"Dragnet 1968"

[Kenneth Morgan]

Perhaps it's just me, but I found Judge Valdivia's review rather condescending. Yes, the later "Dragnet" revival made some pretty uncomfortable attempts to be "relevant", but I don't think it deserves to be dismissed.
I think "Dragnet" is still, in its own way, the most realistic cop show ever produced, and certainly the most influential. It's still interesting to see a show where police officers actually chase down leads, do paperwork, work mundane cases and talk more or less like regular people do. I'll admit, though, "Dragnet" is a bit jarring compared to today's shows, where every case is grabbed from the front page of the New York Post, the police have better technology than Star Fleet, and stories depend on plot twists from way out of Deep Roving Left Field.
To get a better idea of "Dragnet" at its best, and to understand its impact, may I suggest listening to some episodes of the original radio show, and reading the entry on "Dragnet" in On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio by John Dunning.

[HGervais]

I think "Dragnet" is still, in its own way, the most realistic cop show ever produced, and certainly the most influential. It's still interesting to see a show where police officers actually chase down leads, do paperwork, work mundane cases and talk more or less like regular people do.

Nope. I think you have to go with either Hill Street Blues or Homicide: Life On The Street for that honor but Dragnet is right up there.

[Kenneth Morgan]

I think "Dragnet" is still, in its own way, the most realistic cop show ever produced, and certainly the most influential. It's still interesting to see a show where police officers actually chase down leads, do paperwork, work mundane cases and talk more or less like regular people do.

Nope. I think you have to go with either Hill Street Blues or Homicide: Life On The Street for that honor but Dragnet is right up there.

I'll admit that your choices have merit for realism. Both, though, owe a lot to "Dragnet" for paving the way for more realistic police shows.

[HGervais]

I think "Dragnet" is still, in its own way, the most realistic cop show ever produced, and certainly the most influential. It's still interesting to see a show where police officers actually chase down leads, do paperwork, work mundane cases and talk more or less like regular people do.

Nope. I think you have to go with either Hill Street Blues or Homicide: Life On The Street for that honor but Dragnet is right up there.

I'll admit that your choices have merit for realism. Both, though, owe a lot to "Dragnet" for paving the way for more realistic police shows.

I think you defeat yourself with that assesment. Yes it paved the way but for a lot of reasons, mainly the time it was produced, HSB and H:LOTS are both much more realistic. If you were to say that Dragnet was the most realistic cop show of its period and the spiritual father to shows that would follow I would say you were completely correct.

[Mach6]

compared to today's shows, where every case is grabbed from the front page of the New York Post, the police have better technology than Star Fleet, and stories depend on plot twists from way out of Deep Roving Left Field.

Can anybody say Flashpoint? Sorry, I couldn't resist.

[jcankerhuxley]

I think "Dragnet" is still, in its own way, the most realistic cop show ever produced, and certainly the most influential. It's still interesting to see a show where police officers actually chase down leads, do paperwork, work mundane cases and talk more or less like regular people do.

Nope. I think you have to go with either Hill Street Blues or Homicide: Life On The Street for that honor but Dragnet is right up there.

Um, the most realistic cop show ever produced was a little program called Cops. However, Dragnet and the other Jack Webb shows were the most influential because he took information from actual police and fire rescue records.

[Dan Mancini]

According to Sonny Grosso, who was the basis for Buddy Russo in The French Connection, the most accurate TV cop show of all time was Barney Miller.

[Kenneth Morgan]

According to Sonny Grosso, who was the basis for Buddy Russo in The French Connection, the most accurate TV cop show of all time was Barney Miller.

I've heard that, as well, and that opinion carries a lot of weight, too.

I've given this some thought, and perhaps, looked at today, "Dragnet" may lose points in terms of realism, especially the later series. Still, it is certainly the most influential cop show, since it was one of the earliest attempts to present police officers in a more mundane, everyday fashion. Practically every cop show that followed that made any attempt to show actual police procedure, and even some that didn't, owed a lot to "Dragnet". Even so, it's still light years ahead of most cop shows today in terms of realism, as I previously noted.

And I still stand by my assertion that the review of the box set was needlessly condescending.

[mhansen]

According to Sonny Grosso, who was the basis for Buddy Russo in The French Connection, the most accurate TV cop show of all time was Barney Miller.

My dad was a cop and Barney Miller was his favorite. He hated most other cop shows. He was the kind of guy that always counted the number of times someone fired and would walk out of the room if they shot more than the number of bullets in the type of gun. Which happens more than you would think.

[adamelijah]

Here's the problem with Valdivia's review. He just didn't get the show. Consider these two excerpts from the review:

I learn something interesting in the file, by which I mean the liner notes: Apparently, Dragnet was one of the most popular shows amongst teenage viewers of the era. That's actually remarkable when you think about it. Of all the cop shows in TV history, Dragnet is easily the least likely candidate to be popular with young people...

I learn something interesting in the file, by which I mean the liner notes: Apparently, Dragnet was one of the most popular shows amongst teenage viewers of the era. That's actually remarkable when you think about it. Of all the cop shows in TV history, Dragnet is easily the least likely candidate to be popular with young people.

So he doesn't understand: A) What made the show popular with young people or B) what made it a pop culture standard. So not understanding it, His Honor leaned it up against modern day television and weighed in the balance and found it wanting. (By the way, on Dragnet, they did talk in complete sentences, the, "What's that" Questions followed by a snappy response and a scene change was a carry-over from radio.)

In a Valdivia review of Citizen Kane, I suppose we'd see a mocking of the slow pacing and the absurd number of camera angles, and the fact that the movie kept jumping around in time. Or he could mock "It's a Wonderful Life" for the hokeyness of the "Heaven" scene or the fact that modern teenagers wouldn't quite get it, as there was a bunch of old people to watch on the screen.

To me. Vivaldia only made one mistake. Reviewing the movie in the first place. Looking at his dossier, Classic TV is hardly his forte. The only Classic TV titles I recognize are the Virginian and Sanford and Son. DVD Verdict can be fun to read, but it becomes annoying when judges don't know of what they speak.

Really, if you think all Christian films are tripe, don't ask for a copy of Fireproof or Facing the Giants. If all you know about Dragnet is that you can tolerate half an hour of reruns, don't sign up to review it. People who look into Genres from Christian to Horror, to Classic TV want to learn from reviews if the film will be a good choice for them. When a reviewer basically is biased against the whole concept of the genre or period, it makes the review pretty well useless (as evidenced by the 20-6 against vote on whether Vivaldia reached a fair verdict.)

Vivaldia seems from his review to be the type of TV viewer who could tolerate a Dragnet rerun or two on TV Land. That doesn't make him a good candidate to review this. Does he know that Dragnet was a 1950s TV show? Does he know what cops shows were like before Dragnet? It seems doubtful. I don't think he's a bad guy. But if I had my way, this whole thing would end like this:

"The verdict of Judge Vivaldia was overturned and he was found to be guilty of a violtion of Section 283.97, "Talking Out of Ignorance about Dragnet" and he was sentenced as prescribed by law. "Talking Out of Ignorance about Dragnet" is punishable by being forced to listen to five hours of Gangbusters, two hours of Calling all Cars, watching a 1940s Dick Tracy movie, and then listening to three hours of [url="http://www.archive.org/details/OTRR_Dragnet_Singles"]early episodes of Dragnet on radio.[/url]"

Caption Vivaldia, "Completed his Sentence and now understands the appeal of the show."

[Steve T Power]

Now we get into the age old critique of a judge not agreeing with a fan's consensus. I'd say Judge Valdivia got the show just fine, he just didn't think as highly of it as others. Frankly, if i had reviewed this particular set i'd find your comments crass and insulting.

Judge Valdivia was unfamiliar with the show, and thus reviewed it as such. Personally I value an objective opinion rather than the congratulatory ramblings of a fan. Sure Dragnet was influential, sure there are millions with a nostalgic connection to the series, and sure, coming in cold it's hokey and cheesy as hell. These are just the facts.

[Tom B]

Here's the problem with Valdivia's review. He just didn't get the show. Consider these two excerpts from the review:

I learn something interesting in the file, by which I mean the liner notes: Apparently, Dragnet was one of the most popular shows amongst teenage viewers of the era. That's actually remarkable when you think about it. Of all the cop shows in TV history, Dragnet is easily the least likely candidate to be popular with young people...

I learn something interesting in the file, by which I mean the liner notes: Apparently, Dragnet was one of the most popular shows amongst teenage viewers of the era. That's actually remarkable when you think about it. Of all the cop shows in TV history, Dragnet is easily the least likely candidate to be popular with young people.

So he doesn't understand: A) What made the show popular with young people or B) what made it a pop culture standard. So not understanding it, His Honor leaned it up against modern day television and weighed in the balance and found it wanting. (By the way, on Dragnet, they did talk in complete sentences, the, "What's that" Questions followed by a snappy response and a scene change was a carry-over from radio.)

In a Valdivia review of Citizen Kane, I suppose we'd see a mocking of the slow pacing and the absurd number of camera angles, and the fact that the movie kept jumping around in time. Or he could mock "It's a Wonderful Life" for the hokeyness of the "Heaven" scene or the fact that modern teenagers wouldn't quite get it, as there was a bunch of old people to watch on the screen.

To me. Vivaldia only made one mistake. Reviewing the movie in the first place. Looking at his dossier, Classic TV is hardly his forte. The only Classic TV titles I recognize are the Virginian and Sanford and Son. DVD Verdict can be fun to read, but it becomes annoying when judges don't know of what they speak.

Really, if you think all Christian films are tripe, don't ask for a copy of Fireproof or Facing the Giants. If all you know about Dragnet is that you can tolerate half an hour of reruns, don't sign up to review it. People who look into Genres from Christian to Horror, to Classic TV want to learn from reviews if the film will be a good choice for them. When a reviewer basically is biased against the whole concept of the genre or period, it makes the review pretty well useless (as evidenced by the 20-6 against vote on whether Vivaldia reached a fair verdict.)

Vivaldia seems from his review to be the type of TV viewer who could tolerate a Dragnet rerun or two on TV Land. That doesn't make him a good candidate to review this. Does he know that Dragnet was a 1950s TV show? Does he know what cops shows were like before Dragnet? It seems doubtful. I don't think he's a bad guy. But if I had my way, this whole thing would end like this:

"The verdict of Judge Vivaldia was overturned and he was found to be guilty of a violtion of Section 283.97, "Talking Out of Ignorance about Dragnet" and he was sentenced as prescribed by law. "Talking Out of Ignorance about Dragnet" is punishable by being forced to listen to five hours of Gangbusters, two hours of Calling all Cars, watching a 1940s Dick Tracy movie, and then listening to three hours of [url="http://www.archive.org/details/OTRR_Dragnet_Singles"]early episodes of Dragnet on radio.[/url]"

Caption Vivaldia, "Completed his Sentence and now understands the appeal of the show."

That's a pretty far-reaching response. So only fans of particular films and genres should be reviewing those films and genres? We might have to start banning romcoms from the site all together.

As far as Judge Valdivia's review, I saw nothing to suggest that he didn't "get it." He hits all the hallmarks and states--accurately--exactly why the show was successful in its time:

"Shot in 1967, they reflect in every way, shape, and form the concerns and values of white middle-class viewers of the era. All hippies are drug-crazed, longhaired smart-alecks who say "man" and "dig" a lot and smoke "the reefer." Anyone who dares to mention the thought of police brutality is clearly wrong. Teens who aren't popular and attractive are clearly maladjusted hooligans just itching to commit crimes. Minorities are not allowed to fight racism themselves; instead, they stand mutely by while Friday, the benevolent white cop, fights racism for them."

As far not understanding its popularity among teenagers, he makes his case comparing it not just to contemporary TV but holds it up against "all the cop shows in TV history." He might have considered that kids weren't watching to catch the exploits of Friday and Gannon but for the even-then campy aspects of the show, including its strained "with it" depictions of young people--or am I the only one who saw the famous "Blueboy" episode (not included on this set)?

Quite honestly, I think your reaction was a little knee-jerk, and you just didn't read the review all that carefully. By the way, your "two excerpts" from the review was actually one excerpt printed twice.

[adamelijah]

That's a pretty far-reaching response. So only fans of particular films and genres should be reviewing those films and genres?

I would say ideally only fans of the genre should review it. If he could name half a dozen TV Cop shows that existed prior to or at the same time of Dragnet, I'd be surprised. Also my apologies for only posting one excerpt. Here's the other one.

I decide to try to investigate just what has made Dragnet such a pop-culture standard. I'd say that when something is made into a feature film with Tom Hanks and parodied on The Simpsons, it's a pretty safe bet that it's penetrated the general consciousness

I read the review through. It was annoying and condescending.

[Dan Mancini]

I read the review through. It was annoying and condescending.

It's kinda funny that you find the review annoying when it's written in the style of the show's dialogue.

As for condescending, I'd say Victor rightly notes that Dragnet is a bit of an anachronism because it was made on the other side of the '60s counterculture that so informed our current culture. Its view of authority is definitely pre-Watergate, and we live in a post-Watergate world. Even a fan of the show should be able to recognize that truth.

Given this summation, I think he gave the show a fair shake:

After much analysis, I realize why Dragnet, as badly dated and misguided as it is, is hard to really hate: It's just so earnest. This was clearly a labor of love for Webb, one that he truly believed in and fought for passionately. His pride in his show's following amongst young people, his insistence on using real crime stories as basis for the show's episodes, and his advocacy for policemen of all ranks all reflect that for Webb, Dragnet wasn't just a TV series, but a force for positive change. Whatever its many, many flaws, Dragnet's heart really was in the right place, which is more than can be said for many of the cynically manipulative moralistic shows of today.

He doesn't allow the show's reputation to cause him to gloss over its shortcomings, yet also gives it its due (as well as giving props to Webb for following his own passion). What more do you want? I mean, besides uncritical gushing?