"Dragnet" TV show....

Back in the day the show was one of the more watched and better shows on TV. I have watched the reruns and still like the show. Seeing how the show was on close to 50 years ago the reruns seem like new episodes now.
 
ParadiseRoad said:
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Please, whatever you do, please don't get into The Intimate Facts on Liberace's Love Life. I'm begging you! :eek:
 
Jack Webb was influenced by LAPD Chief Parker, when he died I think the LAPD Gave Webb an "inspectors funeral", I remember when it was on the radio, that's where they developed the "clipped" monologue " "We were working the Day-Watch"
 
I was at gun auction in NE Ohio in the 90s, they auctioned 2 of
JWs guns. A M36 and Brn HP. Both were presentation pieces and
were custom cased and documented. The 36 had Badge 714 in
gold raised relief, both guns engraved and cases with presentation plates. They didn't bring that much, wish I had bid
on them.
 
The quality and appeal of shows like Dragnet have to be taken in perspective to the times. As I recall, my folks got a TV around '55 or '56. TV programming was just a little beyond its infancy stage. There were few channels and few programs. The "new" had not worn off and we all watched about everything we could. Realistically, programs like Dragnet were incredibly crude in many respects but we didn't know that; there was no basis for comparison at the time.

Nevertheless, it's entertaining to watch some of these old shows from a much different era.
 
I enjoy the old Dragnet episodes. The Christmas episode is a classic, I watch it (the '50s version) every Christmas. When they redid it for the late '60s version they did it virtually shot for shot, line for line. Even most of the actors are the same. Personally I think Dragnet is better than most of the garbage on TV today.

Adam-12 is another favorite. It's the show that made me want to be in law enforcement when I was a kid. A lot of guys I know on the job around my age (40's) have said Adam-12 was one of the reasons they wanted to be cops. I watched Adam-12 and Emergency (another Jack Webb show) every afternoon as a kid.

If you want to see Jack Webb in a comedy try to see "The Last Time I Saw Archie" with him and Robert Mitchum. I don't think it's on DVD yet, but it shows up on TV (ThIS Network?) from time to time. His performance in "The DI" was pretty good to. When I enlisted many of my relatives only frame of reference for boot camp was "that Jack Webb movie". He was the definitive movie DI until Lee Ermey came along.
 
rockquarry said:
The quality and appeal of shows like Dragnet have to be taken in perspective to the times. As I recall, my folks got a TV around '55 or '56. TV programming was just a little beyond its infancy stage. There were few channels and few programs. The "new" had not worn off and we all watched about everything we could. Realistically, programs like Dragnet were incredibly crude in many respects but we didn't know that; there was no basis for comparison at the time.

Nevertheless, it's entertaining to watch some of these old shows from a much different era.
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The early B&W Dragnet series was indeed crude, but then, most of the TV series of that time were also. Many, including Dragnet, were made on a shoestring budget, and had very little action and no special effects or stunts. Aside from a few outdoor scenes, all the acting often happened in a single room, lots of dialogue and little action. If you want to see crude, watch some of the early TV westerns, especially the early Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger episodes. But the kids didn't care.

Back when I was old enough to watch Dragnet in the 1950s, where we lived we could receive only two TV channels, both usually snowy, so there wasn't much variety. Whether the content was good or bad didn't make much difference, you watched whatever was on. I think my family's first TV set had a 14" or 15" screen, so you had to get close.

Little known is that the person credited for making the most progress in TV series production innovation was Desi Arnaz.
 
I liked Dragnet because there were no gray areas, everything was black and white, cut and dried. Some years later, when I was in the job, found out it wasn't.
 
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