Because William Conrad as Cannon was the only regular character on the series, guest stars played an integral role in each week's episode. The famous faces that appear on Cannon - Season One, Volume One include: Vincent Van Patten, Don Gordon, Charles Cioffi, Wayne Rogers, Joe Maross, Clu Gulager, Mark Hamill, David Huddleston, Ford Rainey, Joan Van Ark, Diane Varsi, Tim O'Connor, Jason Evers, Jean Allison, Whit Bissell, Radames Pera, Andrew Duggan, Max Gail, Ron Harper, L.Q. Jones, Vic Tayback, Kim Hunter, Andrew Prine, Barnard Hughes, John McLiam, R.G. Armstrong, Harold Gould, Rose Hobart, Carol Rossen, Paul Mantee, Arthur O'Connell, Roy Scheider, Richard Anderson, Lou Antonio, and Frank Ferguson.

One thing that makes Cannon so endearing is the decision to address Will Conrad's weight problems head on. He said he was fat in the pilot and didn't try to pretend like it wasn't there. As a matter of fact, he seemed to embrace it. Admittedly, sometimes the fat comments could get to be a little much. When a little boy asks, "How did you get to be so fat?" That seemed rude.

Cannon was also a bit different from other television series of the time, in that it was pretty gloomy. While Hawaii Five-O was sunny and bright and Ironside had physical limitations, but always did things with no collateral damage, Cannon wasn't afraid to bring the pain--by seventies standards, anyway. Cannon drove a Lincoln Mark IV, which he was constantly having repaired because he wouldn't hesitate to run it into a building or use it to run over the bad guy if it meant solving the case. Because Conrad's weight made foot chases less than compelling, car chases were often used to beef up the action. You'll also notice that many episodes of Cannon have a fairly high body count; Lots of crooks die and Cannon gets shot in the arm a lot, but he always gets his man.

Throughout the series five year run, Cannon was among the top thirty in the Neilsen ratings and finished its third season at number ten. The fact that there is currently a Facebook group called "Cannon: You Got to Love Watching Him Run!" speaks to the enduring popularity of the series.

Here is a synopsis of the pilot and eleven episodes on the Cannon - Season One, Volume One DVD set.

1. "Pilot." - Cannon is called in to help the wife of an old army buddy whose been murdered. She is accused of the crime but Cannon finds several loopholes which leads him to the Redfield home, Kenneth Langston's last destination. As it turns out, the wife of the deputy whose been handling the case, has a criminal past. Guest stars: Vera Miles, Barry Sullivan, Lynda Day George, Earl Holliman, Lynda Day George, Ellen Corby,