Customer Reviews

Adam-12 - Season One

5 star:		(56)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Today's audiences may find Adam 12 tame after programs like "Cops" and "America's Most Wanted"... but this series reflects police work as it was in the 1960s, and it relies heavily on morality and negotiation to solve problems, not brute force. That's one reason I love this show. The other is that this program was actually filmed on the streets of Los Angeles and uses many actual locations at a time when L.A. was still largely suburban and growing. To see the old shopping centers, coffee shops and old green RTD busses going by is a trip to the past. I am looking forward to buying all of these DVD sets, as well as "Emergency". My only concern is that they are being released by Universal Home Video, which has a poor reputation for quality. I bought the boxed sets of Abbott and Costello's movies, and 2 of the 3 boxed sets have contain flaws with freezing, skipping and other problems. I own over 400 DVDs and these are some of the few I own with any consistant playing defects.... so I remain cautious on play quality, but I will give the content a five, just the same.

I'm deployed in Iraq and this is the BEST "care package" yet. My eyes lit up! ALthough I'm not old enough to have seen Adam-12 when it first came out, I can't forget the reruns played on TV. I was disappointed when TVLand took it off the are several years ago. I heard a rumor it was on again but I kinda don't have access to a TV right now.

Adam-12 is without a doubt the best cop series ever made. I haven't experienced any problems with my DVD except for minor errors which can be overlooked since this is the best TV series ever made. I just wish they had all episodes on DVD.

The complete first season of Adam-12 will contain 26 action packed episodes of Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) responding "code three" in their black and white patrol car. Very early in the series, Pete teaches Jim some respect of this four wheeled modern marvel:

"Attached to the middle of the dash, illuminated by a single bulb is a hot sheet desk. Fastened to which you will always make sure is the latest one off the teletype before you ever roll."

Who needs a computer when you have a hot sheet desk illuminated by a single bulb containing all the latest 411 on the crimes to hit the Los Angeles area? Not these outstanding police officers!

This will be the first season of seven (a total of 174 episodes) of this realistic "docudrama" about two everyday police officers patrolling the streets of L.A. and I can't wait to own the entire collection as it is released.

First of all, I haven't had any problems with my discs. They play well on my DVD play with no glitches like i've been reading about.
The show is as good today as it was 38 years ago. Watch a show, any show, that is currently on and you will see this is really better than anything on TV. No filth, just great entertainment about 1968 Los Angeles Police. Shows like "Friends" come off as stupid and trashy and not funny. Its no wonder that its rare that a show lasts these days

I loved this show, so I was thrilled when the first season was out on DVD. I rushed out and bought it, and then promptly forgot to watch it. A couple of months later, I finally watched it only to discover that it skipped on disc 2 side one and two.

I was so bummed out. However, by that time, I couldn't find my receipt, so I went out and bought another DVD set and it did the exact same thing in the same spots.

This time I contacted Universal, and sent the 2nd set to them for a replacement. They did send one that works, however, I spent a little over $5 doing this. And I also have another set that doesn't work. I also felt their letter to me was a bit smarmy. They said if I had a problem with the new discs, I needed to contact the makers of my DVD player. In my case, I tried the DVD in 3 different players, and it did the same on all three. I would have much prefered a "we're so sorry for the problem" or something along that line. A coupon would have been nice. I'd buy a movie...but I won't drop another nickel on one of their double-sided TV sets.

At this point, after reading all the negative comments about Universal and their double-sided issues, I am not spending any more money on their DVD sets.

I still have an unopened DVD set of Leave it to Beaver, and after reading the comments about those also skipping, it won't surprise me a bit that they also skip. And I bought it a bit ago, so there is not much I can do about it.

When I returned my Adam 12 DVD to Universal, they wanted a copy of the purchase receipt and it had to be dated within 30 days of purchase. I also had to answer a slew of questions about the problem. It seems to me that they would know what the problem is considering how many complaints there have been about this product.

If it was possible, I would give this DVD no stars. I love the show, but the DVD set isn't worth the hassle or dealing with Universal for a replacement. And I just had to eat the $5. You'd think they would have included coupons or something along that line for my time and trouble. They are putting out an inferior product. I won't buy another Universal TV series again.

I had hoped that by waiting, the playability problems reported by other purchasers would have been fixed. Sadly the set I bought on the 26 May 2006 is suffering freezes and in some case whole episodes not playing.

The strange thing is, that if I repeatedly clean the disk with a cleaning cloth I CAN get the episode to play. For example the first episode I had problems with (5th episode, disk one, side A) originally froze at 13 minutes, but by repeatedly cleaning it I was able to get it to play OK until 15 minutes, then 17 minutes, 21 minutes, then all the way to the ending credits.

It has me totally baffled. Why would repeated cleaning of an apparently undamaged disk enable it to play through ? AND, why are SOME episodes on the same side playing OK ?
It's a great pity that Universal have not fixed the problems. Because of this, I'll think twice before buying another universal release no matter how much I want to see it rather than suffer the frustration's of not being able to get the disk(s) to play.

My ratings ? -10 (at least) for the disk quality and 5 stars for the show itself.

Glad I read the reviews this morning. I had been really looking forward to taking my time and watching the episodes in order with my boys, BUT just as another reviewer found On disk 2 Side B episode 24 will not run!

I too have contacted amazon and they are sending a replacement dvd set.


Sept. 1 - After purchasing from my local books/DVD store I found the problem is in manufacturing. The same problems listed here were prevelant in TWO sets bought from different chains. Steer CLEAR until problem is fixed.

I forgot how great this show was. It was one of my favorites as a kid. Full uncut version, picture is clear. Great chemistry between Milner & McCord.

This is Adam-12 at it's best! The color is absolutely fantastic! The episodes are great. It is my favorite DVD collection.

My only complaint is the menu system. Whoever designed it was trying to be clever and fell terribly short! All of the episodes are tagged as "Log's". (Log 73, Log 109, Log 35, etc.) When searching for a certain episode, it is frustrating. "Oh yah, Log 73...That's the one I'm looking for!"

My concern is that Universal is not going to release any of the additional Adam-12 sets. I think that if a company decides to release a DVD series, they should commit to the entire project up front. (All or nothing!)

WE WANT SEASON 2.....PLEASE!!!

The chemistry between Kent and Marty was wonderful. The addition of certain other actors, such as Gary Crosby as Ed Wells and William Boyett as Sgt. MacDonald, just added to the magic that was Adam-12. The humor was subtle at times, the pathos striking, and sometimes the moral was pounded a little hard, but without a doubt this was, and still is, one of my favorite cop series. Everyone should be very proud of their time on this series, a look at the real world of the patrol cop. I hope the entire series is released.

Now, as to the quality of the DVDs from Universal. I was lucky, I guess. There was only one small glitch (a freeze just as Pete is giving a ticket to the rich girl who gets a crush on him), but to my mind, there should've been none. My Emergency! DVD, unlike many, was perfect. I haven't had a chance to watch the Dragnet 1967 as yet. There really is no excuse for freezes, glitches or problems.

And, why was there no special bits on this? Both actors are still alive, both have talked about their time on the series during the years. And what about a blooper reel? I know there must be one somewhere? C'mon, Universal, do it right with Season Two!