.......the names haven't been changed to protect the innocent as the subject of this story is an American icon and hero. Jack Webb was the star of both the radio and television versions of the popular drama Dragnet. Jack brought to life the character of Joe Friday, a tough but fair Detective Sergeant, who working for the Los Angeles Police Department. As Sergeant Friday worked throughout the various departments he was assigned to on a daily basis, his stories would tell fascinating and true stories of the real life LAPD. All of the stories on Dragnet WERE true, taken from the case files of the LAPD, and as the opening narrator would intone before every episode, "The names have been changed to protect the innocent."Jack's no nonsense style with Sgt. Friday's approach may have been parodied over the years, but without a doubt, his portrayal of the kind but tough Sergeant showed the world that the police are not our enemies, and they are just like us, with lives of their own, and a very tough job to do. His accurate portrayal of the police through the radio shows of the 50's and the tv shows of the 50's, 60's and 70's gave the police such a positive spin to the general public that when he died in the early 1980's, his tv badge number (714) was retired forever and he was given a full police burial with honors and a 21 gun salute. Jack Webb did more with his fictional detective Joe Friday to improve the police department's image with the public than hundreds of other television shows did. He was also loyal to his coworkers, as when he was asked to bring Dragnet from radio to television, he refused to have a new cast join him on the show. He insisted that the radio cast with whom he had been working for over 7 years be allowed to continue in their roles in the new medium. He said that he wouldn't accept the deal if he couldn't bring his coworkers and friends along to continue the great show they had done on radio. If you have only seen the 1987 movie version of Dragnet with Dan Ackroyd and Tom Hanks then you are doing yourself a serious disservice. While I like both actors and enjoyed the movie, I realize that it was just a parody of the original show and personally think they would have done a better job of it had they gone in and played it as a straight drama. However all complaints about the movie aside, the television show was revived in the past few years with Ed O'Neil and Ethan Embry as Joe Friday and his new partner. The show seemed alright as it stuck to the classic show formula that made the original famous and Ed channeled Jack as well as he could, but the network in it's oh so brilliant thinking decided that the original formula was unsuccessful and in Season 2 turned the show in to what was more or less CSI:DRAGNET, leading to it's decline in ratings and eventual cancellation. Either way, Jack Webb was on to something and he definitely caught a tiger by the tail back in 1949 with the first episode of Dragnet and never let go until his untimely death.
If you would like to download the entire Dragnet radio show please go to http://www.archive.org/details/OTRR_Certified_Dragnet
And if you want to purchase the television shows on DVD go to Amazon and check them out, they're cheap and definitely worth watching.
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