Dragnet 1967-1970

[SoapDope]

As a kid I got a kick out watching reruns of the late 60's series Dragnet back in the Nick at Nite days. Jack Webb would try to cram 1 hours worth of story and dialogue into 30 minutes. He he had a stock company of actors that he would use over and over. It was fun to see when Virginia Gregg was going to pop up and see who she was going to portray and how she would be made up. Jack Webb would put a teleprompter next to the camera and tell his actors to say the dialogue as fast as they could and keep the scene moving. A lot of soap actors did Dragnet such as Susan Seaforth Hayes, John McCook, Don Stewart, John Lupton, Judith McConnell, Brooke Bundy etc...

 

Someone has been uploading the series to youtube and I have binge watching them. 

[All My Shadows]

I take Adam-12 and Emergency! more seriously, but I don't have a problem watching good ol' Dragnet. I don't think I've ever seen a full episode of the 50s version, so when I think of the show, it's definitely the campy 60s run. Nearly every episode was a love letter to an older generation suffering through the horrors of youth culture. The funny thing is, I see clips of his monologues on social media all the time, and the people sharing them are cosigning him all the way.

[SoapDope]

 

I like Adam-12 and Emergency too. I don't think I have seen any complete 50's episodes either. Some of the most memorable of the late 60's run is the couple smoking pot and forget their baby in the tub with the water running and it drowns. The one about Blue Boy (Michael Burns) getting high on LSD and overdosing. Bonnie Bates (Virginia Gregg) running the pyramid scheme and holding meetings like a televangelist smacking a tambourine and preaching. 

 

Another actress that made frequent appearances was Jill Banner. She would usually play a air head/spacey teen. Banner died in 1982 in a car accident. She was supposedly in a long term relationship with Marlon Brando.