplace office is a dump but Kojak looks like a million bucks with the clean suits he wears. He’s tough but tender. He’s forceful but sensitive. He’s also hilarious. And, in retrospect, Kojak is one of the best television characters of all time thanks to the committed performance by Telly Savalas.