Adam-12 - General Discussion

[bigskygirl]

One of my all times favorite television shows.  I hope there are more Adam-12 fans out there.

[Ananayel]

There's me! I just bought the first season on dvd, and used to watch the afternoon airings on MeTv/AntennaTV (I think it switched between these networks at one point). Then they switch around so Dragnet/Adam 12 aired before I got home from work and Emergency! after. Not that I mind that much, because I love Emrgency! too. My dad was a cop right about the time this was in its later seasons, and even though we lived on the other side of the country from LA, it helped me understand what he did for a living.

[Actionmage]

Currently, I watch this on MeTV. It's a Mark VII two hour block: 3PM Central -Dragnet, 3:30PM- Adam-12, 4PM- Emergency! It's an excuse to not do much or do nothing and to snuggle with my small dogs! :) Plus, I found I now crush more on Pete Malloy! I still think Jim Reed is nice lookin', but Pete? I can see why the rich chick stalked him.

[bigskygirl]

I would not mind being arrested by Pete and Jim.

[Snowprince]

This show was probably one of the main/major inspirations for putting on the badge myself.

[Actionmage]

Gary Crosby played glory hog/big ego'd Ed Wells, in contrast to Our Guys, Pete and Jim.

[Ananayel]

I always like the episode where Ed Well's niece works in records. Ed is played by Bing Crosby's son, and the cop (well, one of the cops) who hits on his niece is played by Frank Sinatra's son. Ed was both funny and infuriating, trying to throw up a shield around Marilyn, who was like 25 or something!

[Snowprince]

I went thru the LAPD academy in '82. The carrel room was still there but we weren't shown many Adam-12 clips. A few, but not many. Don't know if the Westchester Campus has a carrel room or what they're showing now.

Edited April 2, 2014 by Snowprince

[Raja]

At the beginning Officer Reed was young. Check out the last episode where a burnt out Jim after serving in an undercover narcotics unit is on the verge of losing his wife thinking of quitting, as Officer Malloy was in the first episode

[Raja]

I grew up on the city side of the border in Los Angeles and later worked on the city line and besides the uniforms it is easy to tell the differences between LAPD and LASD. As I remember the few show's featuring the Sheriffs after Rodney King when LAPD temporarily became the unwanted department for TV there were not the differences.

 

I don't see the rest of the Jack Webb empire, most notably Dragnet to contrast with Adam-12 on this boards active list, nor its spiritual child Southland.

Any thoughts on the 90's revival of Adam-12. It was not an unpleasant way to spend a Saturday as a break between football games

[bigskygirl]

I heard the 90's revival of Adam-12 was a dud.  The original show was much better.

[bigskygirl]

Sadly, being a law enforcement officer age a person.  I had a crush on Pete when I was younger, but now I think both guys are adorable.

[Snowprince]

it WAS a dud!

[Trooper York]

What a great show! I remember watching it as a kid and now I watch it on MeTv and Net Flicks. The absolute best part is the crossovers with Dragnet or Emergency!

[Trooper York]

I have say that my favorite parts of the show are the cars and the clothes. I have to look at the cars with envy and laugh at the clothes. It is a trip down memory lane.

[Rhondinella]

Discuss the show generally herein.

[Raja]

. The absolute best part is the crossovers with Dragnet or Emergency!

I don't see them as crossovers as much as a shared universe like Marvel Comics are doing. Most crossovers in today's usage means a two part episode with the cast or key members crossing over to each other. Of course famously on Emergency after the pilot Station 51 was watching Adam-12 on TV when they got a call and Johnny was furiously trying to find someone to tell him the outcome. The time warp back in action as he would have had to wait for a possible summer re-run to find out what happened. Wiki tells of another show in the universe The D.A. of which I have no memory of, though I do remember a back door pilot on Adam-12 with Sharon Gless and Frank Sinatra Jr as DA investigators.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Raja

[Actionmage]

What I liked is that he played two cops on Adam-12,  Ed and the cop early in the series who take too many chances and gets shot. At the end of that cop's episode he's in the hospital and we are led to believe he is thinking of motorcycle duty.

Still, Ed was great for all the annoyingly negative things cops could do/be. You couldn't totally hate Ed, Gary Crosby was too funny to hate, but I bet people rolled their eyes when ol' Ed and his poor partner came on the scene in the 60s.

[Snowprince]

The D.A. ran for 15 episodes in the '71 - '72 season and starred Robert Conrad.

[bigskygirl]

The guy who played Ed was on an episode of Emergency in the first season.  His leg was saved by John and Roy after a tree landed on it during a bush fire.

[BizBuzz]

Add me to the mix, a little bit late to the discussion, but I am here.  Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's, what else was there to watch but cop shows?  I lived in Hawaii at the time, and I remember watching and thinking how great it would be to be in Los Angeles where there are never ending streets and you can drive in your car forever and ever. 

[BizBuzz]

Ed is played by Bing Crosby's son

Learn something new every day, did not know what.  And now that I do, how could I NOT know that? 

[BizBuzz]

I had a crush on both, equally. 

[Raja]

I know in the first season or so they shot the show on the studio lot you can almost see the cityscape of Universal's generic city scene lot. Later though it seemed odd for the wide open spaces seeing as I think they were in downtown LA's Central Division nominally which the "1" in 1 Adam-12 stood for.

[bigskygirl]

The guy who plays Ed on the show was playing a firefighter/EMT on Emergency.  John was pissed off at him because a reporter was following him around for pictures and stories.  In otherwords, the guy was a publicity hound.  He reminded me of Ed in a way.

[Trooper York]

Gary wrote an infamous show biz autobiography called "Going My Own Way" where he talked about how messed up his childhood was because of his Dad Bing. There was some controversy at the time but his account seemed to be backed up the problems of a couple of his brothers.

He did seem to be all over the place in the 1960's.

[Raja]

I have say that my favorite parts of the show are the cars and the clothes. I have to look at the cars with envy and laugh at the clothes. It is a trip down memory lane.

Maybe because the show did not run enough years and fashions did not evolve much in that time period but I can remember the cars changing. In contrast on Law & Order you could see all kinds of fashion changes from the basic NYPD uniform to tattoos on the characters but whatever cars they were using before the Ford Crown Victoria didn't make much of an impact.

 

Other things come to mind since I know a retired officer from that era and he would tell the stories of ambushes being set up and 6 officers in his 400 man department being killed as in the pilot episode for the SWAT series. Especially when Officers Reed and Malloy are in danger, the s shot revolvers and one handed shooting, no body armor.... but it was a recent CSI episode where it was said a family would not know daddy is not coming home when in real life all the cops would call home as soon as they heard of an officer going down and cellphone would send out text alerts to major breaking news, is that when the officers went to visit a friend they brought a gift so the family would not think it was an official notification.

[Actionmage]

Yesterday I saw the episode where Mac was getting investigated for supposedly hitting and old lady on purpose.   It was a great, tight episode, which happened to be written by a guy named Stephen J. Cannell. He was also the story editor for the show for a bit.  It made me miss his presence behind the scenes.

[BizBuzz]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show's run. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk.

[Trooper York]

I caught one on Net Flicks as well. It was the one where a part time auxiliary cop who was a friend of Jim Reed ending up riding with Ed Wells who just hazed him unmercifully all episode. This episode had a bunch of hippies who were forced to rob banks by having a bomb strapped to them with a remote control detonator held by the bad guy. They finally catch one of them but he escapes and runs across the street to get in the getaway car.

 

Best part of the episode?

 

It was a Pontiac GTO!

 

Way cool!

[BizBuzz]

GTO's rawk!  We had one that was gold and traveled across country in it.  I think I was 8 and it was 1970.  It was cool.

 

Trivia Question ...

 

Kent McCord made a cameo appearance on what TV series who wanted to give a famous crime fighter a ticket for illegal parking...correct answer wins, uh, um, nothing but a high five.  ::giggle::

[BizBuzz]

And the high five goes to ispansy!

[BizBuzz]

Was it Ricky Nelson?

[BizBuzz]

How big of an Adam-12 fan are you?  What is the name of the guy who usually responded to the calls made from the squad car?

[bigskygirl]

If I understand the question (allergies or a cold has set in)  I would say Jim.

[BizBuzz]

I think you got me @bigskygirl, I only remember his last name, not his first...

 

Ha!  Two points away from me...

[bigskygirl]

What was the name of the snitch Pete and JIm got information from and what other television show was he on?

[bigskygirl]

No...  Btw, who is Freddy Rivers?  *lol*   The snitch did help Pete and Jim about who was selling drugs, and he had a job in the one diner where Pete was shot when he walk into a hold up, and he was also a suspect in Season 2 when a priest was robbed.  He was also a neighbor/friend of a certain television family in the 1970s/1980s.  Hopefully, these clues will help.

[Trooper York]

I just the one with Trini Lopez where he plays a priest. I was expecting him to whip out a guitar and play "Lemon Tree" while Jim Brown runs by and drops grenades into chimneys.

 

Now that would have been awesome.

[bigskygirl]

ispansy is correct  Good job!!!

 

Which fireman from Emergency was also a policeman on Adam 12?  Hint:  It was not Roy or John.

Edited May 4, 2014 by bigskygirl

[bigskygirl]

He may have been on the show, but I do not remember him playing a police officer on the show.  So it was not Roy, John, or Chet.

[Actionmage]

I believe Emergency!'s Marco was a boy in blue in Adam-12 and Dragnet.

[bigskygirl]

Actionmage is correct!!!   In which episode did firefighter Chet play a pizza delivery guy?  Hint-It was a season three episode.

[Ouisch]

I'm old enough to have watched Adam-12 as a kid during its original run. To this day I can still her my Mom groan "Oh, geez, he only got on this show 'cause he's Bing Crosby's kid!" every time Ed Wells was popped up onscreen. (Dad would likewise always gripe "That [bad word] George Hamilton....he dodged the Draft by dating LBJ's daughter!" whenever George Hamilton was on TV.) Mr. Ouisch and I are currently watching Adam-12 every day on MeTV and I've noticed that recently (I think they're in Season Five or so at the moment) Ed Wells is less of a thorn in everyone's side and more of a competent policeman. I wondered if Crosby complained to the writers about always making his character an egotistic buffoon or something.

[Ouisch]

At the beginning Officer Reed was young. Check out the last episode where a burnt out Jim after serving in an undercover narcotics unit is on the verge of losing his wife thinking of quitting, as Officer Malloy was in the first episode

 

I noticed that in the final episode Jim Reed's hair is longer and he's wearing tinted aviator-framed glasses. Tres hip and cool. Suddenly Malloy was the one who looked like an old married man instead of a swingin' bachelor.

[Ananayel]

Yesterday afternoon was one I hadn't seen before, where Pete goes on vacation and comes back with a mustache. Pete didn't need to have a mustache. He really, really didn't need to have a mustache.

[Ouisch]

Anyone else's TV get stuck the other day when Ed Wells came into roll call late? 

[Ouisch]

I don't know episode titles, but it was the one where poor hapless Chet had the wrong address and the homeowner reported him as a prowler. Good ol' Chet ended up dropping the pizza (a Number 23, I think) anyway and ruining it.

That cherub-faced woman at the antiques store in yesterday's episode - the one where her father was shot during a robbery - was Amy Milner, real-life daughter of Martin. Sadly, she died of leukemia in 2004.

[kikismom]

OOOH-"Jim Reed" is on Love Boat--trying to pick up Connie Stevens in the ship's bar! (Wasn't she a little old for him?)

[kikismom]

Wow, hit the trifecta--episode of Adam-12...and the theft suspect is...Randolph Mantooth! (he

turns out to be innocent; and the guilty party is the girl from Petticoat Junction.