Dragnet: A Drag and a Half - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Wet Water · 02-14-2010, 02:58 PM

Dragnet was a 1950's hit that Jack Webb brought back in the 60's to address the issues of the time. In at least one episode, it meant a long, long lecture to a bunch of "hippies", or at least, as close to a representation of hippies as Jack Webb was capable of.

Dragnet hippies always had short hair and wore too fancy clothes, even tooling around in convertibles. One might call them "Webbsters". But in this particular episode, there was almost no dramatic action. Only talk. Three high school boys with short hair, one with a Nehru jacket, the other two with paisley-type shirts, had decided to start their own Utopian community that would not be materialistic like their parents. For their first act, they steal all the materials they need to get started! The irony escapes even Joe Friday as he spends the majority of the episode lecturing them about how aberrant their thinking is. What drama ...

One little feature laid it on a little thick. Not one but two other characters, a robbed merchant and Joe Friday's boss, were made to point out the one thing (of a long list of items) that they DIDN'T steal: "What's that?" "Soap." Ha ha ha, that's telling those "dirty hippies"!

Wet Water · 03-16-2010, 10:12 AM

I jsut saw a 1969 episode, written by Burt Prelutsky, that had a hippie-bashing prologue, but the episode that followed had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with hippies.

Here is my satiric version of that prologue, and it's not too far off from the real one:

"This is the city: Los Angeles, California. All kinds of people live here. Including hippies. Hippies aren't like the rest of us. Just a bunch of filthy slobs who don't want to work and who leech off the rest of us. When the hippies get out of line, I go to work. I carry a badge."

"DUM-da-DUM-DUM!"

Oh, and one more observation about this lame series: All the women, even teenage girls, wear hairstyles that are years out of date.

Zoneboy · 03-16-2010, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wet Water

I jsut saw a 1969 episode, written by Burt Prelutsky, that had a hippie-bashing prologue, but the episode that followed had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with hippies.

Here is my satiric version of that prologue, and it's not too far off from the real one:

"This is the city: Los Angeles, California. All kinds of people live here. Including hippies. Hippies aren't like the rest of us. Just a bunch of filthy slobs who don't want to work and who leech off the rest of us. When the hippies get out of line, I go to work. I carry a badge."

"DUM-da-DUM-DUM!"

Oh, and one more observation about this lame series: All the women, even teenage girls, wear hairstyles that are years out of date.

Well thank goodness we don't have to concern ourselves with your judgment. Dragnet was not a lame series. It had it's flaws like any other but Jack Webb knew what he was doing and I seriously doubt you could've done any better. You also have an annoying habit of going to certain boards just to bash shows simply because they don't meet your high standards. Your ridiculous comments are synonymous with your user name, All wet.

Janice · 03-17-2010, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wet Water

I jsut saw a 1969 episode, written by Burt Prelutsky, that had a hippie-bashing prologue, but the episode that followed had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with hippies.

Here is my satiric version of that prologue, and it's not too far off from the real one:

"This is the city: Los Angeles, California. All kinds of people live here. Including hippies. Hippies aren't like the rest of us. Just a bunch of filthy slobs who don't want to work and who leech off the rest of us. When the hippies get out of line, I go to work. I carry a badge."

"DUM-da-DUM-DUM!"

Oh, and one more observation about this lame series: All the women, even teenage girls, wear hairstyles that are years out of date.

It is against the rules to go to a forum simply to criticize the show. Please comply.

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/announcement.php?f=154&a=18

9. Don't go to another board to post only negative messages.

tv star collector · 03-17-2010, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

Well thank goodness we don't have to concern ourselves with your judgment. Dragnet was not a lame series. It had it's flaws like any other but Jack Webb knew what he was doing and I seriously doubt you could've done any better. You also have an annoying habit of going to certain boards just to bash shows simply because they don't meet your high standards. Your ridiculous comments are synonymous with your user name, All wet.

Both The Adventures of Superman and Dragnet were CLASSIC
television shows. Just because a program was created before one was born
doesn't automatically make it "lame." One might as well bash Elvis and The
Beatles because their music was made decades ago. The younger generation
(or some of them) have no respect for pop culture icons that have stood the
test of time. Give the greats a chance; you might just be surprised.

tv star collector · 03-17-2010, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

Well thank goodness we don't have to concern ourselves with your judgment. Dragnet was not a lame series. It had it's flaws like any other but Jack Webb knew what he was doing and I seriously doubt you could've done any better. You also have an annoying habit of going to certain boards just to bash shows simply because they don't meet your high standards. Your ridiculous comments are synonymous with your user name, All wet.

Both The Adventures of Superman and Dragnet were CLASSIC
television shows. Just because a program was created before one was born
doesn't automatically make it "lame." One might as well bash Elvis and The
Beatles because their music was made decades ago. The younger generation
(or some of them) have no respect for pop culture icons that have stood the
test of time. Give the greats a chance; you might just be surprised.

Wet Water · 04-02-2010, 11:14 PM

Okay, Janice, I'll do more than merely criticize Dragnet.

I saw an episode recently-- a quite meritorious one-- where a woman was arrested by Joe Friday for beating her nice little boy with an electrical cord and raising welts on his back, and lying about it (and training him to lie to protect her.) We saw how she slipped through the cracks and was allowed to keep custody of the poor kid. She defended her actions by saying that boys need discipline, and if more parents were like her, "we wouldn't have all these hippies". Now you'd imagine that Joe Friday would be on her side. But he wasn't. He promised to keep an eye on her. Looks like Webb fell short of being a proper conservative moralist.

How's that, Jan??

Wet Water · 04-02-2010, 11:18 PM

Tv Star Collector: "The Adventures of Superman" a classic? You have some rather lax standards when it comes to classics. I bet you think Salieri was a classic, too, but as for me, I'll take Mozart.

And FYI, "The Adventures of Superman" (et al.) NOT produced before I was born. I am as old as the show!

Zoneboy · 04-03-2010, 03:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wet Water

Okay, Janice, I'll do more than merely criticize Dragnet.

I saw an episode recently-- a quite meritorious one-- where a woman was arrested by Joe Friday for beating her nice little boy with an electrical cord and raising welts on his back, and lying about it (and training him to lie to protect her.) We saw how she slipped through the cracks and was allowed to keep custody of the poor kid. She defended her actions by saying that boys need discipline, and if more parents were like her, "we wouldn't have all these hippies". Now you'd imagine that Joe Friday would be on her side. But he wasn't. He promised to keep an eye on her. Looks like Webb fell short of being a proper conservative moralist.

How's that, Jan??

Instead of criticizing every show from the 50's and onward that you can think of, Why not tell us which shows had no flaws? I'm a Twilight Zone fan and that show was full of them but I still enjoy it. You seem to think that if an episode of any show errors even in the slightest then the entire series was a dud. The Adventures of Superman had it's faults as did every other show that has aired in prime time since television began. As for The Adventures of Superman not being a classic? Again, you're all wet.

Wet Water · 04-03-2010, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

Instead of criticizing every show from the 50's and onward that you can think of, Why not tell us which shows had no flaws? I'm a Twilight Zone fan and that show was full of them but I still enjoy it. You seem to think that if an episode of any show errors even in the slightest then the entire series was a dud. The Adventures of Superman had it's faults as did every other show that has aired in prime time since television began. As for The Adventures of Superman not being a classic? Again, you're all wet.

All wet? No, just discerning. I do not want the word "classic" applied indiscriminately to too many things that are undeserving.

I agree that Twilight Zone was classic. I do concede that they had a few episodes that were clinkers, but ON THE WHOLE it was great. On the whole, The Adventures of Superman was not. Lois & Clark was a lot better, and Smallville is better still.

tv star collector · 04-05-2010, 02:42 PM

With all due respect, I think you have it backwards: as far as the TV treatments of Superman are concerned; I'd rank them this way:

1. The Adventures of Superman (cheesy special effects, but George Reeves pulled it off)
2. Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman (too much emphasis on Lois Lane, not enough Superman)
3. Smallville (an interesting take but the "no flights, no tights" angle, after a while, just--er, doesn't fly)

But, that's just my opinion.

02-14-2010, 02:58 PM	#1
Wet Water Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 30, 2010 Location: Places Posts: 28	Dragnet: A Drag and a Half Dragnet was a 1950's hit that Jack Webb brought back in the 60's to address the issues of the time. In at least one episode, it meant a long, long lecture to a bunch of "hippies", or at least, as close to a representation of hippies as Jack Webb was capable of. Dragnet hippies always had short hair and wore too fancy clothes, even tooling around in convertibles. One might call them "Webbsters". But in this particular episode, there was almost no dramatic action. Only talk. Three high school boys with short hair, one with a Nehru jacket, the other two with paisley-type shirts, had decided to start their own Utopian community that would not be materialistic like their parents. For their first act, they steal all the materials they need to get started! The irony escapes even Joe Friday as he spends the majority of the episode lecturing them about how aberrant their thinking is. What drama ... One little feature laid it on a little thick. Not one but two other characters, a robbed merchant and Joe Friday's boss, were made to point out the one thing (of a long list of items) that they DIDN'T steal: "What's that?" "Soap." Ha ha ha, that's telling those "dirty hippies"!

03-16-2010, 10:12 AM	#2
Wet Water Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 30, 2010 Location: Places Posts: 28	I jsut saw a 1969 episode, written by Burt Prelutsky, that had a hippie-bashing prologue, but the episode that followed had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with hippies. Here is my satiric version of that prologue, and it's not too far off from the real one: "This is the city: Los Angeles, California. All kinds of people live here. Including hippies. Hippies aren't like the rest of us. Just a bunch of filthy slobs who don't want to work and who leech off the rest of us. When the hippies get out of line, I go to work. I carry a badge." "DUM-da-DUM-DUM!" Oh, and one more observation about this lame series: All the women, even teenage girls, wear hairstyles that are years out of date.

04-02-2010, 11:14 PM	#7
Wet Water Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 30, 2010 Location: Places Posts: 28	Okay, Janice, I'll do more than merely criticize Dragnet. I saw an episode recently-- a quite meritorious one-- where a woman was arrested by Joe Friday for beating her nice little boy with an electrical cord and raising welts on his back, and lying about it (and training him to lie to protect her.) We saw how she slipped through the cracks and was allowed to keep custody of the poor kid. She defended her actions by saying that boys need discipline, and if more parents were like her, "we wouldn't have all these hippies". Now you'd imagine that Joe Friday would be on her side. But he wasn't. He promised to keep an eye on her. Looks like Webb fell short of being a proper conservative moralist. How's that, Jan??

04-02-2010, 11:18 PM	#8
Wet Water Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Jan 30, 2010 Location: Places Posts: 28	Tv Star Collector: "The Adventures of Superman" a classic? You have some rather lax standards when it comes to classics. I bet you think Salieri was a classic, too, but as for me, I'll take Mozart. And FYI, "The Adventures of Superman" (et al.) NOT produced before I was born. I am as old as the show!

04-05-2010, 02:42 PM	#11
tv star collector I Love Susie Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 18, 2005 Location: South Carolina Posts: 4,486	With all due respect, I think you have it backwards: as far as the TV treatments of Superman are concerned; I'd rank them this way: 1. The Adventures of Superman (cheesy special effects, but George Reeves pulled it off) 2. Lois and Clark: The Adventures of Superman (too much emphasis on Lois Lane, not enough Superman) 3. Smallville (an interesting take but the "no flights, no tights" angle, after a while, just--er, doesn't fly) But, that's just my opinion.