Karl Malden, who played the utterly square middle-aged detective to young Micheal Douglas’s hipper character on “The Streets of San Francisco,” is dead at age 97.

Last year there was some talk of reviving the “Streets of San Franicsco” franchise. But it’s hard to imagine it without Malden.

CBS will release a new version of the 1970s TV series “The Streets of San Francisco.” The original series, starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglas (seen at left), ran for five seasons from 1972 to 1977.

Producers of the new show suggested the old cop-young cop pairing of the series — to be duplicated in the new show — was similar to the 2008 presidential race. “One, like Obama, wants to be active and believes in rehabilitation, while the other one, like McCain, doesn’t quite believe in rehabilitation and believes that the enemy is the enemy,” said one of the writers.