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 - Public Affairs - DR-12
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/14/1968
Joe and Bill are assigned to help arrange a press conference for the President of the United States at LAX
#2 - 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.
#3 - The Candy Store Robberies
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 3/9/1967
Friday and Gannon try to figure out a pattern to a series of candy store hold-ups. The solution comes when they discover that there are two suspects.
#4 - 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.
#5 - Administrative Vice - DR-29
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/6/1969
Joe has a new partner, Lt. Chris Drucker while Bill recovers from the flu. Joe and Chris are trying to catch bookies. Drucker is really working for the bookies and has been tipping them off when a raid is planned. Drucker tries to bribe Joe to help him.
#6 - Forgery - The Ranger
Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired 3/12/1970
Friday and Gannon question a Park Ranger about some stolen checks.
#7 - D.H.Q. - Night School
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/19/1970
Joe is enrolled in night school and is taking a sensitivity class. The class does not know Joe is a cop until Joe busts one of his classmates for possession of Marijuana. The professor threatens to give Joe an F for the bust. He puts removing Joe up for a vote by the class. An unexpected classmate comes to Joe's aid.
#8 - I.A.D. - The Receipt
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/26/1970
Two of the department's veteran homicide detectives are accused of stealing $800 from a dead man. Joe and Bill investigate and try to find a missing receipt that would clear the detectives.
#9 - 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.
#10 - The Fur Job
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 3/16/1967
Gannon goes undercover as a buyer in order to trap fur theives.
#11 - 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.
#12 - Management Services - DR-11
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/10/1968
Joe and Bill are called back to work because of an emergency. It's April 4, 1968, and Dr Martin Luther King has been assassinated less than an hour ago. They are assigned to the police emergency control center to monitor potential unrest in the LA area
#13 - The Senior Citizen
Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/26/1967
A series of daring daylight house burglaries are taking place; perpetrated by an octegenarian who uses the wedding and obituary notices in the paper to select his victims.
#14 - 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.
#15 - Homicide - DR-22
Season 3 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/9/1969
Joe and Bill are called to an apartment where the manager has found a young woman bound and dead. The 91 year old manager of the apartment building is a suspect until joe find out that the old man was chief of detectives in Chicago. Finger prints lead Joe and Bill to a couple.
#16 - 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.
#17 - Burglary - Baseball
Season 4 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/9/1970
A furniture store has been burglarized overnight and the thief took $1900 from a locked safe. The store's secretary find a lead and Joe uses it to track down a "baseball fan".
#18 - Juvenile - DR-05
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/26/1968
Joe and Bill are working the night watch of Juvenile division. They handle a run away boy from New York, an underage marriage, an abandoned baby, a boy on drugs, and a girl accused of stealing money.
#19 - Internal Affairs - Parolee
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/27/1969
The warden of a Colorado prison has notified the department that an inmate is about to be paroled, but there is a hold from LA because of an outstanding warrant. Joe and Bill investigate whether there is still a case after 15 years.
#20 - Burglary Auto - Juvenile Genius
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/4/1969
Burglaries are happening and the thieves are leaving a red cloth at each crime scene. Joe and Bill respond to another break in at a chemical company and a safe company. Joe and Bill stake out the chemical company and catch an unexpected pair of thieves.
#21 - Robbery - The Harassing Wife
Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired 4/2/1970
Joe and Bill investigate a holdup at a small neighborhood grocery store. Joe gets a tip from a woman that the robber was her husband. The husband is cleared. Another supermarket robbery occurs and the wife again accuses her husband. He is cleared again. The wife continues to insist after every robbery that her husband did it.
#22 - Vice - DR-30
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/13/1969
The Captain assigns Joe and Bill to find the location of a high stakes poker operation that has been preying on visitors. Bill and Joe pose as farmers and check into a hotel where an agricultural convention is occurring.
#23 - Juvenile - DR-35
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/3/1969
An infant girl is found in a garbage can; Joe and Bill use the child's blanket to track down the mother.
#24 - Internal Affairs - DR-20
Season 3 - Episode 12 - Aired 12/12/1968
Joe and Bill investigate a charge of police brutallity against a patrolman. The patrolman was attempting to stop someone from driving drunk when things got out of hand and the drunk tears the patrolman's uniform. This is a crossover episode with Adam-12, taking place in Rampart Station and featuring appearances by Officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed.
#25 - D.H.Q. - Missing Person
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/13/1969
Joe and Bill investigate a missing high school student. They find that both the student and her older sister are missing. However, the apartment manager and neighbor say that there is no younger sister. Joe and Bill must find the truth.
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