This week's episode is the first aired for 1968.
From a production point of view, it is an excellent example of archetypal Dragnet style.
Recycled pans and opening zooms air as Jack's monotone speaks love for his town followed by copious time on sound stages and along Colonial Street.
Just you wait.
Old cars are so cool.
Oh oh.
This episode
is going to be
DARK.
Hold on to your hats, this episode even has creepy and terrifying musical cues relative to others used for poignant plots in which women are central to the plot. See also: the time that Japanese lady died.
Reverse projection and soundstage lighting, both two-shots.
This front room looks a bit like that time Bobby Troup helped foil a plot to blow up a school.
I guess it's close - bookcase here, hearth there, and a beige and gold decor.
That's right. Bobby didn't have a fern.
I'm going to sit in this chair and be tragic!
Peggy is great in this one. She's so achingly tragic!
Kent McCord!
What is that? A red Mustang fastback? A 1966 or 1967?
Man! The shift in color temperature is brisk.
TRICK OR TREAT
Conveying the poverty of life-after-divorce, which seems to be a thing:
What is it with beds coming out of closet doors?
It's not my fault, I promise.
Missing sisters. A gutwrencher. So tense.
That's some on the money Dragnet style.
Harry and Jack's tour of Colonial Street continues.
Elwood Dowd's Harvey house:
Is that the Munsters house on the far left?
Aw, jeez - a subplot about how it's a misdemeanor to leave the door on a fridge.
Sidney Clute is back - He's the show's resident Libertarian-type.
His character's name is actually Mr. Selfridge. Ha.
Get ready to see a lot of this one next week - It's the Temple of the Expanded Mind facade.
Yeah, the next episode has that faux Timmy Leary guy blathering on forever, but the saving grace is the set design. Do stay tuned for a deconstruction.
Vic Perrin, you're always cast as some kind of pervert.
Try not to molest any girls on your way to the parking lot.
I can't imagine what Peggy Webber is like in real life, but she does tragic so well.
SHE REALLY DOES
The show ratchets up the creepiness with MORE dolls.
Another wide shot of that crazy front room.
Yay! A driving sequence! And 13 in Binary!
We've seen this bar set a number of times.
Another location- Toluca Embassy:
Now, the guys stumble onto a standout set:
A number of familiar table lamps in this set.
Now we are right back at Marian Stanley's set and she decides to give Robert Clarke another chance to be a father.
SOUNDS LIKE A HAPPY ENDING TO ME
Robert's tie is very conservative. When he was a runaway drunk driver with no legs, his tie was THE coolest. His character this time, with reasonable stripes goes with his Alcoholics Anonymous attitude.
Those dresses are so cute!
WE'RE SO HAPPY THAT DADDY DOESN'T DRINK
ROBERT CLARKE
SENTENCED TO REPEATED APPEARANCES ON DRAGNET
S2e17
Starred
Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday
Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon
Peggy Webber as Marian Stanley
Robert Clarke as Bert Stanley
Jean Howell as Edna Felton
Kent McCord as Officer Jim Reed
Vic Berrin as Vernon Hale
Sidney Clute as George Selfridge
Rick Warick as Officer Stedman
Gail Bonney as Mrs. Bonney
______ and ______ as the little Stanley girls
Art Direction - Russell Kimball
Set Decor - John McCarthy and John Sturtevant
Costumes - Vincent Dee
Written by Preston Wood & Robert Soderberg
Aired 4 January 1968
1.) This one features some celesta notes in the score - always creepy.
ReplyDelete2.) Mom: "It can get cold when the sun sets in California." And everywhere else, actually.
Weed was a felony? And tomorrow California makes it recreational, poor Jack Webb is rolling in his grave.
ReplyDeleteNevermind the above comment, looks like Hulu is missing this episode. It went to The Profit.
ReplyDeleteIt’s 2020 and PEGGY WEBBER IS STILL ALIVE! Also, her Wikipedia page is strangely devoid of any mention of Dragnet.
ReplyDeleteOh, the poverty of post-divorce life! The Murphy bed is absolute classic. The set designer really could have ramped it up with some throwaway lawn furniture in his living room. Or even go the route of The Trial Board (S2.E14) and use a card table and some metal folding chairs. You can always say you're "saving up for some good stuff" and your guests will believe you're talking about better furniture when you're really talking about a fine single malt scotch.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching Peggy Weber's turn as Marion Stanley, I think we all know why that guy drank when he was married. Just watching the episode, I found myself pulling open the bottom right door of my desk and reaching for a flask.