Dragnet

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Dragnet ranks 656 out of the 18,228 shows on TV.com.

The 142 users who count themselves as Dragnet fans have written a total of 6 reviews.

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Dragnet 1967-1970 was the second run of the Dragnet series. It began in January of 1967, and ran to September of 1970. The lead character, Sgt. Joe Friday, was played by Jack Webb, who also directed and produced the series. The show's focus is on two detectives, Sgt. Joe Friday, and Officer Bill Gannon, played... more »

Dragnet 1967-1970 was the second run of the Dragnet series. It began in January of 1967, and ran to September of 1970. The lead character, Sgt. Joe Friday, was played by Jack Webb, who also directed and produced the series. The show's focus is on two detectives, Sgt. Joe Friday, and Officer Bill Gannon, played by Harry Morgan. The two track down criminals all throughout the city of Los Angeles, California.

The original "Dragnet" was the grandfather of ALL of today's police drama shows. This was the first time a cancelled network TV series was successfully revived.

In late 1965, Universal and NBC hired Webb to revive "Dragnet" as a made-for-TV movie. This was filmed in early 1966, but didn't air until January 1969. Titled "World Premiere: Dragnet," the well-made film has Friday and Gannon linking the slayings of photographer's models to the disappearance of a war widow, while Gannon prepares to retire.less «

• Describe the show in one word....

  "Preachy"....way too preachy even for the time period. Watching these shows in hind sight is a hoot. Hippies, juvenile delin...more »

  "Preachy"....way too preachy even for the time period. Watching these shows in hind sight is a hoot. Hippies, juvenile delinquents, etc. are all bad people. The shows never seemed to tackle stuff like white collar crime, government abuses, etc. The police still had to be called into those cases as well. But not in this show. I have always wondered why they had the disclaimer on this and Adam-12 that the "names were changed to protect the innocent" when no one was found innocent! At least shows on today like "Cold Case Files" name the names and give the dates. Ah, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.... less «

  Dougo13 Last online Jun 5, 2009
  6 comments, last one Apr 9, 2009 + Add Comment

• Why no season two DVDs?

  It's been over two years since the release of the "complete" first season (the show began in mid-season, so it was actu...more »

  It's been over two years since the release of the "complete" first season (the show began in mid-season, so it was actually half a season). What's taking so long for the release of season two? If and when it does come out, I hope it will have better special features than season one. The only special feature on season one was chapter selection, which is a good feature, but I like more, things like background info. less «

  tvking1 Last online 4 hrs, 22 mins ago
  4 comments, last one Oct 4, 2007 + Add Comment

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  10 Perfect

  The godfather of all detective shows. hide « show »

  This was one of the first police dramas on television. It was simple and straightforward, but very effective. The acting was on the terse side, as the lead stars portrayed no-nonsense cops who didn't really let us into their own lives-- they just solved the case. The scripts were like a procedural novel. They set forth the details of the case and then let the surprises come out of that. Everything here looks and sounds like it's straight out of "The Maltese Falcon." And that's a compliment. So when you want to see some gripping drama in which the officers of the law stand between the public and grave harm, this is what it was like--and this is how it should be done.

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  Lokar Added Feb 3, 2008 All my reviews
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  9 Superb

  Dragnet was the first successful police series hide « show »

  Back in the days when TVLand ran Classic TV shows, I became a fan of this series. To me, it seemed what Adam 12 did for criminals, this show did for drug pushers and users. Joe Friday (Jack Webb) and Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan) were buddies and partners in the Los Angelos County Police Force, Detectives Division. A top show in the Sixties, this series educated many watchers on the dangers of alcohol and substance abuse and provided a top notch drama at the same time. There was a bit of wry humor between Friday and Gannon that made the series and the characters so likeable, but there was also a lesson in it's warnings on drugs and how the law worked. The formula was so successful that it worked equally well in Webb's creation and Dragnet spin-off, Adam 12, and again for Emergency. A true classic in TV history, this is a series that everyone needs to watch.

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  aesgaard41 Added Oct 17, 2006 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  This is the city, Los Angeles, California. I work here. I carry a badge. hide « show »

  The first police drama I ever watched and still, in my opinion, the best. Dragnet successfully made the transition from radio to television.
  Joe Friday and his partner Bill Gannon worked in every department: Homicide, Robbery, Juvinelle, Bunco. Joe (played by show creator Jack Webb) was the straight arrow, by the book guy. Not that Harry Morgan's character was any less of a policeman, he had an obligation to his wife and children.
  Some shows are lighthearted, like "The Christmas Story" where a small child has "stolen" the baby Jesus from the church's nativity to give him a ride in the red wagon he got for Christmas, to serious topics like child neglect in "The Big High".
  Before the "ripped from the headlines" storylines came Dragnet's scripts. Each crime was based on real police files, but changed enough that even the criminal could not recognize it.
  This makes you appreciate what police work was like before the C.S.I. era. Not that they didn't take fingerprints, but once you had them, you couldn't just load it into the computer and wait for a match, it was done manually.
  I always loved when Sgt. Friday would give his lenghty speeches about crime and how something starts our small and suddenly is a full-blown epidemic.
  Dragnet used a small pool of guest stars but always playing a different role.
  The other part I find amusing, looking back, the show from the late '60s, when the younger generation was rebeling, there were several shows that dealt with drugs. The kids always told the police that when they grew up and became lawyers, they were going to legalize marijuana. Here we are, 40 years later, I'm sure those kids have grown up, but it is still illegal.
  Jack Webb went on to make other shows, including the police drama Adam 12 and Emergency!, where he was entirely behind the camera.
  In 2003 LA Dragnet came out starring Ed O'Neil as Sgt. Joe Friday, but it just wasn't the same.

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  porky19 Added Jul 3, 2006 All my reviews
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  9.6 Superb

  A great old police show about two detectives that solved a wide variety of crimes. hide « show »

  A great old police show about two detectives that solved a wide variety of crimes. Jack Webb stared as Sergeant Joe Friday and Harry Morgan played Officer Bill Gannon. The show would start with Jack Web telling us what division of crime the two were working. It was a fun cop show similar to Adam-12. They used real life crimes, dramatized them and of course ... changed the names to protect the innocent. At the end of the show they would show the criminals and how much time they got for their crimes. This show was a great TV watch.

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  vicmackey31 Added May 28, 2006 All my reviews
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  9.5 Superb

  Thank you Jack Webb.... Thank you Harry Morgan...
  Thank you all the talented musicians who really jazzed up this incarnation from it's 1950's predecesor. hide « show »

  I love Dragnet, every version ever produced. Jack Webb learned his producing skills for this show from the 1950's version he directed and starred in with Ben Alexander. The style was very similar, with the real notable exeption, that Sgt. Friday gets his long monotonous nonologue each episode.
  
  Harry Morgan was also a gem in this show, just prior to his MASH career. His affable, humorous fall guy to Webb's straight man was outstanding and far and away the biggest and best difference between him and Alexander.
  
  My favorite episode was the one with Friday on a panel discussing the pros and cons of drug use. (Friday obviously on the con side) The major proponent was an actor named Don Sturdy, who would go on to become WKRP's drug-addled morning man, Dr. Johnny Fever.... Mr. Howard Hesseman.
  
  This was television that learned from it's prior incarnation, and exceeded the sum of it's parts.

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  BillySchu Added Oct 31, 2005 All my reviews