Customer Reviews

Dragnet 1967: Season 1

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

"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!!!!!!

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!!!!

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.

I just purchased this set. The disks are marked Copyright 2005, but this is the 2010 version of the production.

Clearly, this set has been remastered. I found the prints to be flawless.

All 17 programs were there in color. The first disk contains 7 programs on side A, 7 programs on side B, and the second disk contains 3 programs on side A and nothing on side B.

All of the problems appear to have been addressed, making this item a GOOD BUY if you love this series.

Is it possible for someone other than Universal to release this show and do it correctly ??? Dragnet was a fantastic show I loved as a child. It's worth watching again and again, since there's nothing decent to watch on tv these days. Please, someone, release this properly !

I grew up watching Dragnet. I was really happy when my wife gave me the DVD set for Christmas. My joy turned to aggravation though as the Discs kept freezing up. And it is not just my DVD player. We have four in the house and it did it in all of them. The discs appear free from scratches and smudges.

Sadly the same thing happened with the McMillan & Wife Season One DVD's (another Universal product)I gave my wife.

It's obvious Universal is having a problem with the production of DVD's.

I did a little checking on the internet and it appears the Adam-12 discs have the same problem.

So be warned, if you buy Universal TV series DVD's, there could be problems.

Does Universal have NO quality control? I had the same problems as 8 out of 10 reviewers, with the video freezing up due to the extreme compression used to cram too much video into too little digital space. Yes, I have a new DVD/DVR that plays anything... except these defective discs. If Jack Webb were alive he'd sue Universal but good!

I actually bought this item at Best Buy and the salesgirl was kind enough (after two visits) to take the best/undamaged discs for two Dragnet 67 sets and 'make' one good one for me. The physical product/DVDs themselves are awful (scratched, skip, won't play), and it would have been nice to have season two and season one together (that would have been worth the $). I agree, Universal Studios is manufacturing a terrible after market TV product and needs to be told. I love these Dragnet shows from the late 60s (and would like to see more) but what a lousy product (the only DVDs I have ever bought that have done this, even compared to cheap DVDs/on special at the supermarket).

I'm glad to see that this great series is finally getting its release. Jack Webb and Harry Morgan made a great on-screen team, meshing to perfection as the ultimate cop 'odd couple' in the later episodes (1969-1970 season especially). I hope this sells enough to justify the release of the other seasons. As early, trend-setting cop dramas go, Dragnet should be at the top of everyone's list. Recent incarnations of the series have failed simply because NO ONE can play Sergeant Joe Friday but Jack Webb. Also, you can spot early mannerisms of 'COLONEL SHERMAN T. POTTER' in Morgan's stoic but fun-loving (?) Officer Bill Gannon. I always loved the way Webb used many of the same actors playing different roles in various episodes. Obviously, the man was loyal to a fault.

This will definitely be a part of my DVD collection, as will future seasons.

BOOK 'EM JOE!

I agree with the other reviewers that the format of these discs is just plain goofy, with one disc being double sided, the next having only three episodes, and the CD having one radio show only. Couldn't they have at least snuck a few more radio shows on there?

Content-wise, though, this is a must for the Dragnet junkie. Having watched all of these on Nick at Nite or TVland, it's nice to see that some of the scenes edited from those broadcasts are back on the DVD. For example, "The Big Bookie" episode has the complete drunk-from-Pismo Beach scene in all its glory (the funniest bit in the whole series.)

While season one starts with the classic LSD episode, there are other standouts. "The Big Gun" has Friday getting emotionally attached (yes it did happen!) with the case of a beautiful Japanese widow shot in cold blood. "The Big Bank Examiners" is the first bunco episode of the series, with two con men swindling the elderly out of their life savings and burial monies. "The Big Bookie" is one of my personal favorites, with Bobby Troup (the guy who wrote the song "Route 66") as a bartender who makes book to pay for his daughter's heart surgery. "The Big Hammer" is a compelling mystery that finds Friday and Gannon chasing a murder suspect and his wife to Arizona (and they still wear those darn suits even out of state!)

Of course, the acting can be stilted or overdone. Friday's preachings can be unintentionally hilarious (Dan Ackroyd did an right-on parody of those in Dragnet 1987.) But there is an innocence, a poigancy, that isn't found much on TV anymore. If anything, it's fun to watch just for the chemistry between Jack Webb and Harry Morgan (while the 1950's episodes were masterpieces, Frank Smith was no Bill Gannon.)

So overlook the flaws and just enjoy.