Jack Webb's seminal crime drama, Dragnet, returned to the air as a midseason replacement in the winter of 1967. Before that, however, there was a pilot movie to establish Harry Morgan as Joe Friday's new partner, Bill Gannon. Ben Alexander had signed on to do ABC's Felony Squad, forcing the change. An experienced sitcom veteran (i.e. Pete & Gladys), Morgan's by-play with Webb was one of the strong points of the 1967-70 Dragnet.
For whatever reason, NBC sat on the movie until 1969. Frequent players Virginia Gregg and Vic Perrin, and former baseball player John Roseboro are in the cast for this one, as Friday & Gannon track a serial killer. The fight scene between Friday and the killer is similar in design to a scene in a Dragnet feature film released several years earlier while the first series was on the air. Those movie fights were the only time, aside from a second season episode in this series, where Friday actually got physical with a suspect.
Edit, 12/18/22: We've replaced the three part Dailymotion entry with a fresh YouTube post from Neil Martin.
Had this aired when it was supposed to, the type-face on the logo would've matched the one used in seasons 1-2 of the revival.
Rating: A-.
This episode was based on the serial killer, Harvey Murray Glatman. He was arrested in 1958 and confessed to killing pretty young girls to whom he promised modeling careers (he was an amateur photographer). He was executed in 1959.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoyed this episode and it's a shame the powers that be chose to wait until the series was nearly at an end to broadcast it. I wonder if they wanted to drum up enough numbers for another season.
Not sure when exactly it finally aired, likely between seasons 3-4, or during season 3. Anyway, this wasn't the first time Vic Perrin had been on the show. In fact, he'd acted in an earlier Dragnet movie back in the 50's----as a District Attorney. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteHobbyfan, the DRAGNET(1966) pilot/movie was first aired on the NBC MONDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES on January 27, 1969. This was during the third season. The regular Thursday night DRAGNET showing of the series finished twentieth in the Neilsen Ratings that season, so why the pilot/movie wasn't aired until 1969? NBC gave the new show the green light after viewing the pilot/movie in 1966. Back in 1969, I remember wondering why it wasn't aired until then.
ReplyDeleteYou have a really good site.
Thanks, Walter, for your help and the kind words.
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