<Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Chronology </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Preceded by </Th> <Td> Shaft (1971 film) </Td> </Tr> <P> Shaft is a series of TV movies that aired along with Hawkins and other TV movies during 1973 - 74 television season on The New CBS Tuesday Night Movies . Broadcast every third week, the series is a continuation of the three films beginning with Shaft (1971), and starring Richard Roundtree as private detective John Shaft . </P> <P> Because it was aired on over-the - air television, CBS felt that the narrative needed to be toned down . Now instead of working alongside the police, Shaft worked with them, creating cross-overs with Hawkins, another police series with a starkly conflicting demographic . The show was cancelled after one season . Contemporary analysts suggested that since the two shows--Shaft and Hawkins--appealed to vastly different audience bases, alternating them only served to confuse fans of both series, giving neither one the time to build up a large viewership . Richard Roundtree himself has publicly expressed his disdain for the small - screen version of Shaft . </P>

Who played shaft in the original tv series