Typically, each episode begins with
stock footage of Los Angeles over Sgt. Joe Friday's introduction, "This is the city." Friday then specifies the day and time with a description of the watch, or shift, he and Gannon are working. The two investigate each case that arises with Friday, usually, the lead investigator. Although always polite and professional, Friday's manner of questioning witnesses, or suspects, is terse, clipped and rigid, resulting in rapid dialogue. If a witness begins providing irrelevant details, Friday often responds, "Ma’am (Sir), we just want to get the facts." At the end of each episode, the legal fate of the arrested suspects is revealed. Friday and Gannon are rarely shown outside their professional relationship. Gannon occasionally refers to his wife, Eileen, and family; and, sometimes encourages Friday, who is single, to have more of a social life. In a rare departure from the crime drama, a 1968 episode titled "Homicide: DR-06," depicts Friday inviting the Gannons to his apartment for a steak dinner, only to have the evening constantly interrupted by other tenants seeking Friday's assistance.
TV movie In 1965 Jack Webb was approached by
Universal Pictures to produce a
Dragnet television movie to air on
NBC. NBC programming director Mort Werner was impressed with the film and decided there was more value in developing
Dragnet as a weekly TV series. The working title in the film's script was
Dragnet 1966, although the official title is simply
Dragnet. The movie is commonly referred to as
Dragnet 1966 to distinguish it from other works in the franchise. This movie is included as an extra in the
Dragnet 1968 DVD set. ==Episodes==