I'm a huge Dragnet fan... for all the reasons Jack Webb never intended. First of all, Webb was (to be polite) an economical producer. Every expense spared is right up there on the TV screen. Even a casual viewer will eventually notice both Friday and Gannon appear to wear the same suit over the course of each season. Thanks to the miracle of one-hour Martinizing, this made editing and continuity a cinch. 1967 went color which had a softening effect and Webb's 3-pack-a-day smoke habit, chili-dog with 3 double scotch diet began to take it's toll (he'd die of a arterially clogged coronary at only 62). Acting: Webb still has the range of 3/8" plywood but I have to admit few come close to his way with a lengthy law & order monologue. I personally love the scenes when he runs (he just moves his hands faster in a scissors movement: hilarious!). His stock Mark VII Ltd. troupe is in full force here as witnesses, indignant victims, clueless parents, lab techs, assorted miscreants (Virginia Gregg is everywhere, along with Dave Willock, Casey Harris, Merry Anders, Peggy Webber, Howard Culver, the ubiquitous Olan Soule, and well-groomed-yet-rebellious teens Michael Burns (who later became a noted historian and proto-creepy nerd Mickey Sholdar)--- I suspect Webb paid scale driving perennial flyweight lab tech/occasional MD or judge Olan Soule to appear on far more lucrative shows on the side. 1967 also saw hints of the ADAM-12 soon to come--- the equally stiff Kent McCord (presumably a graduate of the Jack Webb Lumber Yard School of Acting), begins to appear in guest shots. I have to admit Webb was loyal to "talent" he cottoned to--- although by 1967-68 you won't see any future greats like Lee Marvin, who appeared on the show in the 1950's (one episode, "The Grenade" did manage to cast John Rubenstein and Jan-Michael Vincent... still no Lee Marvins). IMHO Best episode: "The Big High." It helps to remember that Webb was just coming off a huge 2+ year professional drought after being canned for ruining 77 Sunset Strip. He was commissioned to produce a TV Dragnet movie (oddly not aired until January, 1969) by Universal Television and returned for the security of what would ultimately be another 98 now-kitchy Dragnets through 1970. Hippies, LSD and pot would increasingly replace the grittier plots of the Ike years... mirroring Webb's social conservatism. By present day standards, this is where Dragnet became almost a badly acted sitcom (be dumbstruck by the occasional helmet-haired lady cop who takes a shine to Joe but prepared for a preach when the boys are assigned to Juvenile Division and beware of any episodes where Bill invites Joe home for a meal or to watch a football game). But then that's the appeal... now if only Jack had played Dean Wormer...
Review of Dragnet 1967
