The BEST Episodes of Dragnet
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Feb 18, 2020
Network: NBC
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 - D.H.Q. - Medical
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired Oct 9, 1969
Joe and Bill are working a medial detail at a hospital. They handle an old man who's hobby is sitting in hotel lobbies, question a man who brings in a dead woman, investigates a man who had writing a letter threatening to blow up a radio station and try to get a dieing declaration from a shooting victim.
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#2 - Juvenile - DR-35
Season 3 - Episode 25 - Aired Apr 3, 1969
An infant girl is found in a garbage can; Joe and Bill use the child's blanket to track down the mother.
8.50 #3 - Homicide - Who Killed Who?
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired Jan 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.
8.50 #4 - Burglary - Mister
Season 4 - Episode 5 - Aired Oct 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.
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#5 - The Big Problem
Season 2 - Episode 28 - Aired Mar 28, 1968
Community relations is the theme, as Friday and Gannon try to narrow the gap between the Department and the citizens it is sworn "to protect and to serve." The gap is especially wide between African-Americans and the primarily Caucasian LAPD, as demonstrated when a young - and slightly militant - black man barracades himself in his apartment rather than submit to a traffic warrant.
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#6 - Public Affairs - DR-12
Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired Nov 14, 1968
Joe and Bill are assigned to help arrange a press conference for the President of the United States at LAX
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#7 - Frauds - DR-36
Season 3 - Episode 26 - Aired Apr 10, 1969
Someone is embezzling from Summers Department Store by opening up false credit card accounts at the store. Joe and Bill figure it is an inside job and question employees in the credit department.
8.40 #8 - A.I.D. - The Weekend
Season 4 - Episode 17 - Aired Feb 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.
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#9 - The Fur Job
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired Mar 16, 1967
Gannon goes undercover as a buyer in order to trap fur theives.
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#10 - Narcotics - DR-21
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired Jan 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.
8.33 #11 - D.H.Q. - Missing Person
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired Nov 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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#12 - Administrative Vice - DR-29
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired Feb 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.
8.25 #13 - Homicide - The Student
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired Sep 25, 1969
A sniper shoots a man and a woman as they are leaving a printing plant. Joe and Bill narrow down the suspects to a college student who is part time employee of the printing plant and a fan of the writings of the French writer Baudelaire.
8.25 #14 - Juvenile - The Little Pusher
Season 4 - Episode 6 - Aired Oct 23, 1969
Joe and Bill are working Juvenile Narcotics Division and find a 12 year old under the influence of narcotics. They go to the boy’s school and conduct a class for teachers on how to identify narcotics. They discover that a ninth grader is selling the narcotics in school and find that his father is the source of the drugs.
8.25 #15 - Internal Affairs - Parolee
Season 4 - Episode 10 - Aired Nov 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.
8.25 #16 - Narco: Missing Hypo
Season 4 - Episode 13 - Aired Jan 8, 1970
A teenage Hype from a nice home has missed his parole officer meeting. Joe and Bill are asked to locate the teenager before he starts up his habit.
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#17 - The Trial Board
Season 2 - Episode 14 - Aired Dec 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.
8.25 #18 - S.I.U. - The Ring
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired Oct 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.
8.20 #19 - Burglary - Helpful Woman
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired Jan 22, 1970
A woman befriends elderly people and then steals from them. Joe and Bill contact a radio personality and ask to have him talk about the scam. The radio broadcast turns up a lead, and a stakeout is set up where Bill poses as an invilid.
8.20 #20 - D.H.Q. - Night School
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired Mar 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.
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#21 - Burglary - DR-31
Season 3 - Episode 21 - Aired Mar 6, 1969
A costumed thief calling himself "The Crimson Crusader" has been stealing comic books, movie posters and publicity photos of various superheroes.
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#22 - Vice - DR-30
Season 3 - Episode 22 - Aired Mar 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.
8.17 #23 - I.A.D. - The Receipt
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired Mar 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.
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#24 - The Candy Store Robberies
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired Mar 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.
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#25 - The Shooting Board
Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired Sep 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.
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