Dragnet
Dragnet is an American police procedural television series created by and starring Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday of the Los Angeles Police Department. The series ran from 1951 to 1959 on NBC and established the template for every police procedural that followed. Webb, who also directed and produced through his company Mark VII Limited, insisted on documentary realism: real police procedures, real LAPD technical advisors, and the flat, clipped dialogue that became his trademark. Each episode began with the famous narration: "The story you are about to see is true; the names have been changed to protect the innocent." Friday and his partner worked cases methodically, interviewing witnesses, checking records, and following leads with a patience that was revolutionary in a medium that preferred action. The series was adapted from Webb's 1949 radio show, itself inspired by a film noir called He Walked by Night. Many early episodes were never copyrighted and are in the public domain.
This series is:Detective
Director
Production
Distributor
Season 1
The Big War
Sergeant Joe Friday investigates a case involving a veteran who has returned from the Korean War and fallen into trouble. The episode
The Big Will
Friday and Smith investigate a case involving a disputed will, following the paper trail and interviewing witnesses with the patient, procedural
The Big Lamp
Friday investigates a burglary that hinges on a single piece of evidence: a lamp. The episode demonstrates Dragnet's genius for finding drama in
The Big Mother
A new-born baby is stolen from a hospital nursery and the trail leads the police to a deranged mother.
The Big Cast
The police interrogate a suspect whom they believe to have murdered more than a dozen men.
The Big Speech
A doctor is beaten and robbed of prescription drugs.
The Big Parrot
A couple are robbed and murdered, along with their pet parrot. The killer uses a time bomb to start a fire and cover up his crime.
The Big Moody
The Big Moody — season 1, episode 8 of Dragnet (1951).
The Big Blast
A divorced mother is killed in bed by a shotgun while her young boy sleeps beside her.
The Big September Man
A secretary is beaten to death and the search for the killer leads police to a religious fanatic.
The Big Phone Call
Friday confronts a jeweler with tape recorded evidence that proves he hired someone to rob his own store.
The Big Casing
A man claims that his wife committed suicide right in front of him, but the evidence suggests otherwise.
The Big Lamp
Friday and Jacobs are out to catch a safe burglar who has been on the loose for seven months.
The New Weekend Warrior
The New Weekend Warrior — season 1, episode 15 of Dragnet (1951).
The New Strawberries Are in Season
The New Strawberries Are in Season — season 1, episode 16 of Dragnet (1951).
The New Coyote Captive
The New Coyote Captive — season 1, episode 17 of Dragnet (1951).
The New The Plumber
The New The Plumber — season 1, episode 18 of Dragnet (1951).
The New The Vandals
The New The Vandals — season 1, episode 19 of Dragnet (1951).
The New Armored Truck
The New Armored Truck — season 1, episode 20 of Dragnet (1951).
The New To Steal a Child
The New To Steal a Child — season 1, episode 21 of Dragnet (1951).
The New Dead Samaritan
The New Dead Samaritan — season 1, episode 22 of Dragnet (1951).
The New Where's My Soup Cans？
The New Where's My Soup Cans？ — season 1, episode 23 of Dragnet (1951).
The New Millie
The New Millie — season 1, episode 24 of Dragnet (1951).
The New Queen of Hearts
The New Queen of Hearts — season 1, episode 25 of Dragnet (1951).
Season 2
The Big Jump
A man stands upon the ledge of a tall building and threatens to jump to his death below.
The Big Sorrow
Friday must cope with the sudden death of his partner as he and his new partner track a pair of escaped convicts.
The Big Elevator
Friday and Smith search for the person who left a dead woman in a hospital elevator.
The Big Seventeen
Friday and Smith investigate a group of teenagers who are using and selling drugs.
The Big Trio
Friday and Smith investigate three traffic accidents in one night.
The Big Imposter
A missing young boy is found and returned to his grandfather, but the case gets complicated when the grandfather suspects that the boy is not his own grandson.
The Big .22 Rifle for Christmas
Two small boys are missing, there are blood stains on the ground and a gun meant as a Christmas present is gone.
The Big Cop
Friday has to catch a bad cop who has been dealing with the mob.
The Big Grandma
An elderly woman is passing bad checks, but no one suspects her because she looks harmless.
The Big Whiff
A woman is murdered when she is given an overdose of chloroform.
The Big Show
A seven-week-old baby is found abandoned in a bus station.
The Big Safe
Friday and Smith are investigating a missing office safe.
The Big Church
A woman receives threatening letters from an unknown stalker.
The Big Hate
Gordon Miller, a young pianist, is found near an abandoned freight car holding the dead body of a woman in his arms. He claims he has killed her.
The Big Shakedown
Friday is looking for a crooked cop.
The Big Rose
Friday and Smith are looking for a missing woman that left her three children with her sister.
The Big Building
A prominent dentist denies that his wife is missing, but Friday and Smith can find no trace of her.
The Big Run
Two elderly women are struck down by a hit-and-run driver.
The Big Break
Friday and Smith track down an escaped convict who is armed and dangerous.
The Big Light
Friday and Smith must decide between accident or murder when a crewman working on a movie set is killed by a falling light.
The Big Waiter
An immigrant is brutally beaten to death and the trail may lead to the victim's abused wife.
The Big Test
A young man reports that he was robbed by bandits on horseback while he was down in Mexico.
The Big Lay-Out
A friend of Friday's asks him for help when he discovers that his son has been using drugs, and may be selling them as well.
The Big Ray
A man suddenly becomes ill and dies after eating his dinner at home.
The Big Frank
While investigating a routine robbery with Friday, Smith suffers a critical gunshot wound. Sergeant Friday is out for vengeance.
The Big Lease
An elderly widower is missing, so Friday and Smith retrace his actions before his disappearance. Things point to a long vacation until the story of Mrs. Banner, who rented the man's house, doesn't add up.
The Big Hands
Friday and Smith suspect a psycho killer when they find a woman with a broken neck in a hotel room.
The Big Barrette
Friday and Smith search for the brutal killer of a 21-year-old woman.
The Big Dance
Friday and Smith are looking for two thugs that seem to have disappeared from the city.
Season 3
The Big Ham
Friday and Smith investigate a case involving a theatrical ham whose antics may be covering up something more serious. The episode blends
The Big Betty
Friday and Smith track down a confidence ring who are selling defective watches.
The Big Will
Friday and Smith investigate the murder of a rich man.
The Big Thief
Robbers phone doctors for house calls then assault them and steal their drugs.
The Big Little Jesus
A statue of the Child Jesus is stolen from a church. Friday and Smith must find it before the paritioners miss it on Christmas morning.
The Big Trunk
Three men are taken into custody for the murder of a former vaudeville actress who owned a large steamer trunk. The three men maintain innocence.
The Big Boys
The cops must stake out a hotel lobby and deal with a drunken desk clerk as they wait for four juvenile armed robbers to show up.
The Big Ham
Friday and Smith investigate the death of a young girl that is initially ruled a suicide but turns out to be murder.
The Big Children
Three children are found abandoned, filthy and starving. Friday and Smith charge the mother with neglect.
The Big Winchester
An elderly man appears to have killed himself with a rifle, but the cops soon learn that it was no accident.
The Big Shoplift
Friday and Smith are surprised to find a wealthy house wife is a shoplifter, until they discover that she is a kleptomaniac.
The Big Hit-Run Killer
A woman and her grandson are run down by a bakery truck, but the driver has an airtight alibi.
The Big Girl
Friday and Smith hunt down the bandit queen; a tall, gorgeous woman who is on a rampage of robberies and shootings.
The Big Frame
A man's body is found in the gutter and the only clue is a pair of skid marks found nearby.
The Big Plant
A woman disappears and her husband is the prime suspect, but Friday and Smith will have a hard time getting past his fierce guard dogs.
The Big False Make
Friday begins to question a local gardener, who has been arrested for holding up a grocery store. During the interrogation Friday begins to have strong doubts about the man's confession.
Season 4
The Big Producer
A man claims to be a big Hollywood producer, but Friday and Smith discover that he's merely the leader of a pornography ring.
The Big Fraud
A group of con artists are posing as cops and victimizing out-of-town businessmen in fashionable hotels.
The Big Crime
Four-year-old twin girls are abducted from the local park.
The Big Pair
An old man and his granddaughter are burglarized, leaving them broke and starving.
The Big Bar
A holdup man is sticking up bars. After he takes the money he kills many of his victims. Sergeant Friday has few leads other than that the holdup man likes a certain song on the jukebox.
The Big Present
Friday and Smith are looking for a burglar who leaves a milk bottle at the scene of the crime. They suspect a juvenile might be involved.
The Big New Years
On New Year's Eve, Friday and Smith are working out of Central Receiving Hospital.
The Big Rod
An expectant mother is run down and killed by two teenagers in a hot rod.
The Big Family
Local businessman John Keith Jarrett disappears and evidence of suicide is discovered. Friday and Smith check on the surviving members of his family and find them not the least concerned about their father's death, with his son a tennis bum, his daughter promiscuous, and his wife drunken. The case gets even murkier when a report comes in of a traffic incident upstate involving a camper in which the driver was using Jarrett's license.
The Big TV
The detectives search for a missing mother and child at the behest of her mother-in-law, unaware that the girl's husband has died in action and is not overseas as the woman had claimed.
The Big Tar Baby
A bartender's wife is kidnapped, beaten and rolled in hot tar.
The Big Number
Friday and Smith Investigate a Bank Robbery, but they don't have much to go on.
Season 5
The Big No Rain
The Big No Rain — season 5, episode 3 of Dragnet (1951).
The Big Lift
An organized gang of shoplifters is looting large department stores in the city.
The Big Confession
A man walks into the station and tells Friday that he wants to confess to a murder, but the cops have a hard time varifying his story.
The Big Gap
A pawn shop owner alerts Friday and Smith when a man claimed to have purchased an expensive ring that turns out to be junk and then asked the pawn shop owner to sell him a gun.
The Big Look
A woman is dragged from her home and badly beaten by an unknown attacker.
The Big Bird
Sgt. Friday investigates a robber who only targets pet stores and homes that have pet birds.
The Big Smoke
An elderly couple is brutally beaten and the trail leads police to a former handy man.
The Big Bounce
Joe Friday searches for a check forger who has been using the name of the old-time movie villain Parker Allington... who died three years ago.
The Big Shot
A night club owner is shot down and there are no witnesses to the crime.
The Big Child
A two-year-old child after drinking bleach from under the sink. Friday and Smith are unable to locate the mother for questioning.
The Big Deal
Friday and Smith are investigating a rash of car thefts. The stolen cars are being sold with forged pink slips.
The Big Wish
A teenage boy turns himself in and confesses to being an addict, but he refuses to give up the names of his friends who supplied him.
Season 6
Season 8
The Big Oskar
The detectives take a report of valuables stolen from the home of a somewhat eccentric old lady. They begin to suspect something is amiss when she starts talking about how she gets the "scoop" on crimes by being the first to report them to the local newspaper.
The Big Counterfeit
A man impersonating a police officer is going to local businesses and asking for donations for the widows and orphans fund. Smith and Friday set out to stop the con man.
Details
- Years
- 1951–1959
- Seasons
- 8
- Episodes
- 99
- Genres
- Crime, Drama
- TMDB Rating
- 6.5/10 (36 votes)
- Maturity Rating
- TV-PG
- Quality
- SD
- Audio
- English
- Status
- Public Domain
- Studio
- Mark VII Limited
- Director
- Jack Webb
