New on DVD

High-living private investigator Frank Cannon (William Conrad) is considered the biggest and best PI in Los Angeles. That's not the last fat joke you're going to get, either in this review or in the series, which was launched in 1971 in a two-hour TV movie that establishes his tastes and his style. "I like to work alone," he explains to a small-town cop when asked why he left the LAPD. And so he does, taking clients and tracking clues without a receptionist, an assistant or associates of any kind. But he does conduct a lot of business over food (both fine cuisine and home cooking) and snacks (he has a sweet tooth for stick candy). And while there is the unintentional humor of watching the hefty Conrad try to run after bad guys or hustle off to corner a witness, his girth does give him an advantage in fights: His punches pack a serious wallop and he can barrel through a crowd like a bull. The pilot features the familiar theme song, but the pop-art credits (are those dots Cannon-balls?) arrive in the Season 1 premiere, with Tom Skerritt as guest bad guy. Watch for guest star Roy Scheider in "No Pockets in the Shroud," shot the same year that "Klute" and "The French Connection" sent his star ascending in Hollywood. The set features the original TV movie and the first 11 regular one-hour episodes of the first season on four discs, efficiently packed in a standard case with a couple of hinged trays.

After five seasons playing TV's fattest PI, Conrad returned to guest shots and voice-over gigs until he landed in another made-to-order role: Los Angeles district attorney Jason "Fatman" McCabe, a snarling curmudgeon of a prosecutor, in "Jake and the Fatman," another of the geriatric mystery series that dominated '80s TV. McCabe leaves the footwork to Jake (Joe Penny), his slick, smooth, trusted investigator and sidekick, while he finishes the job in fierce cross-examinations. "Jake and the Fatman: Season One Volume One" features the first 11 episodes of the series on three discs, again in a space-saving standard case. The series is presented in broadcast order, but the pilot episode was actually the second episode broadcast and is best viewed first -- the extra-long episode makes a much better introduction to the characters and their styles.