The original Dragnet, which ran from 1951 to 1959, was the grandaddy of all TV cop shows. Without Dragnet the police drama as we know it today would have never been born. Star, producer, director, and writer Jack Webb took what was originally a radio drama and gave us a glimpse into the lives of ordinary policemen and their routine which was often boring but filled with drama and tension on occasion.
Dragnet took its scripts from real life police files. As the narration said, "The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to protect the innocent." The show seemed real at times and the LAPD frequently reported instances of people showing up at police stations and asking to see Sgt. Joe Friday (Webb's character). Their stock answer was, "Sorry, it's his day off."
Dragnet had a second incarnation under Webb's guidance and would have two more after his death. One in the late 80's and the other in 2002 starring Ed O'Neill. None had the impact or garnered the ratings of the original though. Perhaps Dragnet was a product of its times--the easy going era of the 1950's. Trying to update it made for interesting television at times but you couldn't duplicate the success or the impact of the original.moreless
Dragnet
NBC (ended 1959)
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Show Summary
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The program opened each week with these words from Det. Sgt. Joe Friday: "This is the city, Los Angeles, California. I work here, I carry a badge." Then that arresting theme music began to play ("Dum-de-dum-dum"). Probably the most successful police drama in television history. Dragnet's hallmark was its appearance of realism, from the documentary-style narration by Joe Friday, to the cases drawn from the files of the real L.A.P.D., to its attention to the details of police work ("It was 3:55. . . We were working the day watch out of homocide"). Viewers were reminded of the unglamorous dead ends and the constant interruptions of their private lives that plague real policemen, and this made the final shoot-out and capture of the criminal all the more exciting. At the end of each episode, after the criminal was apprehanded, an announcer would describe what happened at the subsequent trial and the severity of the sentence. The series was created and directed by Jack Webb himself. It's catchphrases and devices became national bywords and were widely satirized. There was Webb's terse "My name is Friday--I'm a cop," and "Just the facts, ma'am" It was revived in 1967 as Dragnet 1967 and again in 1989 as "The New Dragnet". This was followed by a short-lived revival in 2002 with Ed O' Neill as Joe Friday. The series was renamed L.A. Dragnet in 2003 and canceled shortly thereafter. A theatrical film in 1987 with Dan Ackroyd and Tom Hanks also surfaced. Other spinoffs included Adam-12 (1968-75) and Emergency (1972-77).moreless
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Jack Webb
Sergeant Joe Friday
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Herb Ellis
Officer Frank Smith (1952-1953)
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Ben Alexander
Officer Frank Smith
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The Big Accident
S 8 : Ep 20
Aired 2/3/59
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The Big Oskar
S 8 : Ep 4
Aired 10/14/58 (26:23)
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The Big War
S 7 : Ep 28
Aired 4/10/58 (29:11)
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The Big Jade
S 7 : Ep 15
Aired 1/2/58
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Serenity Now-- It's TV.COM's rundown of television-to-movie conversions
By Colin Mahan, Aug 04, 2005
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Superior Dragnet series, '51 or '67?
01/06/104Reply
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The cops
08/30/094Reply
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Theme music
11/10/076Reply
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DVD's
03/01/062Reply
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Drama
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Classics, Crime
