Customer Reviews

Dragnet 1967 - Season 1

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For the fan of the entire run and permutations of the Dragnet series, this is a must-have release: very clean transfer, with a few rough spots in the video and excellent audio. The stories are also engaging (though "The Big LSD" was pretty campy, Blue Boy's antics got so weird that I thought at any moment Friday was going to call on Batman for help!) and had the right amount of grimness and humour to balance everything out.

I think though that Universal could've given us some more on this release, though - it's formatted on two double-sided DVDs, with one side of the second DVD having only three episodes and the other side blank! (The first DVD has seven episodes per side). There's no commentary, no essays or explanation on how and what Jack Webb's approach was in formulating the series and having to deal with things in re-launching the series for the 1960s (you'll notice, for instance, that Friday and Gannon now inform the perps their rights under the Miranda decision). Spacing out the DVDs better as single-sided ones with graphics would've been nice, and what would've been even cooler would have been to include the "Dragnet 1966" TV movie (that was never aired until a few years ago on a cable network in the US) that wound up being the thing that green-lighted the new series - among other things, it tied up some stuff from the 1950s series, and introduced Harry Morgan's Gannon properly.

The CD from Radio Spirits was a nice surprise, but "The Big Cut" wasn't one of the better episodes from the radio series. I would've picked something like Webb's personal favourite, "The Big Trio", or the chilling "Claude Jimmerson" (which actually came with a parental warning!) or "The Werewolf" or "The Big Break".

still, if you're a fan of the series, this is a must-have. (And if you're curious, snap this up along with the Brentwood two-fer of the 1950s episodes to get an interesting contrast between the two eras).

Dragnet "Season One" contains all 17 episodes from the show's first season(1967). The 17 episodes are spread out over two double sided discs (plus a third bonus cd disc with a radio broadcast from 1954). This DVD release from Universal Studios is a complete waste of disc space. The first double sided disc contains 14 episodes while the second disc contains only 3 episodes, so it really is a waste of disc space. The video transfer is very good, although the image does suffer from some dirt and debris here and there. The sound is pretty decent for a show this old, so no complaints. I bought this set at Wal-Mart during their boxing week sale, so I really got a bargain. I hope Universal Studios does a better job with the remaining seasons of "Dragnet".

DVD Features Include:
* Bonus CD
* Radio Spirits presents "The Big Cut," based on actual case files of the Los Angeles Police Department (originally aired Septmeber 14, 1954)

DVD Episodes Include :

[Disc One Side One]
The Big LSD
The Big Explosion
The Big Kidnapping
The Big Interrogation
The Big Masked Bandits
The Big Bank Examiners
The Big Hammer

[Disc One Side Two]
The Big Candy Store
The Big Fur Burglary
The Big Jade
The Big Shooting
The Big Accident
The Big Bookie
The Big Subscription Racket

[Disc 2 Side A]
The Big Gun
The Big Kids
The Big Bullet

Disc 2, Side B (No Programming)
Disc 3 (Bonus Radio Episode) CD Audio