History Series / Cannon

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The man responsible for blowing up Cannon's family was a professional killer, but his only target was Cannon's wife [[spoiler: (and that was an error - he'd been hired by a Congressman to kill the prostitute who'd been with him when he'd killed a woman in a hit-and-run)]] - and he regretted having gotten Cannon's son David as well.

* ItsPersonal: It's ''really'' personal for our hero in the final season premiere "Nightmare" - in prison a mortally wounded hitman tells Cannon before he kicks it that he killed Cannon's wife and son 14 years before, and that the late Laura Cannon was a prostitute. [[BerserkButton Our hero doesn't take this well.]] [[spoiler: The button remains pressed when he nearly kills the Senator responsible with his bare hands.]]

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: In "Flight Plan", the villain of the week leaves a trail of bodies behind him in his escpae route across Mexico: killing each of his accomplices after they have fulfilled their part in his escape.

** Cannon faces it ''again'' in "Perfect Fit A Frame". See UnwittingPawn below.

* AndStarring: "And Signe Hasso as Madame Alexandra" in "The Girl In The Electric Coffin."

* UnwittingPawn: Cannon becomes one as part of the villains' scheme in "Prefect Fit For A Frame". [[spoiler: He's hired by a San Diego industrialist to keep his daughter Gail safe from an escaped StalkerWithACrush. The "industrialist" is a business partner of the ''real'' industrialist. The "daughter" is actually the ''real'' industrialist's younger wife who's cheating on her husband with the partner. The Stalker is the ''real'' industrialist who survives the first attempt on his life and wants revenge... The cheaters lure him to the cabin where they make Cannon believe Gail is being attacked by her Stalker, and shooting at him... Cannon fires back...]]

* MurderByMistake: In "Country Blues", a country and western singer is killed when VehicularSabotage causes his plane to crash. However, the sabotage was actually aimed the pilot (who survives the crash), who was supposed to flying the plane solo. An argument with his wife caused the singer to order the pilot to fly him to UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}}, instead of flying the band's instruments to Texarkana.

* OpeningNarration: Each one was episode-specific, as it listed the guest stars, and as with most Creator/QuinnMartin productions, named the episode. Done by Creator/HankSimms, who did the OpeningNarration for ''almost'' all the series from QM Productions (he didn't do ''Series/TheFugitive'', for instance, and three of their later series didn't have one at all). For instance:

** "He Who Digs A Grave" "With Guest Stars Creator/AnneBaxter and Creator/BarrySullivan, and Special Guest Star Creator/DavidJanssen, Also Starring Murray Hamilton, Tim O'Connor, Louise Troy and Lee Purcell."

** "The Star" "With Guest Stars Creator/JoanFontaine... And in alphabetical order,[[note]]this was an ExtraLongEpisode[[/note]] Jack Carter, Linden Chiles, Creator/DanaElcar, Richard Hatch, Creator/DavidHedison, Michael [=McGuire=], Creator/JohnVernon."

* /ChekhovsGun: Literally in "Bobby Loved Me".

** "The Star" "With Guest Stars Creator/JoanFontaine... And in alphabetical order, Jack Carter, Linden Chiles, Creator/DanaElcar, Richard Hatch, Creator/DavidHedison, Michael [=McGuire=], Creator/JohnVernon."

* {{Cult}}: In "A Deadly Quiet Town", Cannon is hired to recue a girl from a UsefulNotes/CharlesManson-style cult preying on the children of promient families in a quiet university town.

* BisexualLoveTriangle: Impressively for a 1970s series, there two episodes this came up. "Point After Death" (see above) and "To Still The Voice" [[spoiler: former military man Austin Bishop has been cheating on his wife with a former soldier who he served with in Vietnam... and who's been blackmailed into assassinating a black female politician. Complications ensue on multiple fronts.]]

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1523974161012469000
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cannon_2.jpg]]

* Magazine/{{Mad}}: "Cannonball".

* HarsherInHindsight: In the 1976 episode “Point After Death,” Cannon must clear a pro football quarterback suspected of murder. The quarterback admits to “having blackouts for the last few months…from old head injuries.” The NFL would create the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (MTBI) Committee in 1994. The issue would become the subject of congressional hearings and civil litigation in the 21st Century.

* IdiotBall: "Where's Jennifer?" sees a rare instance of Cannon holding onto it tightly for a lot of the episode; wealthy Virginia [=McKeller=] hires him to prove that her sister, presumed drowned five years ago, is alive; in the course of the investigation he encounters a young woman called Cyndi Matthews. [[spoiler: Somehow he doesn't notice that she looks ''exactly like'' Virginia... and in fact is the missing Jennifer, as part of a plot to get hold of the family money.]]

* Magazine/{{Mad}}: Cannonball

* WoundedGazelleGambit: In "Pilot", a woman fakes being attacked and raped by Cannon to drive her jealous husband - who is a police lieutenant - into a murderous rage so he will kill Cannon.