Dragnet was a long-running radio and television police procedural drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from an actual police term, a "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.

Jack Webb insisted on realism in every aspect of the show. The dialogue was clipped, understated and sparse, influenced by the hard boiled school of crime fiction. Scripts were fast moving but didn t seem rushed. Every aspect of police work was chronicled, step by step: From patrols and paperwork, to crime scene investigation, lab work and questioning witnesses or suspects. The detectives personal lives were mentioned, but rarely took center stage. (Friday was a bachelor who lived with his mother; Romero was an ever-fretful husband and father) "Underplaying is still acting," Webb told Time. "We try to make it as real as a guy pouring a cup of coffee. (Dunning, 209) Los Angeles police chiefs C.B. Horrall and (later) William H. Parker were credited as consultants, and many police officers were fans.

Though rather tame by modern standards, Dragnet--especially on the radio--handled controversial subjects such as sex crimes and drug addiction with unprecedented and even startling realism. Dragnet broke one of the unspoken (and still rarely broached) taboos of popular entertainment when a young child was killed in "A Gun For Christmas" (aired December 21, 1950). The episode followed the search for eight-year-old Stevie Morheim, only to discover he d been accidentally killed by his best friend while they played with a rifle his friend had received as a Christmas gift. Thousands of letters were mailed to NBC in complaint, including a formal protest by the National Rifle Association. Webb forwarded many of the letters to police chief Parker who promised "ten more shows illustrating the folly of giving rifles to children." (Dunning, 211) "Big Betty" (November 23, 1950) dealt with young women who, rather than finding Hollywood stardom, fall in with fraudulent talent scouts and end up in pornography and prostitution.

This collection of Dragnet Greats includes 286 different shows and appearances for a total of 135 hours of listening enjoyment.

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