Product Details

• Actors: Jack Webb, Harry Morgan
• Format: Color, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Universal Studios
• DVD Release Date: June 7, 2005
• Run Time: 433 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0007Z9RB6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #84,099 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Dragnet 1967 - Season 1" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"This is the city--Los Angeles, California." "I carry a badge." "My name's Friday." And who could forget "Just the facts, ma'am"? These lines, delivered in classic deadpan style by actor-director Jack Webb's Sgt. Joe Friday, are among the hallmarks of Dragnet, one of television's earliest and most influential police dramas. And the appearance on DVD of all 17 episodes from the show's first season (1967), covering two discs (plus a third with a radio broadcast from 1954) and running more than seven hours, is a treat. Decades after the fact, when vivid, often graphically violent cop shows like the C.S.I. and Law & Order franchises (all of them clearly owing a debt to Webb's show) dominate the airwaves, Dragnet seems tame, even quaint. Violence and gunplay are kept to a minimum. Special effects are non-existent, and many scenes are talky and static; "The Big Interrogation" takes place almost entirely in a single room in the police station, and includes a four-minute speech by Friday about the plight of a police officer ("You're a cop, a flatfoot, a bull, a dick, John Law… they call you everything, but never a policeman"). The stories are uncomplicated, the criminals are usually dunderheads, and "square" barely begins to describe the overall tone (witness "The Big LSD," a risible depiction of a "hippie" on a psychedelic sojourn). Still, one gets the feeling that we're laughing not at but with Webb, the writers, and the rest of the cast (including Harry Morgan, later of M*A*S*H*, as sidekick Bill Gannon). By about halfway through the season, with episodes like "The Big Candy Story" and "The Big Fur Burglary" (an almost whimsical tale wherein Gannon pretends to be an expert furrier), it appears that Webb and company are enjoying themselves just as much as the viewers are; at the same time, the characters' personal lives are explored in a bit more detail, which adds some welcome texture.

Sure, it's dated--everybody smokes, everyone's white, and character descriptions like "strange-behaving juvenile" are more common than not. But in the end, the Dragnet approach, stilted though it may sometimes be, is a refreshing antidote to the oh-so-hip cop melodramas that have come along since. Best, and simplest, of all, Dragnet 1967 - Season 1 is downright entertaining. --Sam Graham

Dragnet Trivia

• When the original show ("Dragnet" (1951)) ended, Joe Friday had been promoted to Lieutenant. However, Jack Webb decided to make Friday a sergeant again for the new series because "few people remember that Friday was promoted toward the end of our run. We think it's better to have Joe a sergeant again. Few detective-lieutenants get out into the field."
• Jack Webb and Harry Morgan wore the same suits for the entire run of the television series.
• Through all 100 episodes of the series, Friday is only seen wearing something other than his regular suit four times: three times for undercover work and once for a scene in his apartment.
• Episodes from this series were used as training tools by the real-life LAPD.
• When Jack Webb revived the show in 1966, it was in response to the growing tide of teen-age drug use, especially LSD.
• Jack Webb would pay $25 to any officer who submitted a story that was used for an episode plot.
• During the run of this version, the title would change to reflect the year that it was broadcast in (Dragnet 1967, Dragnet 1968 and so on).
• Friday's badge number (seen at the beginning and end of each episode) is 714. Badge 714 belonged to Sgt. 'Dan Cooke' , the technical advisor. The badge has been retired and displayed at the LAPD Academy's Museum.
• The pair of hands seen hammering the Mark VII logo at the end of every episode belong to Jack Webb.

Product Description

No Description Available.
Genre: Television
Rating: NR
Release Date: 7-JUN-2005
Media Type: DVD

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

112 of 130 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars You bet its the disks....more junk from Universal July 29, 2005

By Yarby

Format:DVD

At first glance, seeing the three slimline cases of this DVD set, the buyer is ready for hours of entertainment. However, upon opening this set, the illusion is soon exposed. The first two-sided DVD of the set contains fourteen episodes. While the transfers are decent (some dirt still shows on certain episodes), it soon becomes apparent that this first disk is primarily what the buyer just paid 30-plus dollars for. The second two-sided (?) disk contains only 3 episodes, and has one completely blank side!!!! The third disk is simply an audio recording of ONE of the episodes of the old radio show.

With all this available space, where are the extras? The television movie, the network promos....maybe even the Dragnet routine with Jack Webb from "The Tonight Show" or some full episodes from the 50's series? As for the audio disk, the "I Love Lucy" sets contain a full program on EACH of the DVD disks!

Add to that the programming of the disks themselves....the user is required to skip over promos each time the disk starts. At the beginning of each episode, the viewer must watch the new "www.universalstudios.com" logo. It cannot be skipped over, as there is no chapter stop at the end of it. And the end of each episode, while including the "Mark VII" sequence, has had the Universal Television sequence removed.

But, of course, none of this matters if the DVD's don't play all the way through without skipping. And, in usual Universal Studio form, these skip like crazy.

Univeral is KNOWN for putting out junk DVD's and these are no exception. (If you don't believe me, read all the reviews about the Abbott and Costello collections, the Dracula collection, the Frankenstein collection, Kojak, The Munsters, the Airport collection....etc., etc.

I love Dragnet....but this set is, without a doubt, a huge ripoff!!!!

70 of 80 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars "I'll bet your mother had a loud bark!" , Ma'am! April 8, 2005

By Glenn M. Schoditsch

Format:DVD

"Thieves, bums, winos, girls who can't keep an address and men who don't care!" (Joe Friday's opinion of the suits at Universal!)

Oh man, this is THE classic Dragnet that we baby boomers grew to and know love. Jack Webb teamed this go around with Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon. From Blue Boy to Officer Gidion C. Dengle, Friday, Gannon and a host of repetitive actors, many back from the 1950's run, provide a gritty and sometime humorous look from the police officers view. Sometimes very stiff with corny acting, (intentional by director Webb) this entire series provides entertainment for all with many episodes done extremely well and on point. Kudos to Universal Home Video for finally bringing the '70's' Dragnet to DVD. Please don't make us wait too long for Seasons 2, 3 & 4.

Update - 06/08/05

I take my kudos to Universal Home Video back. It is great to see these classic episodes again, but do you think they could have cleaned the prints up just a bit? They look as if they mastered them off of TV Land! Disc 1 is cluttered with Side A having playable issues; my original purchase went back to the vendor 3 times for a playable replacement. Disc 2 is sparse with only 3 episodes and a blank Side B. I DO have an older player but I don't have any problem playing any of the other 'modern' DVD purchases lately as another reviewer suggested. It seems that this is a "UNIVERSAL" Studios problem as I have no problems with Image Entertainment and Paramount Studios TV series sets. And I agree; they should have included the 1966 movie as they kindly did with EMERGENCY!.

I'm starting to think that "Thieves, bums, & winos" and even Don Negler himself mastered this mess. I subtract 2 stars for this dismal atrocity from Universal!

Update! 05-31-06

It appears??? that Universal Studios has resolved the DVD manufacturing defects with the Season 2 release of EMERGENCY! I say to Universal bring on the rest of Webb TV; as in the rest of Dragnet, EMERGENCY!, and Adam-12.

UPDATE: 06.26.08

It appears that Universal Studios and others are farming out distribution of TV season sets on DVD. Shout! Factory will be releasing season 2 of Adam-12 in September. Could the rest of Dragnet, Adam-12, Emergency and even other WEBB TV projects be making their way to our DVD players? Cross your fingers!!!

UPDATE: 03.18.10

Hey, crossing my fingers worked; at least for Dragnet! Way to go SHOUT! Factory. Woo Hoo!!!!!!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Where is Season 2? March 24, 2006

By Matt P. Swintek

Format:DVD

Dragnet is one of my favorite television shows of all time. I will agree, the transfer is not the best and there are no extras worth mentioning. I still love the set and don't mind having a second rate product as long as I have the episodes. (I did not experience any "freezing" in my collection.)

If you like Dragnet this set is a must have. My question is are they going to release the remaining seasons? It is a true

kick in the teeth to fans when a company releases a DVD set and does not follow up with the entire series. I believe that if they are going to realease a DVD set, they should commit to realeasing the entire collection! (The same thing is going on with Adam-12!) Thankfully, Universal saw it fit to release Emergency Season 2.

Universal, you baited us with Dragnet and Adam-12 Season One.

Maybe sales were not up to your standards, however, the die hard fans bought them. Please don't let us down.