The BEST episodes of Adam-12
Every episode of Adam-12 ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Adam-12!
Follow two Los Angeles police officers as they patrol the streets of Southern California. Adam-12 was the first series to realistically portray the joys/frustrations of being a police officer in the late 1960's-early 1970's. This attention to detail made the show a catalyst for uncounted numbers of people to enter public service as adults. "1-Adam-12" was the radio call number of the unit that Malloy & Reed worked: "1" was the division assigned, "Adam" was LA Phonetic for "A" designating a 2-person patrol unit, and "12" was the beat area assigned. (Although, Malloy & Reed could be seen patrolling the streets anywhere in L.A. from Downtown to the Valley, they retained the number division #1, no matter where they were). The police station used throughout the series was the newly-built (at the time) Rampart Station.
#1 - Pressure Point
Season 7 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/4/1975
A nervous recruit named Ernie Sampson hides the fact that he stutters, imperiling Reed and Malloy when he fails to warn them about an armed robber who might ambush them.
#2 - West Valley Division
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/3/1973
Malloy and Reed notice an attractive woman walking her scottie when they get a call from Air Ten to assist with a motorcyclist who is also a potential firebug. They track the young man to his mother's house and the officers warn him about the pitfalls of arson. While the woman continues to walk her dog, the officers investigate a robbery at a movie theater where the manager and ticket taker are tied up; she lets them know a man on a gray motorcycle committed the crime, Malloy and Reed stop a gray motorcycle but the rider is a woman, they locate another motorcycle and catch the suspect after pursuit and the motorcycle crashing. The officers respond to another robbery at a department store where the security guard was shot and provides a dying declaration of who shot him, then Air Ten locates a possible suspect vehicle; the pursuit ends with two people just wanting to experience the thrill of a police chase. The Scottie dog is found tied up and the officers discover the woman is in reality a fur thief, and is arrested.
#3 - Foothill Division
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/26/1973
Sgt. MacDonald reported his camper was broken into with three fishing rods and a pair of custom-made cowboy boots missing, and offers two free steak dinners for their return. The officers come across another man with the same "one of a kind" boots that Mac lost. Cases include Malloy, Reed, and Mac riding horseback to locate three suspects in a break-in at a stable, later the station is under sniper fire, Malloy, Reed, and Air Ten assist in capturing the sniper, and Officer Wells (showing his rarely-seen compassionate side) takes up a collection for a couple and their cancer-stricken daughter to get to San Francisco, later Wells finds out he's been had as the "couple" were well-known con artists with a long rap sheet.
#4 - Badge Heavy
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/25/1972
Officer Charlie Burnside pulls a prank on Officer Albert Porter, a friend of Reed's, who does not take the joke, and Porter lets Reed know that he feels Burnside is being a little "badge heavy" (rough) on his suspects. After dealing with an inept would-be robber whose car won't start, Malloy and Reed are handling backup on a call when Reed observes Burnside choke a suspect. Reed reports it but nothing is done by the Captain because the victim wouldn't admit Burnside was the aggressor. Burnside turns cocky on Reed saying he has "an ace in the hole" and that Reed was mad about the prank he pulled on Porter. During a foot pursuit of two robbers, Burnside got to one of them and this results in charges brought against the officer, who confronts Reed but this time the other officers back Reed.
#5 - Dana Hall
Season 7 - Episode 22 - Aired 4/29/1975
A female office named Dana Hall feels she isn't being given enough worthy work and decides to prove herself to Reed and Malloy.
#6 - The Search
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/1971
1-Adam-12 is back after routine maintenance, but the radio is having problems communicating with Central. During a robbery involving two suspects, Reed captures one while Malloy takes off in pursuit of the other one through a park, but Malloy loses control of the car and it rolls into an embankment, hidden from the road, and the officer suffers internal injuries and a broken leg. All available units are called in to search for Malloy, who has to watch helplessly while a murder suspect comes out and take his shotgun (which Malloy was using for a splint) and sidearm, and rips out the radio mike only leaving the wires. Malloy uses the wires to send signal for help, which Reed picks up and rescues his partner.
#7 - Log 044: Attempted Bribery
Season 2 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/18/1970
Malloy and Reed prove they cannot and will not be bribed, no matter how good the offer, resulting in desperation from a young man charged with his third drunk driving offense. An elderly man admits mercy killing his wife.
#8 - A Clinic on 18th Street
Season 6 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/13/1974
Malloy and Reed investigate the death of an old man wearing an unusual belt, which leads to the case being turned over to Frauds Division, who finds that Dr. Gantman, running a clinic, is treating a blind seven-year-old patient with a pituitary gland condition but his "treatment" is worthless and preventing a real treatment (removal of the gland). Later, a TV repairman who makes oscillator belts for Gantman is busted for bookmaking and agrees to testify against the doctor, but Gantman demonstrates his "treatment" in open court and fails miserably.
#9 - Assassination
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/8/1971
A phony prowler call results in shots being fired at Malloy and Reed. Shots ring out again when the officers head to the airport to transport a blood donor. The suspect is a known check bouncer, and Reed's wife gets a disturbing phone call. Later Reed heads home and meets an acquaintance who just happens to be driving the same car as the shooting suspect. Other cases include a suicidal man who tries to incinerate himself with gasoline, and a wino who is nearly shot by a hyped-up Reed.
#10 - Lost and Found
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/4/1972
Reed and Malloy rush 8-year old Jimmy to Rampart Emergency Hospital with an as yet undiagnosed illness. Upon arrival, the immediate conclusion, and diagnosis are the same: Diabetes. Scared of the hospital, Jimmy runs off, and it's up to Reed and Malloy to find him before he goes into a diabetic coma. They follow the only lead they have, to the one happy place he was before the attack began, at the pet store, to buy a puppy. Elsewhere, Malloy's new girlfriend Cathy mans a hospital telephone hotline which is about to go under due to lack of funds. One call has her worried, that from Sherry, a 15-year old junkie threatening suicide to escape her troubled life. Sherry won't discloes where she is while she takes some "reds," supplied by her similary junike mother. Malloy and Reed need to find her fast, before she OD's. NOTE: This episode is a crossover with "Emergency!", featuring Doctor Bracket and Nurse McCall but also featuring cameos of Dr. Early and Firemen Gage and DeSoto.
#11 - L.A. International
Season 6 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/12/1974
Malloy, Reed, and Officer Woods are assigned airport duty at LAX, now equipped with closed-circuit cameras, which were used to observe a burglary in progress and apprehend the suspects before they could leave. An argument over a suitcase resulted in the discovery of drugs, another dispute involving an Army soldier and another man uncovers a scheme where the civilian took Japanese Yen from the soldier. A ticket clerk that catches Malloy's eye informs him of a man who bought tickets from her previously under a different name, which results in the breakup of a credit card theft ring, a runaway is escorted to security until his mother can pick him up, and a silent alarm at a toll gate results in the capture of a robber who was holding a hostage. As a reward for breaking up the credit card theft ring, the company invites Malloy and the ticket clerk to lunch--Reed is invited too but Malloy pays Reed (a week's worth of lunches) NOT to join the couple on the lunch date.
#12 - Log 033: It All Happened So Fast
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/1/1969
It's been a long night of patrol for Malloy and Reed. Just as the two tired officers are headed to the station to turn in for the night, shots are fired at the patrol car. In the blink of an eye, Reed kills whom he believes was the gunman. Back at the station, Reed undergoes a night of intensive questioning from the captain and lieutenant, as part of the superior officers' investigation into the incident. Much like the Dragnet episode, "The Shooting Board", this episode highlights how seriously the LAPD takes all officer-involved shootings. It also takes pains to show the difficulty most officers have when forced to take a life in the line of duty for the first time.
#13 - Gus Corbin
Season 7 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/1/1975
Reed and Malloy are called upon to train rookie officer Gus Corbin, but trouble ensues when Corbin starts taking unnecessary and often undue risks to apprehend suspects.
#14 - Log 75: Have a Nice Weekend
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/7/1970
Malloy and Reed investigate a series of robberies, an arson attempt and a violent argument.
#15 - North Hollywood Division
Season 6 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/22/1974
Reed is assigned to write an article about Malloy for Police Beat magazine for his partner's 10th anniversary in the LAPD, and is having trouble with the content. Calls include a gas station robbery with an unusual outcome, a domestic dispute involving a barking poodle, a woman tries to get her husband arrested and the plan backfires, and a pursuit with a liquor store robber ends with the suspect barricading himself in a garage.
#16 - Skywatch (2)
Season 6 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/5/1974
Malloy and Reed take to separate helicopter units to continue their observations. The choppers assist in a stolen light plane from LAX by a distraught man, track two robbery suspects fleeing in separate cars, and assist in a nighttime house fire.
#17 - Killing Ground
Season 5 - Episode 18 - Aired 2/7/1973
Malloy and Reed pull over a car on a routine traffic stop and are taken hostage by two robbers escaping from their heist. The officers have to use all their skills to escape the situation.
#18 - Suspended
Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/21/1973
Reed spends an evening on the firing range, then stops by a all-night grocery store. When Reed leaves, a man approaches him as if he knew him, then points out another man in a green Beetle holding a gun on the officer. Reed drops his groceries, pushes the man, jumps and fires at the man in the Beetle, hitting the car, but the man in the Beetle shot and hit his accomplice. The grocer swears he only heard one shot, and the accomplice gave a dying declaration that Reed was trigger-happy and shot him. Reed (as per standard procedure) is assigned desk duty until the Review Board completed its findings, but the accomplice's death makes it look more and more like Reed could face a murder charge until Malloy (along with his by-the-book replacement partner) locates the green Beetle after going through numerous DMV checks, and locates the other man, exonerating Reed with both the courts and the department, who cleared him in the shooting.
#19 - Log 55: Missing Child
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/31/1970
Officers Malloy and Reed search for a missing child whose disappearance becomes increasingly serious as time passes.
#20 - Who Won?
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/1/1972
Malloy and Reed work to curtail the rise in illegal street racing by working with the leaders of rival racing clubs and obtaining the legitimate use of a drag strip through a race promoter. Their work is threatened, along with an anticipated race between Reed and Officer Wells, when one of the racers resorts to sabotage.
#21 - Log 95: Purse Snatcher
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/3/1970
A teen-age purse snatcher thinks he can outwit the police and graduate to bigger crime.
#22 - The Chaser
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/6/1972
An out-of-state armed private investigator is inside a bar, Malloy and Reed arrive and determine the PI is legally allowed to carry but takes him to his car to stow the gun, and find he is in town looking for a bail jumper. Later the PI is in the middle of an altercation with two black men, one of which is seriously injured. The PI claims the men tried to rob him, later the men tell a different story, and Sgt. MacDonald orders the PI arrested. The PI is found after catching (and roughing up) the bail jumper, and is arrested. Other calls include an elderly man wanting a group of cars driven by hippies ticketed for illegal parking, and a woman who demands the officers ticket her husband's car because he refuses to replace the balding tires on it.
#23 - Keeping Tabs
Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/14/1973
Malloy and Reed pull over a speeding car full of teenagers, including Sgt. MacDonald's son, and Malloy finds himself in the middle between father and son on how to handle it. Other calls include a burglar who tries to run up the fire escape unsuccessfully, complaints about a woman feeding ducks interrupting two men and a chess game; Malloy suggests she join them when she comments that they are poor chess players, two boyfriends fight at knifepoint over a woman, who leaves with a third man after the two combatants are arrested, and Reed has to save a drunk (played by Pat Buttram) who is trying to direct traffic at a busy intersection.
#24 - Hot Spell
Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/13/1972
Malloy and Reed have to wear their long-sleeved uniforms despite a hot forecast, then later found out they could have changed to short sleeves but missed the radio notification. The officers receive a tip about a bicycle pump that contains drugs, later the find a woman experiencing withdrawal symptoms, and they find the supplier and the pump. Other cases include a man complaining about his grass being trampled during his yard sale, only to find he was selling stolen property from another man who gave him the items from his job as a repo man. After arresting the repo man, they get a tip on a murder suspect which leads to the suspect's arrest.
#25 - Log 16: Child in Danger
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/4/1971
Officers Malloy and Reed interrupt a robbery in progress, worry about a possible child-beating case, and warn a heedless girl about driving alone in a dangerous area of town.