Ranger Jayce Pearson investigates the murder of a driver by a hitchhiker.
This is a preview of the Old Time Radio Daily Westerns(otrwesterns.com), hosted by Andrew Rhynes who edits our audio.
Original Air Date: July 22, 1950
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This was one of those dreaded public affairs episodes that for my part really wasn’t that bad. Friday and Gannon go on a Cheesy late 1960s TV talk show to address public concerns about the department. Veteran Character Actor Stacy “Batman” Harris does a nice job as a College professor who doesn’t think the police should be prosecuting drugs. Somewhat of a fun episode. I can understand why others don’t like it as there’s no crime to solve (unless you count some of the fashion), but it’s still Webb entering a different and fun setting.
Joe Friday and Frank Smith investigate an apparent accidental death, but a statement from the deceased’s 9-year old son leads them to believe it might be a murder.
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Several changes have been made to the show by listener request and I thought in light of recent comments, it’d be a good idea to take a look back:
Dates please: A listener complained there were no dates on the show notes and so I have added original air dates since 2007 and have gone back to the first few month shows and added original air dates for those.
Dr. Kildare: At a listener request, I played a Dr. Kildare episode featuring Jack Webb as a hardened police officer.
Speed up the opening: At the suggestion of a listener, I’ve begun to try and get into the show quicker and save the bulk of comments for after the show is over.
Dump In-show Ads Experiment: Listeners didn’t like it, so I stopped it.
Johnny Dollar Podcast: I came on the idea for doing the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio by listeners who wanted a Johnny Dollar podcast.
So as we celebrate three years on Dragnet, I want to thank those who have offered reasonable suggestions. While some I haven’t been able follow due to time, practicality, or my personal style, it’s only with feedback that we get better. So, thank you.
We kick off my countdown off my 40 favorite Dragnets.
#40 on my lis actually the last episode of Dragnet. Dragnet left the air on a bit of a sour note as Joe and Bill work a night of Burglary and Homicide cases.
While not quite the dramatic quality of the Dragnet radio installment, “The Big Trio,” “The Victims” packs a punch as it tells the story of people victimized by criminals who are given rights, while the victims and their families are left to pick up the pieces. This episode helps you understand the feelings of citizens under siege from criminals. It is the stories portrayed here that caused Americans in the 1970s to relate and gravitate to anti-hero vigilantes like Dirty Harry and the Punisher.
The episode was also notable for a scene in which Sergeant Friday chewed out a young police officer who considered his job “boring” because it wasn’t as exciting as life in the detective bureau. Friday, played by a 50 year-old Jack Webb gave the young gun a well-deserved chewing out that emphasized the importance of the job of the work by officers in the Black and White units. True words as Webb would continue to tell the story of Officers Jim Reed and Pete Malloy on Adam-12 five years after Dragnet went off the air.
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I’m a huge fan of the 1960s Dragnet. I delayed watching the last episode, just so I could have more to look forward to. Over the next 40 weeks, I’m going to post my top 40 favorite episodes.
However, before beginning to list the best, the topic of the worst show comes to mind.
Generally, when it comes to Dragnet, I’m a huge fan of nearly every episode.
Many people who’ve seen the 1950s Dragnet compare it to the 1960s and come up with several faults. Dragnet 1967 was a departure in someone ways from the 1950s model because Friday would often be far more educational and the show was accused of going into “reefer madness” hysterics over drugs.
I’ve never seen it that way. That Joe Friday was a righteous police officer is what attracted me to the series. The policeman, in many ways is a warrior for civilization against anarchy. Friday made it clear that (with the notable exception of drugs), he wasn’t upset about people opposing the Vietnam War or other big causes of the time, but the way the opposition was occurring, with a disregard for democratic processes and a lack of respect for the law.
In the 1960s, you had groups like the Weather Underground that decided a bomb was a heck of a political argument. Those who were using drugs didn’t bother to change the laws, they just decided to ignore them. There were people who not only disagreed with the War in Vietnam, but disrepected those who went and served.
In addition, people felt frustrated and powerless against crime, like court ruling had turned against the law abiding American in favor of criminals. In the 1970s, this frustration would be given voice with big screen vigilantes like Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson’s Death Wish films. Eastwood and Bronson weren’t in to speeches.
While it’s understandable, that fans used to police shows focusing just on the crimes, some of the episodes that Dragnet 1967-70’s detractors complain about were perfectly appropriate to their time and spoke to a lot of the audience listening.
The other types of episodes people really hated were those that were put out as PR puff pieces for the Los Angeles Police Department. Webb’s great talent on Dragnet was his ability to take the most mundane cases and build great drama out of them. An above average hack can make murder on sex crimes interesting fodder for a TV show. Webb made episodes about lesser crimes like small time burglary and forgery compelling.
However, the demand for Community Relations episodes from the LAPD as well as dispatching Joe Friday and Bill Gannon to every farflung Department created a huge challenge for Webb and crew. Episodes of a network Television show could risk having the production values of an instructional film.
Season 3 was a tough one for Dragnet with apparent demand for these type of episodes high. Joe and Frank went out and taught Policewomen at the Police Academy, worked a shift at the business office, tried to recruit Black police officers, and help kids start an anti-drug club.
These episodes easily could have been big dramatic failures, but Webb kept things steady by introducing some real human drama. A policewoman in training had a deal with a boyfriend who didn’t want her to become a cop, the Black police officer, Joe and Bill wanted to help them recruit young black Cops begins to feel like he doesn’t want to be a cop himself. This isn’t to say the episodes were my favorite, but they remained ”okay.”
The only episode that totally didn’t work for me was DR-17 (Community Relations.) The riveting plot: Joe and Bill go up to a conference at a lake to talk about community relations. No crime, no real human drama, just a re-enactment of a conference on community relations. This isn’t to say that the show wasn’t realistic. It was realistic, it just wasn’t interesting to me.
Of course, every show has a few misses. Dragnet had far more hits and we’ll start talking about those next week. Until then, enjoy (or not) the 1960s episodes of Dragnet I found least enjoyable.
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The police search for a dangerous and resourceful killer (Richard Basehart). Jack Webb played Lt. Lee Jones in this film, which features many elements that would become staples of Dragnet.
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