peacedovey2003
I have been watching this through our library. I have found two episodes that dealt with police abuse of power. The first one was in season 3. Malloy is saved by an officer's quick thinking when he (Tony is his name) jumps on a moving forklift and gets the forks raised in time that he prevents Malloy from getting injured. Later on Tony is accused of blackmailing a man. Malloy and Reed get involved in trying to prove his innocence. Malloy (and later you find out Reed had been suspicious too) realizes that Tony has been using them - that he actually did blackmail the guy. Malloy tells him off and the officer does get in trouble. In another episode, I think it was season 5, Reed talks to a reserve officer who tells him that he witnessed an active duty officer use excessive force on a perpetrator. He doesn't want to say anything because he's just reserve and as everyone else thinks there's nothing wrong with the officer. Then Reed catches the same active duty officer choking a perpetrator whom has blacked out as a result. Reed talks to the Watch Commander because it really bothers him. The active duty officer ends up turning in his resignation and criminal charges are filed against the guy. This was one great television show and they don't make them like this any more. I really miss fantastic shows like this.
Don
This show, for the first time, captured the essence of being a street cop. Not just all shootem-up and car chases.Though obviously dated today.... a whole generation of kids watched this show and wanted to grow up and be Reed or Malloy, including me. The career that provided me with so much satisfaction was really inspired by this show. Despite what some may think, most cops got into the job with the same values and intents that hallmarked the characters on the Adam 12 show.During my 25+ years in law enforcement, I was able to meet Kent McCord and Martin Milner at several charity events that they regularly supported. In real life, they truly are the good guys they portrayed on television. A picture of myself with them hangs on my office wall, and is one of my most cherished possessions.
John T. Ryan
Joe Friday, Jack Webb-two names which are virtually indistinguishable, one from another. The first name is Fictional, made-up. He is the product of human imagination, more of a symbol of Law & Order than a character in a story.Even though the young Mr. Webb had the desire to become a Comedian and having his own Radio Show, much like his boyhood idol, Jack Benny, things don't always work out the way we envision them. (And the World can and may well be better off for it!) For it was his success with DRAGNET"Radio Show, which soon morphed into "DRAGNET" TV Series (1951-1959), that gave a great share of immortality to Jack in our American Pop Culture.As time moved along, Mr. Webb became a creative force to several other Law Enforcement themed series. We saw his Production Company's Trademark of a strong, sinewy, sweaty, grimy hands pounding a flat lettering chisel-stamp, with the Hammer Striking and leaving the words: "A Mark VII, Ltd. Production", on quite a few series. Following the trail blazing accomplishments of "DRAGNET", we received several of these for our approval, as Rod Serling used to say.So Mr. Webb brought us "O'HARE, U.S. TREASURY"(1971) with David Jansen, the longevity prone "EMERGENCY!(1972-79), and the equally long running, second most recognized as "a Jack Webb production "ADAM 12"(1968-75).In "ADAM 12", Jack pushed the Envelope forward as far as the celluloid portrayal of Big City Cops goes. Using all the experience from his for incarnations of "DRAGNET", he let loose a sure winner with the TV Audience, as well as a continuing favourite with the Criticsizers (o.k., okay! It's 'Critics', I knew it all along!) In looking back to those years of the Late 1960's to the Early 1970's, we as a Nation (the U.S. A., that is, Schultz!)were all caught up in what was probably the High Water Mark of the 'Counter-Culture' Hippy/Yippie/Flippy Anti-Authority,Anti-Establishment, Anti-Cop media tirades of that period. This was the Era of Assassination, with John F. Kennedy (1963), Martin Luther King (1968) and Robert Kennedy (also '68), all dying at the hands of murderers with Political motivations. And there were other incidents such as the attempted Murder of Former Alabama Governor George Wallace in May of 1972.In addition, we had subversive groups infiltrating Movements of War Protest, the Greatest example being the Rioting in the Streets of Chicago ("…My kind of Town!") during that Week-Long Democratic National Convention in August 1968. Next would likely be their highly return in the following year of 1969 for their Self-Proclaimed "Days of Rage", October 5-11.The same Left Wing Organizations also used their influence to turn Urban Rioting following events like the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to a sort of Urban Sedition. Aided by certain sensational headlines driven manipulators in the News Media, all blame seemed to be put on the Uniformed Police charged with doing something about it.And always being a guy sympathetic to the thankless plight of the Cops, Mr.Webb set out to give us a dramatized version of just what it was like to be on the other end of that on- going struggle.Essentially, Jack Webb rendered a series which could to be said is a "Dragnet of, by and for the Uniformed Police. In spite of some criticisms, such as being a little preachy in its story lines and stilted in the language employed, it certainly deserves to be rated as a top series of its time. And it certainly was a step up in the Cop Show Evolutionary Chain leading to some of the finest of Present Day Police Dramas. Next stage is represented by Joe Wambaugh's "POLICE STORY"( 1973-77).
johnfuen
The title is my attempt to honor the classic Johnny Carson "Claude Cooper copper clappers" bit with Jack Webb. As a kid I tried to never miss an episode of any Jack Webb series. Adam 12 being one of them. I really enjoyed how the relationship between Reed and Malloy developed throughout out the seasons. From the beginning when Malloy was a bit distant from his partner but still very mother hen-like to the later years when the two were comfortable with each other and taking little jabs at each other between calls.One of my favorites was the episode when Reed's wife was pregnant, and the Reeds, Malloy, and his girl friend were trapped in a ghost town by a motorcycle gang. That episode still stands out in my mind. I enjoyed how the series dealt with more day to day stuff than the impossible situations shown in many other cop shows. It was amazing how a day's work could be squeezed into a 30 min show (22 w/o commercials).
