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Facts Home "The story you are about to see is true" Dragnet the television series was based on a radio show in 1949 called Dragnet. Jack Webb starred as Sgt .Joe Friday a police detective who was real serious about his job. In real life Jack Webb was also real serious about his job. He went to great lengths to have a realistic cop drama based on the real Los Angeles Police Department. Jack Webb went through four different partners. For three episodes in 1951, Barton Yarborough was featured as Friday's partner Sgt. Ben Romero. Unfortunately Barton Yarborough died after only three episodes. The next partner for Joe Friday was Barney Phillips as Sgt. Ed Jacobs who remained for the rest of the '51 season. Ben Alexander then replaced Barney Phillips playing , Officer Frank Smith in 1952. This team up worked well until the show ended in 1959. Jack Webb went on to produce the 1963 western series Temple Houston which featured James Best who is best known as Rosco P. Coltrane on the Dukes of Hazzard, and the television series 77 Sunset strip in 1964. Webb also did some movie work starring in the movie The D.I. as Sergeant Jim Moore.
The sixties brought another cop show to television that was not quite as serious. You would often hear the Dragnet theme on The Andy Griffith show while Barney Fife was patrolling the streets of Mayberry, but that would not be the only time the Dragnet theme would be heard in the sixties. Joe Friday came back to Dragnet in 1967 with a new version of Dragnet called Dragnet '67 which ran until Dragnet '70. This time Joe Friday teamed up with Officer Bill Gannon played by Harry Morgan. Of course Harry Morgan went onto Mash for several years afterward. The new Dragnet brought up new challenges for Joe Friday like drugged up hippies, race riots, and public service tv shows. Jack Webb also created the popular Adam-12 police series that ran from 1968-1975, and produced Emergency a firefighter paramedics show that ran from 1972-1977. Jack Webb also was the executive producer of the D.A. in 1971. After seventeen years from the last Dragnet episode.
Dragnet had become a part of television history, and and a new Dragnet
debuted in 1987 starring Dan Aykroyd as Joe Friday, the nephew of the
original Joe Friday. I am not quite sure how Jack Webb would have taken
to this movie, but it was funny at times, and it starred Tom Hanks and
it brought back Harry Morgan as Captain Gannon. |
