Adam-12 – Season Two (Shout! Factory)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: C+ Episodes: B-
In the
wake of Jack Webb’s successful revival of his classic series Dragnet in Dragnet ’67, a show that already was a long running hit on TV
before and radio even before that, Adam-12
became one of the first-ever spinoff/crossover hits from, another show and
became a big hit for seven seasons.
Joining the show with the Season Two set, I was surprised how well the
shows held up and in this era of often bloated hour-long police dramas, only
ran a half-hour. Despite endless reruns
decades ago, I had forgotten that.
Kent
McCord and Martin Milner play the team of Reed and Malloy driving the most
famous serious police car in TV history (disqualifying that of the comedy hit
Car 54) and had the right combination of serious chemistry that worked. It is worth noting for the record that this
is the show that bridges the gap between the early police shows and the likes
of The Rookies, while holding its
own into the mid-1970s. This is the
1969-70 season and all 26 amusing shows are here.
They are
well written, can get campy and are smart, built to last TV that once again
shows the rise of Universal TV as a force to be reckoned with. The guest cast is not always recognizable,
but includes Butch Patrick, Al Checco, Larry McCormick, Roberta Collins, Carl
Reindel, Herbert Anderson, Ellen Corby, Ralph Manza, Benny Rubin, Naomi
Stevens, Bruce Glover, Ralph Moody, Art Gilmore, David Huddleston, Gary Crosby,
Barney Phillips, Skip Young, Roger Perry, Sam Edwards, Alice Frost, Kathleen
O’Malley, Mitch Vogel, Frank Campanella, Fran Ryan, Ken Lynch, Joe Turkel, Lew
Brown, Adam Wade, Morgan Jones, Dick Geary, Alma Platt, J. Pat O’Malley, Larry
J. Blake, Richard Eastman, Liam Sullivan, Virginia Gregg, Woodrow Parfrey,
David Cassidy, Barry Cahill, Ann Doran, Mina Martinez, Robert Patten and Ralph
Montgomery. Webb knew what he was doing.
The 1.33
X 1 image has some good color and definition, but is slightly soft throughout,
as if someone messed up the transfer in a slight misadjustment on some prints,
while other prints seem color challenged, so this is uneven. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is more
problematic, uneven between shows and sometimes poorer than a show even this
old should be. Extras include classic
promos for the show, commentaries by actual real life police officers, fact
track and stills. Our copy also included
a ringtone offer.
- Nicholas Sheffo
