the leading man is my tpye

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

For those who liked the docudrama style of Jack Webb without some of the overblown moralizing that Dragnet was capable of Adam-12 was your kind of show. Done in the staccato Webb style, Adam-12 focused on the day to day happenings of two uniformed officers as they drove in the squad responding to whatever they saw or were dispatched to.Like Dragnet which was revived, Adam-12 was created to refurbish the image of the LAPD which was badly damaged after the LA riots in the middle sixties. The difference here was that Jack Webb and Harry Morgan were already veteran cops. In Adam-12 it starts with Martin Milner as the veteran breaking in a rookie Kent McCord. By the end of the series run however, McCord certainly became a veteran.One thing that they copied exactly from Dragnet was that Officer Reed grew off the job as well. He got married during the show's run and in those alone time scenes in the squad car he would talk about the various problems young marrieds have, especially as they related to the job he was on. But like Joe Friday, Officer Malloy never divulged much if anything about his personal life. Jack Webb and Martin Milner were truly married to the badge.The episodes were done in nice and compact Jack Webb style. They hold up better than a lot of the Dragnets.

I have been watching this through our library. I have found two episodes that dealt with police abuse of power. The first one was in season 3. Malloy is saved by an officer's quick thinking when he (Tony is his name) jumps on a moving forklift and gets the forks raised in time that he prevents Malloy from getting injured. Later on Tony is accused of blackmailing a man. Malloy and Reed get involved in trying to prove his innocence. Malloy (and later you find out Reed had been suspicious too) realizes that Tony has been using them - that he actually did blackmail the guy. Malloy tells him off and the officer does get in trouble. In another episode, I think it was season 5, Reed talks to a reserve officer who tells him that he witnessed an active duty officer use excessive force on a perpetrator. He doesn't want to say anything because he's just reserve and as everyone else thinks there's nothing wrong with the officer. Then Reed catches the same active duty officer choking a perpetrator whom has blacked out as a result. Reed talks to the Watch Commander because it really bothers him. The active duty officer ends up turning in his resignation and criminal charges are filed against the guy. This was one great television show and they don't make them like this any more. I really miss fantastic shows like this.

The title is my attempt to honor the classic Johnny Carson "Claude Cooper copper clappers" bit with Jack Webb. As a kid I tried to never miss an episode of any Jack Webb series. Adam 12 being one of them. I really enjoyed how the relationship between Reed and Malloy developed throughout out the seasons. From the beginning when Malloy was a bit distant from his partner but still very mother hen-like to the later years when the two were comfortable with each other and taking little jabs at each other between calls.One of my favorites was the episode when Reed's wife was pregnant, and the Reeds, Malloy, and his girl friend were trapped in a ghost town by a motorcycle gang. That episode still stands out in my mind. I enjoyed how the series dealt with more day to day stuff than the impossible situations shown in many other cop shows. It was amazing how a day's work could be squeezed into a 30 min show (22 w/o commercials).

A great TV Police Show of the 1960's, and in fact only one of the very few that I would ever watch. So good in fact, that I joined the Police in 1970, and was a Police Officer until 2003. Yes, this show was very down to earth with its stories, and a great example of the every day to day duties performed by uniform Police (its the same "Job" all over the world!).