Dragnet (series)
Encyclopedia
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...

 about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday
Joe Friday
Detective Sergeant Joe Friday is a fictional detective of the LAPD.-Original Series:The Joe Friday character was created and played by American actor, television producer, and writer Jack Webb on Dragnet...

, and his partners. The show takes its name from an actual police term, a "dragnet
Dragnet (policing)
A dragnet is any system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects; including road barricades and traffic stops, widespread DNA tests, and general increased police alertness. The term derives from a fishing technique of dragging a fishing net across the sea bottom, or through a...

", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.

Introduction

Dragnet was perhaps the most famous and influential police procedural
Police procedural
The police procedural is a subgenre of detective fiction which attempts to convincingly depict the activities of a police force as they investigate crimes. While traditional detective novels usually concentrate on a single crime, police procedurals frequently depict investigations into several...

 drama in media history. The series gave millions of audience members a feel for the boredom and drudgery, as well as the danger and heroism, of real-life police work. Dragnet earned praise for improving the public opinion of police officers.

Actor and producer Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...

's aims in Dragnet were for realism and unpretentious acting. He achieved both goals, and Dragnet remains a key influence on subsequent police dramas in many media.

The show's cultural impact is such that even after five decades, elements of Dragnet are known to those who have never seen or heard the program:
  • The ominous, four-note introduction to the brass and tympani theme music
    Dragnet (theme song)
    "Dragnet" is an instrumental theme from the radio and television show of the same name. It was composed by Walter Schumann for the radio show, and was also used on the subsequent television series and later syndication of the TV series under the name "Badge 714"...

     (titled "Danger Ahead") is instantly recognizable (though its origins date back to Miklós Rózsa
    Miklós Rózsa
    Miklós Rózsa was a Hungarian-born composer trained in Germany , and active in France , England , and the United States , with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953...

    's score for the 1946 film version of The Killers
    The Killers (1946 film)
    The Killers is a 1946 American film noir directed by Robert Siodmak. It is based in part on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film features Burt Lancaster in his screen debut, as well as Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, and Sam Levene...

    ).
  • Another Dragnet trademark is the show's opening narration: "Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent." This underwent minor revisions over time. The "only" and "ladies and gentlemen" were dropped at some point, and for the television version "hear" was changed to "see". Variations on this narration have been featured in many subsequent crime dramas, and in satire
    Satire
    Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

    s of these dramas (e.g. "Only the facts have been changed to protect the innocent").


The original Dragnet starring Jack Webb as Sgt. Friday ran on radio from June 3, 1949, to February 26, 1957, and on television from December 16, 1951, to August 23, 1959, and from January 12, 1967, to April 16, 1970. NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's radio and television networks carried all three series. There were three Dragnet feature films, a straight adaptation starring Webb in 1954; a TV movie produced in 1966; and a comedy spoof in 1987
Dragnet (1987 film)
Dragnet is a 1987 film comedy starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, directed by Tom Mankiewicz, based on the television crime drama of the same name starring Jack Webb. The screenplay is written by Aykroyd, Alan Zweibel and Mankiewicz. The original music score is by Ira Newborn...

. After Jack Webb's death, two Dragnet revivals were attempted; one was for weekly syndication in 1989 and the other was for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 in 2003. A daily newspaper comic strip version of Dragnet distributed by the Los Angeles Mirror Syndicate ran in newspapers from June 23, 1952 to May 21, 1955 (with a preview week that ran in many papers promoting its impending start). Writing was by Dragnet scripter Jack Robinson (uncredited) with art by Joe Sheiber (June 23, 1952-Sept. 20, 1952), Bill Ziegler (Sept. 22, 1952-January 9, 1954) and Mel Keefer (Jan. 11, 1954-May 21, 1955). Comics historian Ron Goulart
Ron Goulart
Ron Goulart is an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy and science fiction author.The prolific Goulart wrote many novelizations and other routine work under various pseudonyms: Kenneth Robeson , Con Steffanson , Chad Calhoun, R.T...

 in his book The Funnies states the frequent turnover of artists on the strip was due to Webb's desire to find someone "who could draw him as good looking as he thought he ought to be."

Creation

Dragnet was created and produced by Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...

, who starred as the terse Sergeant Joe Friday. Webb had starred in a few mostly short-lived radio programs, but Dragnet would make him one of the major media personalities of his era.

Dragnet had its origins in Webb's small role as a police forensic scientist in the 1948 film He Walked by Night
He Walked by Night
He Walked by Night is a black-and-white police procedural film noir, crediting Alfred L. Werker as director. The film, shot in semidocumentary tone, was loosely based on newspaper accounts of the real-life actions of Erwin "Machine-Gun" Walker, a former Glendale police department employee and...

, itself inspired by the violent 1946 crime spree of Erwin Walker
Erwin Walker
William Erwin Walker, aka Erwin M. Walker and Machine Gun Walker was a former police employee and World War II Army veteran best remembered for a violent series of thefts, burglaries, and shootouts with police in Los Angeles County, California during 1945 and 1946.-Early life:Not much is known...

, a disturbed World War II veteran and former Glendale police department employee. The film was depicted in semidocumentary
Semidocumentary
Semidocumentary is a form of book, film, or television program presenting a fictional story that incorporates many factual details or actual events, or which is presented in a manner similar to a documentary...

 style, and Marty Wynn (an actual LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

 sergeant from the Robbery Division) was a technical advisor on the film. Inspired by Wynn's accounts of actual cases and criminal investigative procedure, Webb convinced Wynn that day-to-day activities of police officers could be realistically depicted in a broadcast series, without the forced sense of melodrama
Melodrama
The term melodrama refers to a dramatic work that exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them...

 in the numerous private-detective serials then common in radio programming.

Webb frequently visited police headquarters, drove on night patrols with Sgt. Wynn and his partner Officer Vance Brasher, and attended Police Academy courses to learn authentic jargon
Jargon
Jargon is terminology which is especially defined in relationship to a specific activity, profession, group, or event. The philosophe Condillac observed in 1782 that "Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas." As a rationalist member of the Enlightenment he...

 and other details that could be featured in a radio program. When he proposed Dragnet to NBC officials, they were not especially impressed; radio was aswarm with private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

s and crime dramas, such as Webb's earlier Pat Novak for Hire
Pat Novak for Hire
Pat Novak, for Hire is an old-time radio detective drama series which aired from 1946-1947 as a West Coast regional program and in 1949 as a nationwide program for ABC. The regional version originally starred Jack Webb in the title role, with scripts by his roommate Richard L. Breen...

. That program didn’t last long, but Webb had received high marks for his role as the titular private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...

, and NBC agreed to a limited run for Dragnet.

With writer James E. Moser, Webb prepared an audition recording, then sought the LAPD's endorsement; he wanted to use cases from official files in order to demonstrate the steps taken by police officers during investigations. The official response was initially lukewarm, but in 1949 LAPD Chief Clemence B. Horrall
Clemence B. Horrall
Clemence B. Horrall was Los Angeles Police Department Chief of Police from June 16, 1941, when he succeeded Arthur C. Hohmann to serve as the 41st Chief of the L.A.P.D., and June 28, 1949, when he resigned under pressure during a grand jury investigation of police corruption...

 offered Webb the endorsement he sought. Police wanted control over the program's sponsor, and insisted that police not be depicted unflatteringly. This would lead to some criticism, as less flattering departmental aspects, such as LAPD's racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...

 policies, were never addressed.

Radio

Dragnet debuted inauspiciously. The first several months were bumpy, as Webb and company worked out the program's format and eventually became comfortable with their characters (Friday was originally portrayed as more brash and forceful than his later usually relaxed demeanor). Gradually, Friday's deadpan, fast-talking persona emerged, described by John Dunning
John Dunning (writer)
John Dunning is an American writer of non-fiction and detective fiction. He is known for his reference books on old-time radio and his series of mysteries featuring Denver bookseller and ex-policeman Cliff Janeway.- Life :...

 as "a cop's cop, tough but not hard, conservative but caring." (Dunning, 210) Friday's first partner was Sergeant Ben Romero, portrayed by Barton Yarborough
Barton Yarborough
William Barton Yarborough was an American actor who worked extensively in radio drama.As a youth, Yarborough ran away from home, attracted by the vaudeville stages, and he first worked in radio during the 1920s...

, a longtime radio actor. Raymond Burr
Raymond Burr
Raymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain...

 was on board to play Chief of Detectives Ed Backstrand. When Dragnet hit its stride, it became one of radio's top-rated shows.

Webb insisted on realism in every aspect of the show. The dialogue was clipped, understated and sparse, influenced by the hardboiled
Hardboiled
Hardboiled crime fiction is a literary style, most commonly associated with detective stories, distinguished by the unsentimental portrayal of violence and sex. The style was pioneered by Carroll John Daly in the mid-1920s, popularized by Dashiell Hammett over the course of the decade, and refined...

 school of crime fiction. Scripts were fast moving but didn’t seem rushed. Every aspect of police work was chronicled, step by step: From patrols and paperwork, to crime scene investigation, lab work and questioning witnesses or suspects. The detectives’ personal lives were mentioned but rarely took center stage. (Friday was a bachelor who lived with his mother; Romero was a Mexican-American from Texas, was an ever fretful husband and father.) "Underplaying is still acting", Webb told Time. "We try to make it as real as a guy pouring a cup of coffee.” (Dunning, 209) Los Angeles police chiefs C.B. Horrall, William A. Worton
William A. Worton
William A. Worton , a former Marine Corps General, served as interim Los Angeles Police Department police chief from June 1949 to 1950....

, and (later) William H. Parker were credited as consultants, and many police officers were fans.

Most of the later episodes were entitled "The Big _____", where the object named was something, often seemingly inconsequential, that turned out to be a pivotal plot point. For example, in "The Big Streetcar" the background noise of a passing streetcar helps to establish the location of a phone booth used by the suspect. Throughout the series' radio years, many episodes offer interesting glimpses of pre-renewal Downtown L.A., still full of working class residents and the cheap bars, cafes, hotels and boarding houses which served them.

Similitude

Webb was a stickler for accurate details, and Dragnet used many authentic touches, such as the LAPD's actual radio call sign (KMA367), and the names of many real department officials, such as Ray Pinker and Lee Jones of the crime lab or Chief of Detectives(and later LAPD Chief from 1967-69) Thad Brown.

Two announcers were used. Episodes began with announcer George Fenneman
George Fenneman
George Watt Fenneman was an American radio and television announcer.Fenneman was born in Beijing, China, the only child of American parents in the import-export business. He was nine months old when his parents moved to San Francisco, California, United States, where he grew up...

 intoning the series opening ("The story you are about to hear is true; only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.") and Hal Gibney describing the basic premise of the episode. "Big Saint" (April 26, 1951) for example, begins with "You're a Detective Sergeant. You're assigned to auto theft detail. A well organized ring of car thieves begins operations in your city. It's one of the most puzzling cases you've ever encountered. Your job: break it."

After the first commercial, Gibney would officially introduce the program: "Dragnet, the documented drama of an actual crime. For the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will travel step-by-step on the side of the law through an actual case history, transcribed from official police files. From beginning to end—from crime to punishment—Dragnet is the story of your police force in action."

The story then usually began with footsteps and a door closing, followed by Joe Friday intoning something like "Tuesday, February 12. It was cold in Los Angeles. We were working the day watch out of robbery division. My partner's Ben Romero. The boss is Ed Backstrand, chief of detectives. My name's Friday."

Friday offered voice-over narration throughout the episodes, noting the time, date and place of every scene as he and his partners went through their day investigating the crime. The events related in a given episode might occur in a few hours, or might span a few months. At least one episode unfolded in real time: in "City Hall Bombing" (July 21, 1949), Friday and Romero had less than thirty minutes to stop a man who was threatening to destroy the City Hall with a bomb.

At the end of the episode, usually after a brief endorsement by Jack Webb for the sponsor's product, announcer Hal Gibney would relate the fate of the suspect, who was usually tried in "Department 187 of the Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the City and County of Los Angeles", convicted of a crime and sent(in most episodes) to "the State Penitentiary, San Quentin California" or "examined by [#] psychiatrist
Psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

s appointed by the court", judged mentally incompetent and "committed to a state mental hospital for an indefinite period". Murderers were often "executed in the manner prescribed by law" or "executed in the lethal gas chamber
Gas chamber
A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. The most commonly used poisonous agent is hydrogen cyanide; carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide have also been used...

 at the State Penitentiary, San Quentin California". Occasionally, police pursued the wrong suspect, and criminals sometimes avoided justice or escaped, at least on the radio version of Dragnet. In 1950, Time quoted Webb: "We don’t even try to prove that crime doesn’t pay ... sometimes it does" (Dunning, 210)

Specialized terminology was mentioned in every episode but was rarely explained. Webb trusted the audience to determine the meanings of words or terms by their context, and Dragnet tried to avoid the kinds of awkward, lengthy exposition
Exposition (literary technique)
At the beginning of a narrative, the exposition is the author's providing of some background information to the audience about the plot, characters' histories, setting, and theme. Exposition is considered one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration...

 that people would not actually use in daily speech. Several specialized terms (such as "A.P.B." for "All Points Bulletin
All points bulletin
An all-points bulletin is a broadcast issued from one US law enforcement agency to another. It typically contains information about a wanted suspect who is to be arrested or a person of interest, for whom law enforcement officers are to look. They are usually dangerous or missing persons. As...

" and "M.O." for "Modus Operandi
Modus operandi
Modus operandi is a Latin phrase, approximately translated as "mode of operation". The term is used to describe someone's habits or manner of working, their method of operating or functioning...

") were rarely used in popular culture before Dragnet introduced them to everyday America.

While most radio shows used one or two sound-effect
Sound effect
For the album by The Jam, see Sound Affects.Sound effects or audio effects are artificially created or enhanced sounds, or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media...

 experts, Dragnet needed five: a script clocking in at just under 30 minutes could require up to 300 separate effects. Accuracy was underlined: The exact number of footsteps from one room to another at Los Angeles police headquarters were imitated, and when a telephone rang at Friday's desk, the listener heard the same ring as the telephones in Los Angeles police headquarters. A single minute of ".22 Rifle for Christmas" is a representative example of the evocative sound effects featured on "Dragnet". While Friday and others investigate bloodstains in a suburban backyard, the listener hears a series of overlapping effects: a squeaking gate hinge, footsteps, a technician scraping blood into a paper envelope, the glassy chime of chemical vials, bird calls, and a dog barking in the distance.

Sometimes the mundane intruded. When shows ran short, directors stalled for time. In "The Big Crime", Dragnet interrupted a scene while a real-estate agent spent a full minute answering and explaining a phone call, not advancing the story but filling in time.

Topics and themes

Scripts tackled a number of topics, ranging from the thrilling (murders, missing person
Missing person
A missing person is a person who has disappeared for usually unknown reasons.Missing persons' photographs may be posted on bulletin boards, milk cartons, postcards, and websites, along with a phone number to be contacted if a sighting has been made....

s and armed robbery) to the mundane (check fraud and shoplifting
Shoplifting
Shoplifting is theft of goods from a retail establishment. It is one of the most common property crimes dealt with by police and courts....

), yet "Dragnet" made them all interesting due to fast-moving plots and behind-the-scenes realism. In "The Garbage Chute" (December 15, 1949), they even had a locked room mystery
Locked room mystery
The locked room mystery is a sub-genre of detective fiction in which a crime—almost always murder—is committed under apparently impossible circumstances. The crime in question typically involves a crime scene that no intruder could have entered or left, e.g., a locked room...

.

Though rather tame by modern standards, Dragnet—especially on the radio—handled controversial subjects such as sex crimes and drug addiction with unprecedented and even startling realism. In one such example, Dragnet broke one of the unspoken (and still rarely broached) taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...

s of popular entertainment in the episode ".22 Rifle for Christmas" which aired December 22, 1949 and was repeated a year later. The episode followed the search for two young boys, Stanley Johnstone and Stevie Morheim, only to discover Stevie had been accidentally killed while playing with a rifle that belonged to Stanleywho'd be receiving it as a Christmas present but opened the box early; Stanley finally told Friday that Stevie was running while holding the rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

 when he tripped and fell, causing the gun to discharge, fatally wounding Morheim.

NBC received thousands of complaint letters, including a formal protest by the National Rifle Association
National Rifle Association
The National Rifle Association of America is an American non-profit 501 civil rights organization which advocates for the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection...

. Webb forwarded many of the letters to police chief Parker who promised "ten more shows illustrating the folly of giving rifles to children". (Dunning, 211) Another episode dealt with high school girls who, rather than finding Hollywood stardom, fall in with fraudulent talent scouts and end up in pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...

 and prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

. Both this episode and ".22 Rifle for Christmas" were adapted for television, with very few script changes, when Dragnet moved to that medium.

The tone was usually serious, but there were moments of comic relief
Comic relief
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...

: Romero was something of a hypochondriac and often seemed henpecked; though Friday dated women, he usually dodged those who tried to set him up with marriage-minded dates.

Due in part to Webb's fondness for radio drama, Dragnet persisted on radio until 1957 (the last two seasons were repeats) as one of the last old time radio shows to give way to television's increasing popularity. In fact, the TV show would prove to be effectively a visual version of the radio show, as the style was virtually the same [including the scripts, as the majority of them were adapted from radio]. The TV show could be listened to without watching it, with no loss of understanding of the storyline.

"Just the facts, ma'am"

While "Just the facts, ma'am" has come to be known as Dragnets catchphrase (it has been copied and parodied many times by other productions), it was never actually uttered by Joe Friday. The closest lines were, "All we want are the facts, ma'am" and "All we know are the facts, ma'am".

1951–59 original version

When television was interested in Dragnet, Webb bucked the prevailing wisdom which argued that radio staff could not adapt to the new medium. He insisted on hiring actors, writers, and production staff from radio as much as was feasible to work on the television version. This loyalty would endear Webb to many of his Dragnet colleagues for decades to come, but more important was that it brought continuity between the television and radio series. This made it possible for a busy person to listen to the audio and get the whole story.

The pilot for Dragnet, "The Human Bomb" (adapted from the July 21, 1949 radio episode), aired on television on December 16, 1951 as a special presentation of the NBC program Chesterfield Sound-Off Time. It introduced the many close-up
Close-up
In filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium a close-up tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots . Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene...

s that became Webb's trademark. After the pilot's success, the regular series debuted in January 1952. Friday's original partner in the TV episodes (as on the radio) was Sgt. Ben Romero, played by Barton Yarborough
Barton Yarborough
William Barton Yarborough was an American actor who worked extensively in radio drama.As a youth, Yarborough ran away from home, attracted by the vaudeville stages, and he first worked in radio during the 1920s...

, who died of a heart attack after only three episodes were filmed. The Romero character (who also died of a heart attack, as acknowledged on the December 27, 1951 radio episode, "The Big Sorrow") was replaced first by Detective Sergeant Ed Jacobs (Barney Phillips
Barney Phillips
Barney Phillips was an American film, radio and television actor.-Biography and career:He was born Bernard Philip Ofner in St. Louis, Missouri, to Harry Nathan Ofner, a commercial salesman for the leather industry, and Leona Frank Ofner, a naturalized citizen of German origin, who went by the...

), and then by Officer Frank Smith. Smith was first played by Herb Ellis. After four episodes, Ben Alexander took over the role on both television and radio.

Television offered Webb the opportunity to increase the realism to a point unmatched by any other program for years. Many early episodes involved cases which had been handled by the Robbery or Homicide Divisions, which was at that time located in the ground floor of the Los Angeles City Hall
Los Angeles City Hall
Los Angeles City Hall, completed 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council...

. Webb had his set designers precisely duplicate the office, including details such as the remnant of a notice which had been torn from the bulletin board, leaving only one corner. He insisted that Friday and his partner use badges in the then-unique shield shape used by LAPD. This led to the loan of actual LAPD badges, brought in every morning from the Office of the Chief of Police in the care of an officer who acted as technical advisor.

Webb was uncomfortable with firearms and mentioned this to the technical advisor. When an early script called for Friday to use a shotgun, LAPD detailed Jesse Littlejohn, a member of the Robbery Division's elite "Hat Squad", to teach Webb how to handle the riot gun. In the episode, Friday carries the shotgun using proper technique, but passes it to his partner rather than fire it himself. In thanks for this and assistance by other officers, Webb dropped their names into scripts, beginning a tradition which continued through the end of production of Dragnet and Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...

; all officers' names are real (except for recurring characters and officers suspected of wrongdoing, in which cases the names were changed to protect the innocent).

Two hallmarks of the TV show came at the end of
each episode:
  • The arrested criminal stands uncomfortably, presumably for the mug shot
    Mug shot
    A mug shot, mugshot or booking photograph, is a photographic portrait taken after one is arrested. The purpose of the mug shot is to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of the arrested individual to allow for identification by victims and investigators. Most mug shots are two-part,...

    , and the fate of the perpetrators is stated, as a verdict of a court "in and for the City and County of Los Angeles" on an appropriate date.
  • A sweaty, glistening left hand appeared, holding what would turn out to be a stamp for indenting metal; a heavy hammer struck the top of the handle of the stamp, twice, loudly; the stamp was removed to reveal the imprint "VII" (over which the words "Mark" and "Limited" were superimposed on a title card), referring to Webb's production company, Mark VII Limited
    Mark VII Limited
    Mark VII Limited was the production company of actor, producer, and director Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 to 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Television; most of them aired on the NBC television network in the U.S....

     Productions. The hands were Webb's own, giving a signature/personal stamp to the end of the show.


Jack Webb thought Ben Alexander made an ideal partner. The dramatic scripts of the 1950s usually feature at least one comic interlude with Alexander to lighten the tone. Thus Frank offhandedly chats with Joe about his latest enthusiasm (favorite foods, fad diets, hobbies, home life, etc.). Alexander stayed with Dragnet through its original run, which ended in 1959. In the final episode of the penultimate season, Joe Friday was promoted to Lieutenant (still retaining the badge number "714") and Frank Smith was promoted to Sergeant. During the final season, Joe and Frank continued to work as partners, with Joe as a lieutenant and Frank as a sergeant, but the promotions seemed to make no difference in their actual jobs.

Dragnet was very successful, competing with I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is an American television sitcom starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, on the Columbia Broadcasting System...

 as the most popular series on television. It did not end because of bad ratings, but because of Webb's decision to pursue other projects. While Dragnet was still on the air, reruns began to air in syndication in the fall of 1953 as Badge 714, (the custom of the time was to rename series when they went to syndication).

1967–70 remake

When Webb remounted Dragnet in 1966, he tried to get Ben Alexander to rejoin him as Frank. Alexander was then committed to an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 police series, Felony Squad
Felony Squad
Felony Squad is a half-hour television crime drama originally broadcast on the ABC network from September 12, 1966 to January 31, 1969, a span encompassing seventy-three episodes.-Overview:...

, and its producers would not release him. Webb reluctantly recast the role of Joe Friday's partner: Bill Gannon, played by movie and TV veteran Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan is an American actor. Morgan is well-known for his roles as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H , Pete Porter on both Pete and Gladys and December Bride , Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet , and Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey...

. Morgan in 1949 had a voice role as rooming house proprietor "Luther Gage" in the episode "James Vickers". Bill Gannon, like Frank Smith, was businesslike on duty but chatty in informal situations. Ben Alexander's light-comedy dialogues now fell to Morgan, who played some of it more broadly; in "The Big Neighbor" his ad libs cause Webb to openly burst out laughing, and in "The Weekend," Gannon's step-by-step preparation of a "garlic-nut-butter sandwich" is greeted with incredulous reactions from his friends.

Webb produced a TV movie pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 for the new, color version of the show for Universal Television, although it did not air until January 1969. NBC bought the show on the strength of the movie and debuted it as a mid-season replacement for the sitcom The Hero on Thursday nights in January 1967. In order to distinguish it from the original, the year was included in the title of the show (e.g., Dragnet 1967). Although Joe Friday had been a lieutenant during the final season of the original 1950s production, Jack Webb decided to revert to Sergeant with his familiar badge number, "714." (When LAPD Sergeant Dan Cooke was promoted to lieutenant, he arranged to carry the same lieutenant's badge, number 714, as worn by Joe Friday during the final season of the original series. Cooke had been Webb's contact in the department during the production of the revived Dragnet series. Cooke was also technical advisor to the KNBC documentary "Police Unit 2A-26," directed by John Orland. He brought it to the attention of Jack Webb, who hired Orland to direct and film the "This is the City," a series of mini-documentaries about Los Angeles that preceded most of the TV episodes during the 1969 and 1970 seasons.)

The remake would also distinguish itself, and gain notoriety among some viewers, for its greater emphasis than the original upon juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency
Juvenile delinquency is participation in illegal behavior by minors who fall under a statutory age limit. Most legal systems prescribe specific procedures for dealing with juveniles, such as juvenile detention centers. There are a multitude of different theories on the causes of crime, most if not...

, drug abuse
Drug abuse
Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts...

, student dissidence, and relations between the police department and the community. Webb would later state that an explicit goal of the Dragnet revival and his subsequent shows was to improve the reputation of local forces throughout the U.S., particularly in urban areas. The generally conservative posture of the show toward the hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...

 movement (the so-called "counterculture") earned the new Dragnet both appreciative fans and dismayed critics, the latter of whom deemed Webb as a rigid authoritarian who could not adjust to social change. However, most of the criticism of the counterculture on the show was not so much based on the hippies' desire for change, but more on their impatience for it and tactics for achieving it. Also, the show was decidedly positive in its assessment of American blacks and other racial minorities, mitigating somewhat the charges against Webb of xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...

.

The show enjoyed good ratings on NBC's schedule for four seasons, although its popularity did not exceed that of the 1950s version. In 1968, Webb decided to spin off from Dragnet a show based on the experiences of patrol officers. Named Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...

, that show would go on to run seven years in its own right. Much like he had done 11 years earlier, Webb decided voluntarily to discontinue Dragnet after its fourth season in order to focus on creating, producing, and directing Adam-12 and, later, Emergency!
Emergency!
Emergency! is an American television series that combines the medical drama and action-adventure genres. It was produced by Mark VII Limited and distributed by Universal Studios...

, which portrayed the fledgling paramedic program of the L.A. County Fire Department
Los Angeles County Fire Department
The Los Angeles County Fire Department , serves unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County, as well as 58 cities and towns that choose to have the county provide fire and EMS services, including La Habra. It should not be confused with the Los Angeles City Fire Department, which serves the city of...

.

Reruns of this version were popular on local stations, usually during the late afternoons or early evenings, in the early 1970s. In the late 1980s, they found their way to Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite is the nighttime Cable network that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon on Sundays from 8.p.m.-7.am., Monday through Fridays from 9 p.m.-7 a.m. and Saturdays from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. . Though it shares channel space with Nickelodeon, A.C. Nielsen Co...

 and, beginning in the late 1990s, its sister cable channel TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...

. Currently the program airs over many of the stations of the broadcast digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...

 network Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...

. Currently all four seasons are available on DVD and for free on-demand streaming on Hulu.com
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

 for US residents.

Later in Webb's career

Webb had begun the process of bringing Dragnet back to television yet again in 1982, writing and producing five scripts. Webb was to return as Joe Friday, but since Harry Morgan was still doing M*A*S*H and had already signed up for AfterMASH
AfterMASH
AfterMASH was an American situation comedy that aired on CBS from September 26, 1983 to December 11, 1984. A spin-off of the series M*A*S*H , the show took place immediately following the end of the Korean War and chronicled the adventures of three characters from the original series: Colonel...

 he was unavailable; Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...

's Kent McCord
Kent McCord
Kent McCord is an American actor best known for his role as Officer Jim Reed on the television series Adam-12.- Biography :...

 was tapped to play Friday's new partner (although it wasn't made clear if it was going to be a new role or the Jim Reed character McCord played on Adam-12). However, before the new series could enter production Webb suddenly died from a heart attack on December 23, 1982 and the new Dragnet was scrapped.

After Webb's death, Chief Daryl Gates
Daryl Gates
Daryl Gates was the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department from 1978 to 1992.-Early life:...

 of the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...

 announced that badge number 714 — Webb's number on the television show — had been retired, and Los Angeles city offices lowered their flags to half-staff. At Webb's funeral, the LAPD provided an honor guard, and the Chief of Police commented on Webb's connection with the LAPD. An LAPD Auditorium was named in his honor. Jack Webb's famous LAPD 714 Sergeant badge and LAPD I.D. card are on display at the Los Angeles Police Academy.

1949 radio series

The original Dragnet started as a radio show in June 1949. A total of 314 original episodes were broadcast from 1949 through 1957. The series was broadcast on NBC and starred Jack Webb and Barton Yarborough as Friday's first partner Sergeant Ben Romero.

1951 television series

In 1951, about a year and a half in to the radio series, Dragnet branched out from radio in to television. This first run of the TV series consisted of 276 original episodes. For the first 3 episodes, Friday's partner was Sergeant Ben Romero as in the radio show. For the next 18 episodes, Friday's partner was Detective Sergeant Ed Jacobs. For the several hundred remaining episodes, Friday's partner was Officer Frank Smith.

1967 television series

In 1967, Dragnet returned to TV as Dragnet 1967 after NBC executives saw the made-for-TV movie Dragnet 1966 (they did not release the TV-movie for public viewing until 1969). This series ran for four years and produced 98 original episodes. Officer Bill Gannon was Friday's partner for the four year run. The show's title changed each year from Dragnet 1967 to Dragnet 1970 when the series ended.

Dragnet (1954)

In 1954, a theatrical feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

 adaptation of the series was released, with Webb, Alexander, and Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...

. Dennis Weaver
Dennis Weaver
William Dennis Weaver was an American actor, best known for his work in television, including roles on Gunsmoke, as Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud, and the 1971 TV movie Duel....

 plays a small role as a detective captain. The film begins with the shooting of small-time hood Miller Starkie (Dub Taylor
Dub Taylor
Walter Clarence Taylor, Jr. , better known as Dub Taylor, was an American actor who worked extensively in Westerns, but also in comedy from the 1940s into the 1990s.-Early life:...

) on orders from his boss, Max Troy (Stacy Harris
Stacy Harris
Stacy Harris was an American actor with hundreds of film and television appearances.Harris was best known for his role as agent Jim Taylor on ABC Radio's This is Your FBI and, later, for playing varied characters, often villains, on shows produced by Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, such as Dragnet,...

). Friday's and Smith's immediate superior is LAPD Intelligence Division Captain Jim Hamilton (Boone), an actual department member. The Intelligence Division focused on the pursuit of organized-crime figures, and some of Max Troy's habits resemble those of Mickey Cohen
Mickey Cohen
Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen was a gangster based in Los Angeles and part of the Jewish Mafia, and also had strong ties to the American Mafia from the 1930s through 1960s.-Early life:...

, the well-known Los Angeles underworld boss; for example, Troy's LAPD file reads that he could be found at "Sunset Strip
Sunset Strip
The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with Hollywood at Harper Avenue, to its western border with Beverly Hills at Sierra Drive...

 taverns and joints," as could Cohen. The film depicts the working relationship between the LAPD and the Los Angeles County District Attorney
Los Angeles County District Attorney
The District Attorney of Los Angeles County prosecutes felony and misdemeanor crimes that occur within the jurisdiction of Los Angeles County, California....

's office; Friday and Smith work to gather evidence that the DA's office deems sufficient to gain the indictment and ultimate conviction of Troy and his fellows. One scene contains a violent fist-fight involving the two detectives, with the close-up
Close-up
In filmmaking, television production, still photography and the comic strip medium a close-up tightly frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots . Close-ups display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene...

 cinematic technique typical of Webb's style of direction.
The movie's ending represents a considerable departure from most "Dragnet' stories; no arrest is made at the story's conclusion. Chester Davitt (Willard Sage), Troy's underling and Starkie's killer, is killed by other underworld figures, and Troy himself succumbs to cancer just before the detectives have gathered evidence for his arrest.

Dragnet 1966 (1969)

Dragnet 1966 is a made-for-TV movie that was not broadcast until 1969. The movie initiated the return of the Dragnet series to television as Dragnet 1967. The movie stars Jack Webb as Sgt. Friday and Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon. The story focuses on a type of crime more typical of the 1960s than of the previous "Dragnet" era; the two detectives are assigned to find a voyeuristic serial killer similar to Harvey Glatman (played by Vic Perrin
Vic Perrin
Vic Perrin was an American actor and voice artist. He is best remembered as the "Control Voice" in the original version of the TV series The Outer Limits ....

 who had appeared in the 1954 film as an assistant district attorney).

Also appearing in the movie is Virginia Gregg
Virginia Gregg
Virginia Gregg Burket was an American actress best known for her many roles in radio dramas.Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, Virginia Gregg was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta and businessman Edward William Gregg.-Radio:Gregg was a prolific radio actor, heard on such programs as The...

, who played a role in the 1954 feature and who was a frequent guest actor in the 1951-59 series and the 1967-70 episodes.

Dragnet (1987)

In 1987, a comedy movie version of Dragnet appeared starring Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...

 as the stiff Joe Friday (the original Detective Friday's nephew), and Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

 as his partner Pep Streebeck. The film contrasted the terse, clipped character of Friday, a hero from another age, with the 'real world' of Los Angeles in 1987 to broadly comedic effect. Beyond Aykroyd's effective imitation of Webb's Joe Friday (and Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan is an American actor. Morgan is well-known for his roles as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H , Pete Porter on both Pete and Gladys and December Bride , Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet , and Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey...

's small role reprising his earlier role as Bill Gannon, now a captain and Joe Friday's commander), this film version shares little with the previous incarnations. Although officially a remake, the film was more a parody than a true remake, and was a hit with audiences. LAPD Lieutenant Dan Cooke, who had served as technical advisor for the Jack Webb series, also served as technical advisor for this production.

Other media

A 1956 Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...

 short, Rocket Squad
Rocket Squad
Rocket Squad is a 1956 Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon short produced by Eddie Selzer. It was directed by Chuck Jones and written by Tedd Pierce starring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig as futuristic space cops who patrol the Milky Way Galaxy...

, starred Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck
Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons, often running the gamut between being the best friend and sometimes arch-rival of Bugs Bunny...

 and Porky Pig
Porky Pig
Porky Pig is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. He was the first character created by the studio to draw audiences based on his star power, and the animators created many critically acclaimed shorts using the fat little pig...

 as 'Sgt. Joe Monday' and 'Det. Schmoe Tuesday', respectively. Daffy narrated, giving a running timeline in the manner of Sgt. Friday. Unlike Dragnet, this police adventure ends with both officers convicted and imprisoned for false arrest
False arrest
False arrest is a common law tort, where a plaintiff alleges they were held in custody without probable cause, or without an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction...

.

In 1958, Webb authored a book titled The Badge. The book was a series of true stories told from the view of a patrolman, sergeant, lieutenant and others. It had a number of photographs and recently was reissued with a foreword by James Ellroy
James Ellroy
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...

, the author of LA Confidential.

The 1989 series: The New Dragnet

In 1989, The New Dragnet appeared in first-run syndication
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

, featuring all-new characters, and aired in tandem with The New Adam-12, a remake of another Webb-produced police drama, Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...

.

The New Dragnet starred Jeff Osterhage
Jeff Osterhage
Jeff Osterhage is an American film and television actor from Columbus, Indiana.Osterhage began his acting career in a television adaptation of True Grit in 1978 and starred in the 1979 TV movie The Legend of the Golden Gun...

 and Bernard White
Bernard White
Bernard White is a Sri Lankan-born English actor, screenwriter and film director. A 1977 graduate of Detroit Catholic Central High School, he graduated from Michigan State University. He was previously married to American actress Julia Campbell and French actress Nathalie Canessa-White...

 as the detectives, and Don Stroud
Don Stroud
Donald Lee Stroud is an American actor and surfer who appeared in many films in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, and has starred in over 100 films and 175 television shows to date.-Early life:...

 as Capt. Lussen. The show lasted two seasons.

The 2003 series: L.A. Dragnet

In 2003 another Dragnet series was produced by Dick Wolf
Dick Wolf
Richard Anthony "Dick" Wolf is an American producer, specializing in crime dramas such as Miami Vice and the Law & Order franchise. Throughout his career he has won several awards including an Emmy Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.-Early life:Wolf was born in New York City, the son...

, the producer of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

's Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...

 series and spinoffs, a series that was strongly influenced by Dragnet. It aired on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

, and starred Ed O'Neill
Ed O'Neill
Edward Phillip "Ed" O'Neill, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the main character, Al Bundy, on the Fox Network sitcom Married... with Children, for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes...

 as Joe Friday and Ethan Embry
Ethan Embry
Ethan Philan Randall , although he is known and usually credited as Ethan Embry, is an American film and television actor. He is known for his role as Declan Giggs on the Showtime television series Brotherhood.-Personal life:...

 as Frank Smith. After a 12-episode season that rather closely followed the traditional formula, the format of the series was changed to an ensemble crime drama in an attempt to boost ratings.

Retitled L.A. Dragnet, Friday was promoted to Lieutenant but received less screen time (Frank Smith was written out entirely) in favor of a group of younger and ethnically-diverse detectives (played by Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria
Eva Jacqueline Longoria is an American actress, best known for portraying Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives...

, Christina Chang
Christina Chang
Christina Chang is a Taiwanese American actress.Chang was born in and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. Her father is Chinese Filipino and her mother is American...

, Desmond Harrington
Desmond Harrington
Desmond Harrington is an American actor. He is known for movies such as The Hole, Wrong Turn and Ghost Ship. He joined the cast of the Showtime series Dexter in its third season as Det. Joseph Quinn.-Life and career:...

 and Evan Dexter Parke
Evan Parke
Evan Parke is a Jamaican actor perhaps best known for his role as Hayes in King Kong. Originally from Jamaica, Parke was raised in Brooklyn, New York and then on Long Island...

) (Roselyn Sanchez
Roselyn Sanchez
Roselyn Sánchez is a Puerto Rican singer-songwriter, model, actress, producer and writer of film and television.-Early life:...

 was also added to the regular cast, but only appeared in a few episodes). With the Dragnet formula no longer in place, the program had the feel of a more typical procedural drama
Procedural drama
Procedural dramas are television programming series which rely on an episodic format that does not require the viewer to have seen previous episodes. Episodes typically have a self-contained, also referred to as stand-alone, plot that is introduced and resolved within the same episode...

; even still, it was canceled only five episodes into its second season. Another three episodes premiered on USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...

 in early 2004, with the final two premiering in the U.S. on the Sleuth channel in 2006. In some places (such as the Netherlands) the show is retitled Murder Investigation.

Original Series (1951)

Many episodes of this series have become public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

, and have been released by many DVD labels.

Three collections have been released to date, two from Alpha Video
Alpha Video
Alpha Video is an entertainment company, based near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD...

 featuring four episodes each and one from Eclectic DVD featuring three episodes.

Platinum Video released seven episodes from the original series in 2002. The episodes are: "Big Crime", "Big Pair", "Big Producer", "Big Break", "Big September Man", "Big Betty", and "Big Trunk". The two disc set also includes episodes from Burke's Law
Burke's Law
Burke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...

; Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn
Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...

; Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960.-Radio:...

; Mr. Wong, Detective; and Bulldog Drummond
Bulldog Drummond
Bulldog Drummond is a British fictional character, created by "Sapper", a pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile , and the hero of a series of novels published from 1920 to 1954.- Drummond :...

.

Dragnet 1967-70

On June 7, 2005, Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...

 released the first season on DVD in Region 1. Because the sales numbers did not meet Universal's expectations, no further seasons were released.

On March 17, 2010, it was announced that Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...

 had acquired the rights to distribute the series (under license from Universal
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...

). They subsequently released seasons 2-4.
DVD Name Ep # Release Date
Season 1 17 June 7, 2005
Season 2 28 July 6, 2010
Season 3 27 December 7, 2010
Season 4 26 April 12, 2011

L.A. Dragnet (2003)

Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Universal Studios Home Entertainment is the home video division of Universal Pictures...

 was going to release the first season of this short-lived remake on DVD on November 11, 2003, but this release was subsequently cancelled. It is not known if the set will be released at some point, though it is available for viewing on Hulu
Hulu
Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...

.

Sources

  • Dunning, John
    John Dunning (writer)
    John Dunning is an American writer of non-fiction and detective fiction. He is known for his reference books on old-time radio and his series of mysteries featuring Denver bookseller and ex-policeman Cliff Janeway.- Life :...

    , On The Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, Oxford University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-19-507678-8.
  • Michael J. Hayde, My Name's Friday: The Unauthorized but True Story of Dragnet and the Films of Jack Webb, Cumberland House, 2001, ISBN 1-581-82190-5
  • Jason Mittell
    Jason Mittell
    Jason Mittell is an associate professor of American studies and film and media culture at Middlebury College whose research interests include the history of television, media, culture, and new media. He is author of two books, Genre and Television and Television and American Culture...

    , Genre and Television: From Cop Shows to Cartoons in American Culture. Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0-415-96903-4.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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