Jake and the man - Season One, Vol. 2

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District attorney J.L. McCabe strikes down on the crime in Los Angeles together with his special investigator Jake Styles and assistant D.A. Derek Mitchell. .com ---- Jake and the Man’s episode titles give a clue as to this entertaining series' target demographic. Each takes its cue from a standard in the Great American Songbook, including "It Had to Be You," "Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans," and "After You've Gone." Like Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis: Murder, and Matlock, from which this series was spun-off, Jake and the man comforts viewers of a certain age with the assurance that when the hour is up, justice will be served, the guilty will be punished, and the more mature and unconventional hero will use his smarts and experience to teach younger people "who's who and what's what." For those just tuning in, this second volume serves as a fitting introduction to "legendary" and living large district attorney J.L. McCabe (William Conrad), who bullies, bellows, and blusters his way to the truth. As with Columbo, a crime is committed and the guilty party is revealed in the beginning of each episode. The fun is watching J.L. and his hunky young investigator Jake Styles (Joe Penny), who lives up to his name with his sharp wardrobe and sports cars, get on the suspect’s case. What Jake and the man lacks in car chases and shoot-outs, it more than makes up for in smart writing and the chemistry between the two leads. Conrad and Penny carry these episodes without benefit of flashy guest stars. The most prominent in this set are Anthony Franciosa in "I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plans," as a washed up writer who, shades of Deathtrap, kills a promising young author and steals his novel, and David Soul in "How Long Has This Been Going On?" as a man who kills his wealthy wife and frames her lover, a priest, who, luckily, is Jake’s friend. Edward Winter (best known as Colonel g on M*A*S*H) appears in "Rhapsody in Blue" as a man whose Lady Macbeth of a wife compels him to attempt to kill his boss. Some of the cases are personal. In "After You’ve Gone," Jake goes undercover as a hit man, and discovers his target is, you guessed it, "the man." "Damn it to hell" (to quote one of the volcanic-tempered J.L.’s favorite oaths); as with Volume 1, extras are pretty thin; just spoilerific episode promos. --Donald Liebenson