By featuring this video, I'm going to do a rotten thing to some of you because it runs 26 minutes and some of you won't be able to resist watching the whole damned thing.
Remember the TV show Cannon? The one that starred William Conrad as a portly detective? It ran five seasons on CBS — from 1971 to 1976. There were 122 episodes and someone with way too much free time spliced together the opening guest star billboards of all 122 episodes. So what you have is a visual catalog of almost every actor or actress who guested on a crime-oriented TV series between the late-sixties and the end of the seventies.
If you were an avid watcher of shows like this and you're anywhere near my age, you'll remember at least 65% of these people…and in some cases, you'll be able to put a name to a face you saw dozens of times. It seemed like some of these folks were day players on every show I watched.
You can even make a drinking game out of this if you like. Take one shot every time you see Martin Sheen, Anthony Zerbe, Marianne McAndrew, Harold Gould, Clu Gulager, Joan Van Ark, Robert Webber, John Vernon or anyone who appeared on their own crime-oriented series or Gilligan's Island. Take two for each Van Patten…