Highway Patrol

I remember watching reruns of Highway Patrol with my mother back in 1973 that aired from Philadelphia, PA on a syndicated station at 9:00 every morning. I loved seeing Broderick Crawford (who was from Philadelphia) and his gravely voice and those lovely jet black patrol cars, in glorious black and white. Right after this show was over we switched the channel to the Senate Watergate hearings which were fascinating, to say the least.

This is an unforgetable series. Broderick Crawford set the standard for toughness with a badge. Sgt. Joe Friday couldn't carry Dan Matthews socks...Broderick was tough, scary and that rapid fire dialogue is burned into the memory of anyone who even thought for a nano-second of being a cop and interrogating a suspect. This is an American legand. Long Live ZIV!

Although I often watch this show because I remember watching it as a little girl and still enjoy the plots and acting, my husband watches because he enjoys seeing all of the 1950's cars. He drools over them because they are in pristine condition, a condition that is impossible to find even at car shows. He especially likes the the late 50's Chrysler Corporation cars. He also enjoys seeing the Los Angeles area locations, especially Griffith Park where so many of the chases take place. He also enjoys all of the train stations. Many of them are no longer there, and the ones that remain aren't in the beautiful condition they are in this show. Surprisingly quite a few shows have people getting on and off passenger trains. I would recommend this show if you enjoy police procedural and 1950's ambiance.

The music. Do you remember the starting theme? It defined action, and a warning. Too bad the series isn't run more often. Very hard to find anywhere. It used to be on a local private station KOFY-TV 20 out of San Francisco, but our local service provider didn't want to use channel 20 anymore, so we lost out. I remember watching the series as a child in Seattle, and never missed a show. I now live next door to a CHP Officer and it's strange. A very nice family man, couldn't ask for better neighbors. My 2 nephews are now enrolled in the CHP Cadet Explorer program and I help them study the 10 codes. I'll never forget that opening music to "Highway Patrol". Those of you who have heard it, know what I mean.

"Highway Patrol" episodes are especially compelling because they are almost all action. There is very little talk. Compare it to "Dragnet," which is almost all talk and very little action. "Highway Patrol" episodes generally start with a crime, and when Dan Mathews and his team are called in, they snap to and get busy. There is no banter around the police station.

Part of this is because of the 30-minute format. There just wasn't time to set everything up. They had to use every minute to develop and resolve the story.

The compelling drama makes it hard to get up, even for a minute. I wish TV shows were still like this. "24" was like this, but just about every other crime drama wastes a lot of screen time with banter and nonsense.

Just about every episode of "Highway Patrol" is a good ride.