The BEST episodes of Dragnet
Every episode of Dragnet ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Dragnet!
Dragnet 1967-1970 was the second run of the Dragnet series. It began in January of 1967, and ran to September of 1970. The lead character, Sgt. Joe Friday, was played by Jack Webb, who also directed and produced the series. The show's focus is on two detectives, Sgt. Joe Friday, and Officer Bill Gannon, played by Harry Morgan. The two track down criminals all throughout the city of Los Angeles, California. The original "Dragnet" was the grandfather of ALL of today's police drama shows. This was the first time a cancelled network TV series was successfully revived. In late 1965, Universal and NBC hired Webb to revive "Dragnet" as a made-for-TV movie. This was filmed in early 1966, but didn't air until January 1969. Titled "World Premiere: Dragnet," the well-made film has Friday and Gannon linking the slayings of photographer's models to the disappearance of a war widow, while Gannon prepares to retire.
#1 - The Big High
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/2/1967
An elderly businessman, concerned about the welfare of his grandchild, informs Friday and Gannon that his daughter and son-in-law are using marijuana regularly. The young couple make no apologies for their lifestyle, which inevitably leads to disaster.
#2 - The Interrogation
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/9/1967
A new officer has been arrested for robbing a liquor store while on an undercover assignment.
#3 - A.I.D. - The Weekend
Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/12/1970
Bill's wife is out-of-town, and Bill invites Joe home for the weekend. They have dinner and play poker with some friends. A woman selling magazines shows up, and Joe and Bill suspect a scam.
#4 - Intelligence - DR-34
Season 3 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/17/1969
Joe is invited to a night school alumni party. Joe goes and is approached by one of the alumni to join the Fielder Militia, a right wing group. They want Joe to help one of the Militia’s members get a Federal firearms license. Joe works with the ATM to join the Militia to locate Militia’s cache of illegal automatic weapons.
#5 - Narcotics - DR-21
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/30/1969
The Captain ask Joe and Bill to investigate having dogs trained to sniff out narcotics. They contact a dog trainer to train dogs for the job. Joe and Bill do a demonstration for Judges to prove the effectiveness of using a dog to detect marijuana.
#6 - Community Relations - DR-17
Season 3 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/2/1969
Joe and Bill are sent to a Community Relations conference at Lake Arrowhead with other police officers. Their task is to discuss ways of improving community relations, and in the process find a few officers that have bigoted views.
#7 - Homicide - DR-06
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/24/1968
Joe and Bill review the progress report of a homicide (thus the name of the episode). Joe has invited Bill and his wife to his apartment for dinner. The dinner is constantly interrupted by neighbors asking for advice and complaining about a loud party. One neighbor calls to say that someone is breaking into the coin boxes in the laundry room. Joe and Bill grab their guns and investigate.
#8 - The Investigation
Season 2 - Episode 26 - Aired 3/14/1968
Friday and Gannon are screening applicants for the Police Academy. One seems to have all the right qualifications, except that six months are missing from his application.
#9 - The Big Prophet
Season 2 - Episode 18 - Aired 1/11/1968
Friday and Gannon are convinced that "Brother" William Bentley's Temple of the Expanded Mind is just a sham - a front for Bentley to sell LSD to the students of a nearby elementary school.
#10 - The Trial Board
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/14/1967
An officer accused of taking a bribe has chosen Sgt. Friday to represent him at his trial board hearing. Witnesses saw the officer accept the money, but he insists it was for the payback of a loan made years ago.
#11 - The Big Dog
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/23/1967
A purse-snatching dog? This is the case Friday and Gannon must solve. Making things more difficult, victims give different descriptions of the four-legged thief.
#12 - The Big Ad
Season 2 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/9/1967
An ex-con named Steve Deal contacts Friday and Gannon when a classified ad that he placed, offering to do "anything" for money, results in an offer to commit murder. Friday goes undercover as Deal.
#13 - The Badge Racket
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/28/1967
Three con artists have been swindling businessmen from out-of-town by posing as a prostitute and two policemen. The detectives set a trap as Gannon pretends to be a manufacturer from Lincoln Nebraska.
#14 - The Shooting Board
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/21/1967
Joe stops at an all night launderette to buy cigarettes and interrupts a burglar working the coin changer. When he shouts "Freeze," the criminal comes up shooting. Joe returns fire, hitting the man, who flees with the help of his girlfriend. He's later found dead. When SID tries to find the bullet fired at Joe, they come up empty and Joe faces a shooting board with no proof the man ever fired at him. A great surprise ending.
#15 - The Bullet
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 5/11/1967
A dead man has been found in a locked room, along with a gun that could not have been the murder weapon.
#16 - The Big Shipment
Season 2 - Episode 16 - Aired 12/28/1967
Drugs are found aboard a plane that has crashed in the San Fernando Valley. The pilot is quickly traced, but in order to force him to name his connection, Friday and Gannon ask the press to sit on the story for a few hours.
#17 - The Shooting
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/30/1967
A police officer is shot while making a routine check on a pair of paroled convicts that are parked near a liquor store.
#18 - Homicide - Who Killed Who?
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired 1/29/1970
There is a multiple homicide at a rooming house. When Joe and Bill arrive, they find two dead in the lobby near a broken TV set and the manager has been shot and is near death. The manager mumbles the words "oft one" to Joe as he is taken away to the hospital. Bill and Joe start searching for clues and what the managers word mean.
#19 - The Big Departure
Season 2 - Episode 25 - Aired 3/7/1968
Petty theft from drug and hardware stores leads to a group of four teens who are determined to start their own nation on a remote island off the California coast.
#20 - The Bookie
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 4/13/1967
Friday goes undercover with the Department's chaplain in order to break up a gambling ring.
#21 - Personnel - The Shooting
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/18/1969
Joe and Bill are assigned to the Medical Services Division. Two policemen have been shot. Joe and Bill must notify the wives.
#22 - S.I.U. - The Ring
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/2/1969
Joe and Bill are working the Special Investigation Unit. Informant “Black 10” asks for a meeting with Joe and Bill and gives them a tip about a bartender who is fencing stolen jade ring. Joe and Bill set up a sting to recover the ring and other stolen jewelry.
#23 - Burglary - Mister
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/16/1969
An old woman has all her possessions including her cane stolen by her grandson, "Mister Daniel Lumis". Joe and Bill try to locate Lumis and find a trail of bigamy and thievery.
#24 - Homicide - Cigarette Butt
Season 4 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/30/1969
Joe and Bill investigate a dead body found in a rundown apartment building. A half eaten peanut butter sandwich and a knife are found at the scene of the crime. A neighbor says that he saw a man and woman running out of the apartment. The man and woman come back and tell Joe and Bill that it was self defense. Joe looks for evidence that will prove or disproves the alibi.
#25 - Missing Persons - The Body
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/5/1970
Joe and Bill investigate the identity of a dead 23 year old woman found under the Venice Pier. They check missing person reports to try to identify the woman, and they use a ring she was wearing and a piece of paper found on the body to track down the identity.