Internal Affairs - DR-20 or The Adam-12 Crossover Episode!

Tonight's episode makes Top Twenty, again- because of weirdness - dramatizing a banal investigation and a James Doherty snoozer of an episode - No offense - I think he did the best he could. Police brutality was huge on people's minds when this episode aired, 12-12-68.

Maybe he knew it would take a back seat to the fact that this episode is a crossover and uses the set and even the stars of Jack Webb's Other Show.

In real life, I am just slightly past the jarring 'Elegy for a Pig' episode, so this one fits in along with what one would expect from Officer Jim Reed and Officer Pete Malloy. Prior to 2014, I thought they were just terribly interesting background characters. We knew Kent McCord, of course, but who's this freckled Martin Milner guy? He's never been in Dragnet before in color. This is his first time! He previously appeared in a black and white episode called The Big Producer.

So, yes, lots of special things about this episode mark it as a great season three effort by everyone.

We just re-watched it, and nearly went back to sleep. Hang in there, people!

"This is the city-- Los Angeles, California. I work here. I carry a badge."

One zoom shot and we are in.

(I still really can't stand the Dragnet theme song.)

This is the same as where all the black and white units park as an establishing shot for Adam-12:

They are calling it Sunset Divison; but I think in real life the location is Rampart. I'm sure one of you knows.

There's another Adam-12 detail: the fallout shelter sign (right) along with the textured concrete masonry wall to the left.

The direction takes cues from Adam-12 as Joe and Bill tour nearly every inch of the Adam-12 station set by way of brisk walking and cameras dollying everywhere!

Let's do this.

Everything is so lovely and organized. Jail is here, Watch Commander is here, Exit, right over there, Detectives? Put them down there behind that door. 

The silver bullet-can-thing in the far left of frame is an ash tray. I bumped my head on them when I was a little kid sometimes.

Surprise! Art Gilmore is running the station!

Check out these paper mailboxes in this universe what existed before E-anything or i-Anything.

That phone he's holding  - has a CORD.

HOLD THE PHONE

It's a cute production detail that they had to leave the glass panes out of all of the windows at camera-level. Too much light reflecting.

THIS IS A REALLY COOL SET

YES THE MARK VII TEAM DID A GREAT JOB CROSSING IT OVER, TOO

Well, it's obvious we're never leaving the station until it's all over.

We stroll by some Adam-12 style background acting.

At last, we are using Art's office for our *many* interviews.

First up: Peter Duryea, also known as Bully Boy.

This time around, he wants you to know that's he's "no kook."

"I work for a living," he says, "I don't burn draft cards, picket politicians, or smoke pot. I pay my bills and I pay my taxes. I just want to get the record straight, understood?"

Now he lives at 221 Garland Street.

(And it turns out, he was a huge asshole the whole time.)

A likely story. I'm not sure that Dragnet's ever going to give us any more real places.

Oh yeah, They have a made up department store called Cliveden's where four of these characters work.

They have mentioned it in previous season three episodes.

JOE WE ALREADY DID "HOLD THE PHONE"

Ol' Stone-face.

 I think Gannon calls him that or Ol' Stony in S3e4/Joe's Apartment.

They cover every square meter of this police station set! I've spotted two pencil sharpeners already.

Assembly room!

WOW THAT IS ONE BIG ASSEMBLY ROOM SET:

Congratulations to you, Kent; Martin. Suzy Dragnet has learned how to put the images together with no more black surround unless it's defaulted into the setting for the UI render. All applaud.

It's too bad that her beloved version of Photoshop is pretty much dead. I don't think it will run on Yosemite.

Martin Milner.

Computers! The future! What is he up to, Wikipedia?

Holy Crapping Crap. Martin is 82 years old.

If somebody sees him, tell him that I'm a fan and I'm trying to help keep the love for Adam-12 and Dragnet with my blogs and twitter and stuff. Hopefully he's okay and everything.

Kent McCord.

What does Wikipedia say about you?

Kent was seriously around 22 when this was shot. Gannon actually gets a line about his youth.

We even get to go to the coffee room to chat with the other red haired guy. Not the one from Georgia Juvenile; the other one… Cliff Sales! Ha! I figured out which one you are!

More interviews in the office piece of the set.

Let's welcome back that lovable Dragnet scamp Jack Sheldon!

"I am a lovable scamp!"

Time for John McCook.

"Look, Man, this coat is cool and my hair looks totally awesome."

Anne Whitfield's Dragnet debut:

The stripes don't really work; her hair looks nice.

Hal England:

"I just got here from hosting a fake game show I made up."

Penny Gaston is back:

Vincent Dee really dolled her up, this time! Shocking purple with a gold, black, and white scarf!

Très chic!

Tracy Vance:

Lace and a big bow? Ok, I guess I'll take it.

Linda Weeks:

She is wearing the "good witch" version of another Vincent Dee outfit - the one he made for the child abuse mom in the episode with that lady with the kinda cool, way out bizarre accent.

I like it. Both versions. Linda's scene was very short.

Bye, Art Gilmore. It was nice to see you for an episode.

I MISS BEING ON DRAGNET ALL THE TIME TOO

"On October 20th, John Meadows pleaded guilty in Municipal Court, City of Los Angeles, to the charges of interfering with a police officer and resisting arrest, both misdemeanor offenses. On that same day, the Chief of Police of the City of Los Angeles made a decision in the matter of Officer Edward Hillier….

"John Meadows was given a thirty day sentence in the Los Angeles County Jail. 

Since it was his first offense, the sentence was suspended."

"The accused police officer Edward Hillier waived his right to a hearing by board of his superior officers. In the judgement of the chief of police, he was considered to have used excessive force in the apprehension of John Meadows. He was suspended from duty for thirty days with complete loss of pay and benefits." 

I bet that was a long thirty days at Officer Ed Hillier's house.

That was a long episode of Dragnet.

S3e12

Starred
Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday
Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon

From "Adam-12"
Martin Milner as Officer Pete Malloy
Kent McCord as Officer Jim Reed

With
John McCook as Ed Hillier
Anne Whitfield as Irene Hillier
Peter Duryea as John Meadows
Jack Sheldon as Ted Nichols
Art Gilmore as Lieutenant Moore
Hal England as Harry Burns
Penny Gaston as Patsy Cronin
Tracy Vance as Mary Kay Morton
Linda Weeks as Alice Jenkins
Cliff Sales as Patrolman Tom Pollack

Additional Cast (any extras sightings?)

Additional Notes
I love how flippantly Joe treats doors. He uses his magic Jack Webb touch and the door just pops right open. Barely does he even have to touch it. Does he touch it? Is he secretly a zen master or knows how to use "the force" or something? Can he teleport? Is he secretly here on a mission from another civilization? Is Joe Friday an alien? Illuminati? Stay tuned next week for Dragnet Conspiracy Theories.
Nah, just kidding. It's going to be another episode breakdown just like this, but hopefully it will have some locations and time spent in the car. Maybe a night driving sequence! I love those.

Art Direction - John E. Chilberg, II
Set Decor - John McCarthy & John Sturtevant
Costumes - Vincent Dee

Written by James Doherty - He has more to give us as 2014 rolls along and our Dragnet Time Machine takes us through 1970. But it's going to be O.K. We can watch Adam-12 together, too.

Aired 12 December 1968

See you in the comments & thanks for tuning in,
Suzy Dragnet

Public Affairs - DR-07 or "The Speak Your Mind Show show"

The forty-sixth episode opens season three of Dragnet. For some reason, the titles change to department name and a Dr-xx number. Worse still, they don't air in order. (I will give them ersatz titles, don't worry.) Anything to compel someone to watch, right?

The opening pan is more like a faster look right with two quick pulls back.
I'm not a fan of it. Perhaps I'm more of a steady-vistas and snap cuts sort of person.

Season three is already off to a bizarre start.  Jack only says, "This is the city, Los Angeles-- California. I work here. I carry a badge" and we're off. Boldest title card yet, writers featured at the beginning of the season, we will experience Peak Dragnet. Some of the season three stories are weird, beautifully executed, and informative and masterful. 

Production now moves according to the spirit of Art Director John E. Chilberg, II. 

You know what? I'm not even going to his IMDB page. We're going to make him up as we go along.

The orange and blue days under the art direction of Russell Kimball have now met their end.

Wall art levels will be monitored.

3 x 2 x 7 = 42

NO CONSPIRACY CRAP ALLOWED IN THE NARCOTICS AND HOMICIDE

HI EVERYBODY. WELCOME TO SEASON THREE. I'LL BE YOUR WORKING CLASS HERO, JOE FRIDAY. 

This is serious mid-century modern institutional style. 

We remember Joe Friday from the radio from 1949, a long black and white TV run in which hats were worn, and now entering his junior year at Men Not Wearing Hats Anymore University, I mean Dragnet 1969.

Jack Webb as Joe seems to have become a significant piece of America by September 1968.

The 1967 summer of love fiasco was making everyone conscious of law enforcement, everyone has to have an opinion. (and bathe.) 

Welcome to the non-green portion of the PAB Soundstage.

"Your Soundstage With Style"

Dennis McCarthy returns as the boss. My first choice would have been Art Gilmore.

Clutter all over the pinboards and a brand new art director! John E. Chilberg, II is making himself known. 

Anyway, Friday and Gannon learn that they are asked to be tortured by dissidents on live television.

This is a really fun episode. The recycled extras are just too much fun. It's also the second time Dragnet has had a pretend TV show. The first time was when Joe was interviewed by Jerry Dexter.

The 1968-1969 season will feature 27 episodes and in 1969, The randomly-titled TV movie from 1966 will be broadcast at last. We'll get to compare styles at Peak Dragnet to the visual handling and execution of the first jab at this thing angular thing we have come to enjoy.

In Dennis' shadow, there's a cute poster of a policeman directing traffic with a big coat in a nice, nonthreatening light blue and a more neutral font in strong all caps that says, 'respect law enforcement'. 

THIS IS PAB.

WHY IS THE WALL BEHIND ME PINK?

 

Don Ross at the intersection of some beigeness.

Gannon gets hauled in by an aggressive hairdresser/makeup artist.

Who could it be? None other than Mr. Horton Bates, a con man who faked his own death only to actually appear in Dragnet episodes a couple of times!

Look at this piece of the set - I know we are only supposed to see it for a second.

Let's look at it for several.

Ha! It's a PAB interrogation room wall with pictures scotch-taped to the wall. 

Two guys from a horn section, a man in a suit with a fairly skinny tie, a babe on the beach, and a prize winning poodle.

Hmm. John E. Chilberg, II might be a hack. Even Suzy Dragnet can scotch-tape stuff to a wall.

Actually I do it like that; make sure everything is level when it goes up. A valuable side effect of architecture college.

Sheesh, it even has the very same door knobs as the Parker Center set:

FOR MY FIRST WISH, I WANT OFFICER GANNON BACK

Blink and you miss it; Don Ross tells Horton to work on Anthony Eisley's cowlick.

We also see his bright purple sweater! Very nice.

Gay hairdressers for the win. He is the second one. The first gay hairdresser was in The Hammer.

I'm a little sad that that's a thing. Well, it was 1968 in America. The TV on at nighttime.

Don Ross has new glasses and is perched beside a brand new rotary dial pay phone. 

1969, we're coming for you.

This is an updated version of an L-shaped hallway set from season one. 

Gold carpet rather than marmoleoum/linoleum. Same panels, same doors, and instead of glass at the top, they made it opaque above the doors. 

What's cute is that it looks as though they are standing on carpet, but when they walk forward, they make a hard-surface sound. 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN GIVE IT UP FOR CHUCK BOWMAN!

Hello, Chuck Bowman. Nice to actually see you.

"SPEAK YOUR MIND - The show that every week dares to be different, dramatic, and daring. This week's guest will discuss the topic 'The police - who needs them?"

"Anything can happen and usually does when host Chuck Bligh is around. And now, here's that number one judge, Chuck Bligh."

OK, it's a pretend-court sort of panel show.

Anthony Eisley was previously knows as The Handsomest Dragnet Villain. He escaped Chino and made it to TV!

"Well, sir, tonight we're going to get to the nitty-gritty about your friendly fuzz-- your local police officers. Okay, our first guest needs no introduction. Professor Tom Higgins, historian, social critic, and political activist, is one of L.A.'s makers and shakers. No ivory tower for this egghead." 

Stacy Harris, I gaze into my Dragnet crystal ball and see you becoming an insane fake park ranger in the near future.

THIS IS ALSO TRUE

"Our next guest is Jesse Chaplin, editor-publisher of L.A.'s favorite underground newspaper. He's the man responsible for The Free Forum, the thinking man's newspaper."

Howard Hesseman, I gaze into my Dragnet crystal ball and see a future for you in Cincinnati. 

The Free Forum is another generic L.A. Free Press, such as we saw with Don Dubbins.

I was expecting a much cooler ash tray on the table. Stacy Harris cleans his pipe out, for crying out loud. And Howard is also smoking cigarettes in this episode. Plenty of other episodes have amazing pottery or glass ash trays on desks that no one ever uses.

Perhaps I have answered my own question. Prop management.

"One Fuzz is a fizz," says Jesse Chaplin, the mean-ish hippie.

The outfit is neat, it's tough to read the buttons and pinbacks, though.

"Property rights are all they care about, not human rights."

A land of cathode ray tubes and NTSC.

Bill's oft-referenced wife, Eileen, watches this show.

"Now on the other side, we have invited two of the local fuzz to join us tonight.…Officer Bill Gannon and Sergeant Joe Friday, Los Angeles Police Department."

Gannon gets to give us these statistics about L.A. circa 1968:

10,000 robberies

60,000 burglaries

1,400 rapes

281 murders

26,000 car thefts

in one city. In a year. Doesn't that seem like a lot?

Now, let's go ahead and meet our extras in the 45-person studio audience.

Left half:

Right half:

Vincent Dee is all over his game in this episode. Many styles of dress are present. Prints, turtlenecks, cowls, hats, dashikis, all sorts of styles.

Sidney Clute as Harry Wilson asks a lot of questions about gun control.

"If you have time to get to your gun, you have time to get to a phone and call us," advises Gannon.

Lou Wagner as John Dietz wants to know why weed and LSD are illegal.

I like the shot with his eyes closed. He was one of Sgt. Friday's juveniles a couple of weeks ago in season two.

Friday advises against LSD sugar cubes in favor of "magical cubes called books".

Next up is Charles Brewer as Charles Varco, formerly Officer Ron Braven, who wonders, "What about the bad laws?"

"Doesn't a man of conscience have the obligation do disobey outmoded laws?"

Now time for a quick gab with Dick Williams, playing Mondo Mabamba, about race relations and things. He's president of the Black Widow Party, which seems to be an ersatz Black Panther Party.

His fellow Black Widow partiers also wear neat batik dashikis.

Mondo asks,"Why don't you boys walk a beat like the fuzz back east?"

I love this sentence.

Joe tells us about how candidates for the police academy are selected, why they go bonkers when an officer gets shot/killed. He also references the shooting board.

Gannon gives us more stats - the LAPD has to cover 254 square miles with 5,700 officers.

Concurrently, New York has 28,000 policemen; Chicago has 12,000. 

This iteration of Joe Friday has been on the force for 12 years. He pulled his gun eight times, and fired it twice, once in the aforementioned Shooting Board episode.

Speedy Zapata, (really- that's his name-) wants to know why the LAPD is prejudiced against Mexican Americans and short people.
He knows Judo and is 5'4" tall. Ladies?

Lastly, Penny Gaston praises the PD and gets laughed back to her seat.

Reminds me that the best thing about being a woman is that no one will take you seriously, so all the pressure is off. Just look pretty.

Feminism, everyone's looking at you.

Make love, not war.

"Wouldn't it be nice if that were the alternative?" says Friday.

Not the first time we've seen closeups of Jack's hands or pinbacks in the series. 

WEBB OUT

S3e1

Starred

Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday

Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon

Anthony Eisley as Chuck Bligh

Stacy Harris as Tom Higgins

Howard Hesseman / Don Sturdy as Jesse Chaplin

Dick Williams as Mondo Mabamba

Dennis McCarthy as Sergeant Dan Cooke

Don Ross as Monty Warren

Charles Brewer as Charles Varco

Sidney Clute as Harry Wilson

Lou Wagner as John Dietz

Penny Gaston as Diane Newcombe

Speedy Zapata as Jay Herrera

Chuck Bowman as Announcer

Additional Players:

Horton Bates/season four informant as Tony the Makeup Man


Art Direction - John E. Chilberg, II

Set Decor - John McCarthy & John Sturtevant

Costumes - Vincent Dee

Aired 19 September 1968

Written by Burt Prelutsky

***
Notable things about this episode:
1. New Art Director
2. Loads of Extras
3. No "everyone nodding at the end" sequence
4. Friday uses the word 'computer' twice

On the radio, "Born to be wild" by Steppenwolf went gold.

This issue of the Beaver County Times is slightly more useful in understanding the news of the day. (Saigon. Saigon. Saigon.)

Answer me this,
Suzy Dragnet