Dragnet

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NBC (ended 1970)
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Canada: G
USA: TV-G

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Dragnet 1967 through Dragnet 1970 is the second of the Dragnet series to grace our television. Beginning in January 1967 and running till September 1970, the series stared Jack Webb as the lead character Detective Sargent Joe Friday. He also directed and produced the series.

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This series focuses on two detectives, Sargent Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon, played by Harry Morgan. Throughout this series, these two brave men of the LAPD, track down criminals in the city of Las Angeles, California, while also helping its citizens recover their possessions and sometimes their very souls.

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The original "Dragnet" (Dragnet 1951) is the grandfather of ALL of today's police drama shows. Dragnet 1967 through 1970 is the first canceled network TV series to successfully come back to life on a broadcast network.

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

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Episode Guide

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S 4 :  Ep 26 Aired 4/16/70
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S 4 :  Ep 25 Aired 4/9/70
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S 4 :  Ep 24 Aired 4/2/70
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S 4 :  Ep 23 Aired 3/26/70
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S 4 :  Ep 22 Aired 3/19/70
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Fan Reviews (6)

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  • 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.

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By BillySchu, May 14, 2011 Report Abuse
    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.moreless

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  • The godfather of all detective shows.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By Lokar, May 14, 2011 Report Abuse
    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.moreless

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  • Dragnet was the first successful police series

    9.0
    "Superb"
    By aesgaard41, Oct 17, 2006 Report Abuse
    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.moreless

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  • This is the city, Los Angeles, California. I work here. I carry a badge.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By porky19, Jul 03, 2006 Report Abuse
    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.moreless

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

    9.6
    "Superb"
    By vicmackey31, May 29, 2006 Report Abuse
    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.moreless

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