"The Big Neighbor" or "Let's go home with Officer Gannon"

(This week, I combined the snaps of the opening pan to cover all of the area in the sequence.)

"This is the city-- Los Angeles, California. 

If you live here, you've got a lot of neighbors and all three million of them have a lot in common with you-- they've all got troubles. 

Everybody wants to share their problems. 

A lot of people bring them here. So can you. If you don't like the answer, remember-- it was free.

For a five cent stamp, this lady will give advice.

For a dime, you can tell your troubles to a friend.

Or you can bring your problems to people like me-- I carry a badge."

That's a nice departure from the typical "patch of dirt" shot of the Police Administration Building sign.

Hal Lynch shows up as a sailor to report a theft. He lives, but he never learns.

Gannon invites Joe to watch football, share the bottle of imported wine he's been saving since his birthday, and eat dinner with his wife, Eileen.

They have a little back-and-forth while Joe cajoles Bill into phoning home to tell his wife that Joe is joining- 

Bill

Bill: All a woman has to do is set another place.

Joe

Joe: And slice the meat a little thinner.

Bill

(legitimately cracks up)

Slice the meat a little thinner. That's a new one.

HOLD THE PHONE

Dusk at Universal City, home sweet Colonial Street:

"Welcome to Eagle Rock."

(Eagle Rock is named after a rock that casts a shadow which sort-of resembles an eagle.)

Bill's house is right across the street from The Temple of The Expanded Mind, the acid house, Gypsy thieves, and more as the series rolls on. The columns in the top left of this shot are that set:

Gannon's front door is the same style as in S2e1. 

Gannon comes out as pro-wallpaper in this episode.

Later in the series, Gannon is anti-wallpaper.

The next time we go home with Gannon, his house is wallpaperless.

Bill has a TON of lines.

That bric-a-brac table on the right looks awfully familiar.

Gannon plays Ernie, while Joe plays Bert.

Eileen asks how long it's been since Joe was last at their house. He says a few weeks, she says it was actually June 1967, and he says that they must be "making the weeks shorter than they used to."

Gannon on wallpaper: "Well, you wouldn't hang entry paper in your dining room, would you?"

They have more banter led by Gannon, Joe has an ironic punchline that he isn't observant which is funny because he's a police officer.

Gannon reveals that they have been partners on the force for eight years. by the series' 1970 conclusion, that would make it ten or eleven years.

OK! Dinner is done, and the guys mosey into this confused front room.

The foyer leads to the area to the right of Joe. 

Lots to discover! A sixties cityscape painting, a version of the classic Thonet rocker, a pretty reasonable rectangular sofa, of course, the requisite table lamp. 

OK - Once upon a time, before TVs were flat, there were these things called TV stands. You put your TV on it, then you rolled it into place. We even had one when I was a kid in the 1980s.

Gannon wheels the TV into place and he and Joe have a cute comedy moment of trying to sit in the same chair. 

To remedy the seating situation, Gannon presents Joe with a chair that's so uncomfortable that he can't even sit in it; indeed, glib Gannon sits in the floral chair while Joe shifts around for comic effect for the rest of the episode.

That's comedy.

Bill explains that he bought his house in 1947 for $8,500.

In 1967, that would be $12,300.

In 2013, $8,500 is very nearly $80,000. 

Isn't inflation great?

The San Francisco 49ers are playing the Los Angeles Rams.

How California.

Oh yeah, the TV announcer sneaks in a gag: "I hope all of you are settled in a comfortable chair."

Joe likes the Rams, Bill prefers Green Bay. That is some serious Dragnet trivia. 

This episode serves it up.

The neighbors begin to descend upon Joe and Bill as they try to relax.

First up: Ann Morgan Guilbert.

ARREST MY HUSBAND FOR THROWING AN EGG TIMER AT ME

Sorry, Ann. Can't. An egg timer is not a deadly weapon.

Next up: John Nolan.

The takeaway? Don't park your car like a jackass and you won't get a two dollar ticket.

Bill talks about being a neighbor, nags Joe for living in an apartment, and needles him to get married.

Bill in his comfy chair and Joe in his horrible chair, at their most Muppet.

I GOT THIS YOU GUYS

There's a spice rack, a yellow wall, and a yellow phone!

OK, time for a legit crime.

And a legit gold medallion clock:

HOLD THE PHONE

Yep, it's all going down on Colonial Street.

Window-jimmying prowler, suspenseful music with bongos.

And another appearance by Adam-12's Kent McCord:

Thanks for the trouble, Rhoda Williams, but now there's only ten more minutes of the game.

The show's final punchline: Bill's careless parking scores him a $2 parking ticket.

WOMP WOMP

Frank Wilson

Now serving his sentence in the state prison, San Quentin, California.

Randy Stuart as Eileen Gannon
Ann Morgan Guilbert as Marnie Prout
John Nolan as Art Bonham
Kent McCord as Officer
Hal Lynch as Sailor
Rhoda Williams as Ruth Walker
_____ as Frank Wilson


Art Direction - Russell Kimball
Set Decor - John McCarthy & John Sturtevant
Written by Robert C. Dennis

Aired 12 October 1967

Same day:
Epic chaos on Cyprus Airways flight 284.
"The Letter" by The Box Tops was in its final week at #1.
The Cardinals played The Red Sox at Fenway.
Pink Floyd was busy in Rotterdam.
U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk pisses the anti-war set off by saying that peace efforts were useless because of the Vietnamese resistance. Next week: riots!

Check us out next week when Joe takes a road trip to Big Bear!