Dragnet

"This is the city, Los Angeles, California. I work here, I carry a badge." The granddaddy of all TV cop shows which ran on NBC from 1951-1959. Jack Webb starred as Sgt. Joe Friday, a plainclothes detective who solved crimes for the Los Angeles Police Department. Ben Alexander played Friday's partner, Officer Frank Smith. The story lines were taken from real life case files of the LAPD and the names were always changed to protect the innocent.

My take

The original procedural that set the template for every cop show that followed. Methodical, fact-based, and surprisingly gripping—this is detective work stripped down to its essentials, told with documentary precision and a touch of noir.

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