Dragnet 1967

OK, maybe this isn't the best show in television history, but it is a good one to watch. Even though I have seen every episode many times, I never get tired of watching it. After viewing the show all these years, it is fun to try and spot which of the many recurring actors and actresses appear in that episode--like the late Virginia Gregg!! She was a hoot to watch in many of the episodes.

It is also fun to see someone portray a cop or good guy in one episode and then play a villian in another episode. Now, even though this doesn't have anything to deal directly with any episode of Dragnet, I think that it was really nice how Jack Webb hired his ex-wife's husband in a few episodes and later was the producer of "Emergency" with his ex-wife Julie London and her husband Bobby Troup. I doubt very seriously that many people in Hollywood would be so mature and do that today.

This is still the greatest police drama that ever was made. When I was growing up, the second version of the show in the late 60's/early 70's was the only version I knew and it not only showed how police track down criminals, but it was also the first show that dealt with the day to day operations of the L.A.P.D.. Everything was covered from watching how a young man (or woman) becomes a police officer to community relations. This version really tried to hammer down the point that police officers are human beings and that they do have lives outside the squad room.

This series has taken a rap from latter-day critics, who can't stand that it's not "Dragnet" (1952). A few misguided souls actually view it as "camp comedy," and the terminally hip scoff at Sgt. Friday's rabid anti-drug stance.

What makes this series rise above such criticism is the sincerity of all players, its dead-on realism in every situation and performance, and the fact that each story is TRUE. As with practically everything Jack Webb did, this show was ahead of its time in many ways. "Dragnet 1967-70" preached "just say no" twenty years before it became fashionable. Friday's assertions about the addictive nature of drugs, and that marijuana users tend to move on to harder stuff, is still borne out by statistics. The absence of gunplay and wild car chases underscore what a cop's day-to-day life REALLY is. Best of all, the chemistry between Webb and Harry Morgan is unbeatable.

Yes, a lot of the same actors are used over and over, but that was just as true in the 1950's version. Members of the LAPD, and other police departments, assert that "Dragnet" and "Adam-12" (also a Webb production) are still TV's most realistic cop shows. Forget what you've read before and give this version of "Dragnet" a try.

Visionary television Renaissance Man, Jack Webb, succeeded in bringing to the small screen a police drama of unprecedented power and stunning realism. Webb broke new ground continually with his use of cameras and his scripts were both timely and cutting edge. During the incredibly turbulent and chaotic years of revolt, immorality, and rampant drug use, Dragnet served as an anchor, a cultural bulwark for a society under siege. A society threatened by lawlessness and vulgarity was centered by what Jack Webb offered in the format of a half-hour of sanity during insane times. With this production, the 1960's can now be viewed with a solid perspective that brings viewers the viewpoint of that Silent Majority who trusted the police to protect their way of life from drug crazed criminals masquerading as cultural revolutionaries. Dragnet and Adam-12 are more than television shows. They were important contributions to the American republic and moral compasses for a populace teetering on the edge of madness.

Dragnet is a classic, one of the last times when not only were the patrol cars black and white, the issues were, too. That may be what makes it so enjoyable to watch...no question of who the bad guys are here! Gannon and Friday--the Odd Couple on the job, and a perfect working combination. And where else could you see the guy who was Crimson Crusader one week be a stoned hippy student the next, then a worried bigamist the week after? Or the gun runner who becomes a doctor or a shop owner? And just how many times was Virginia Gregg on that program anyway? And hey, when was the last time anyone could drive from downtown L.A. to Toluca Lake in 6 minutes?