The BEST episodes of Kojak

Every episode of Kojak ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Kojak!

Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. Taking the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier it aired on CBS from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978. In 1999 TV Guide ranked Theo Kojak number 18 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list.

Last Updated: 3/4/2024Network: CBSStatus: Ended
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Laid Off
star
8.88
8 votes

#1 - Laid Off

Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/16/1977

A laid off police officer with two jobs and a sick wife takes a bribe under pressure from a loan shark.

Directors: Nicolas Sgarro
Writer: Burton Armus
Watch Now:Amazon
Kojak's Days (1)
star
8.83
6 votes

#2 - Kojak's Days (1)

Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/1/1977

Kojak must unravel the mystery of a white Roll-Royce with a body in the trunk while trying to find a woman who murdered her husband.

Directors: Charles S. Dubin
Watch Now:Amazon
A Killing in the Second House
star
8.77
13 votes

#3 - A Killing in the Second House

Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/17/1974

Kojak comes up against a former cop, now a private investigator, who tries to make his client's suicide look like murder so he can collect money from life insurance.

Directors: Christian Nyby
Writer: Gene Kearney
Watch Now:Amazon
Chain of Custody
star
8.75
4 votes

#4 - Chain of Custody

Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/28/1978

Kojak is suspended after reacting to an incompetent district attorney who failed to convict a known killer.

Watch Now:Amazon
Unwanted Partners
star
8.71
7 votes

#5 - Unwanted Partners

Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/16/1975

Crocker fails to believe that his old childhood friend who is the main focus of a police investigation, could be involved in illegal activity.

Directors: Burton Armus
Watch Now:Amazon
A Question of Answers (2)
star
8.67
6 votes

#6 - A Question of Answers (2)

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/14/1975

To clear his name, a man helps Kojak take down a loan shark.

Directors: Jerry London
Writer: Albert Ruben
Watch Now:Amazon
I Was Happy Where I Was
star
8.67
6 votes

#7 - I Was Happy Where I Was

Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/25/1977

A Puerto Rican cop goes undercover in his old neighborhood to find out who is trying to start a barrio gang war.

Directors: Nicolas Sgarro
Watch Now:Amazon
The Forgotten Room
star
8.64
11 votes

#8 - The Forgotten Room

Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/4/1976

Kojak doubts a young man is guilty in the murder of a prostitute, even the circumstantial evidence points to him.

Watch Now:Amazon
Deadly Innocence
star
8.63
8 votes

#9 - Deadly Innocence

Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 2/15/1976

Kojak investigates the hit-and-run death of a police chemist and uncovers a frame-up.

Directors: Daniel Haller
Writer: Sean Baine
Watch Now:Amazon
Cry for the Kids
star
8.63
8 votes

#10 - Cry for the Kids

Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/23/1977

A teenager accidentally kills a gangster's hired hand while robbing him, only to have a rival gangster hire him to take out the competition in order to control the neighborhood in which he doesn't own.

Directors: Leo Penn
Watch Now:Amazon
A House of Prayer, a Den of Thieves
star
8.60
10 votes

#11 - A House of Prayer, a Den of Thieves

Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/14/1975

An old colleague calls from Las Vegas to say he has captured a counterfeiter Kojak has been looking for, but the elderly man is murdered before Kojak can bring him back to New York.

Directors: Robert Day
Writer: Gene Kearney
Watch Now:Amazon
The Frame
star
8.60
10 votes

#12 - The Frame

Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/8/1976

A hood claims that Kojak accepted a bribe.

Writer: Burton Armus
Watch Now:Amazon
Lady in the Squad Room
star
8.60
5 votes

#13 - Lady in the Squad Room

Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/8/1977

Kojak and a female detective must overcome their dislike for each other when she is transferred from the rape squad to help nab a drug-dealing rapist-muderer.

Directors: Edward Abroms
Writer: Burton Armus
Watch Now:Amazon
The Queen of Hearts is Wild
star
8.58
12 votes

#14 - The Queen of Hearts is Wild

Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 10/2/1977

The girlfriend of a local gangster who hates Kojak is the only witness in the murder of a police officer.

Directors: Leo Penn
Watch Now:Amazon
Queen of the Gypsies
star
8.56
9 votes

#15 - Queen of the Gypsies

Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/19/1975

A young gypsy woman who witnesses a a bank robbery decides that looting banks is preferable to telling fortunes, so she recruits the thieves for a master plan to rob six banks in one day.

Directors: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Gene Kearney
Watch Now:Amazon
Out of the Frying Pan...
star
8.56
9 votes

#16 - Out of the Frying Pan...

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/2/1975

A veteran cop who is battling alcoholism and demotion after being held responsible for the shooting death of a friend impedes Kojak's murder investigation as he tries to clear his name and win back his shield.

Directors: Charles S. Dubin
Writer: Jack Laird
Watch Now:Amazon
Two-Four-Six for Two Hundred
star
8.50
8 votes

#17 - Two-Four-Six for Two Hundred

Season 2 - Episode 23 - Aired 2/23/1975

While an accused thief sits in jail waiting for his lawyer to arrange bail, Kojak tries to decipher a phrase heard during an unsuccessful attempt to steal a paint company truck.

Directors: Russ Mayberry
Watch Now:Amazon
A Shield for Murder (2)
star
8.50
6 votes

#18 - A Shield for Murder (2)

Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/21/1976

When Kojak gets too close to discovering the truth, he is framed.

Directors: Jeannot Szwarc
Watch Now:Amazon
Black Thorn
star
8.50
6 votes

#19 - Black Thorn

Season 4 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/5/1976

Private eye Salathiel Harms returns, pursuing the same bail jumper as Kojak.

Directors: Charles S. Dubin
Watch Now:Amazon
Night of the Piraeus
star
8.44
9 votes

#20 - Night of the Piraeus

Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired 1/26/1975

The murder of a sailor newly arrived on a freighter from Greece and a strangely unconcerned witness lead Kojak to suspect that an object was smuggled into the country in the man's belt.

Directors: Jerry London
Watch Now:Amazon
The Trade-Off
star
8.43
7 votes

#21 - The Trade-Off

Season 2 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/2/1975

Kojak arrests the ringleader (Mark Stevens) of a drug operation, whose gang kidnaps Captain McNeil's wife in order to trade her for the evidence they have against him.

Directors: David Friedkin
Watch Now:Amazon
How Cruel the Frost, How Bright the Stars
star
8.40
10 votes

#22 - How Cruel the Frost, How Bright the Stars

Season 3 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/21/1975

(Christmas Episode) Stavros helps a woman (Betsy Slade) find her desperate boyfriend (Darrell Fetty), while Kojak tries to find out why a man (James Griffith) shot at a woman (Jesse Welles) in a local bar.

Writer: Gene Kearney
Watch Now:Amazon
The Godson
star
8.40
5 votes

#23 - The Godson

Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/4/1977

Kojak's godson becomes mixed up with a gang involved in an armed robbery. Can Kojak get through to his godson before it's too late?

Directors: Russ Mayberry
Watch Now:Amazon
Life, Liberation and the Pursuit of Death
star
8.38
8 votes

#24 - Life, Liberation and the Pursuit of Death

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/26/1975

A woman who witnesses a body being dumped into the harbor is so fragile minded that the man who dumped the body tries to use psychology against her in order to eliminate her from the picture.

Directors: Nicolas Sgarro
Writer: Gene Kearney
Watch Now:Amazon
Out of the Shadows
star
8.38
8 votes

#25 - Out of the Shadows

Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/17/1976

Kojak and the detectives scour the city for ""The Grim Reaper"", a slasher who murders his victims out of greed.

Directors: Jeannot Szwarc
Writer: Gene Kearney
Watch Now:Amazon