Dragnet 1967 Repackaged & Rereleased - What's Next? (1 Viewer)

At the end of 2009, Universal discontinued its 2005 release of the 1967 reboot of Dragnet. As no subsequent seasons of Dragnet ever were issued, I figured that Universal had sold their run of it and would not make any more. However, on January 5, 2010, Universal rereleased the first season in a slightly different form. The 2005 edition was issued on three double sided discs. However, the third disc merely had one television episode on it and a bonus of one 1950s Dragnet radio show. The 2010 edition is on merely two (presumably double sided discs). As the 1960s Dragnet is for me one of my favorite Universal television titles (along with Columbo and Leave it to Beaver), I am delighted that Universal has not given up on the series. However, as rereleasing the 1967 seaon obviously entailed the expense of pressing more discs and producing new packages, I am wondering whether Universal might have more plans for this show. All of the 1960s episodes are available on streaming on Netflix so I would think that it would not be that expensive to reduce the remaining episodes to disc.

If anyone from Universal is reading this, here is one fan's idea of the perfect package: issue the 1960s Dragnet incarnation as a complete series set in packaging similar to the Munsters Complete Series. Include as bonuses the 1966 produced television movie (aired on TV a few years later), the 1954 theatrical movie (soon to be available as burn on demand on Amazon), the clip from Jack Benny's 2d farewell special in the early 1970s where Friday and Gannon show up to denounce Jack as despicable, perhaps old Nick at Night or TV Land advertisements for the show (they are quite funny), and perhaps commentary from Dragnet expert Michael J. Hayde (author of My Name's Friday). If it is too expensive, everything but the 1966 TV movie could be dropped. There are about 30 more episodes of the 1960s Dragnet than there are of the Munsters, so I would think that a Complete Series package would be doable.

Does anyone have any more thoughts on this?

Dragnet '54 is owned by Warner Brothers, which is probably why it's going to available through Amazon and most likely the WB Archives as a burn on demand title. So, I don't see that as being a feature on anything Universal.

Other than that, I just want to see the 60s series wrapped up, and somehow, some way, the original B&W 50s series finally get a chance.

Oh, and also, it's entirely possible that all 13 or 14 (I forget which) episodes could be put on two single sided DVDs. If Universal, or any company, can fit an average of four hourlong episodes on a disc, then 8 half hour shows will take up the same amount of space.

If this has been reissued in a new two disc set then it has to be done in single-sided format since S1 was only 17 episodes and that would be nine and eight. I would certainly get it if it's been done (but does the packaging give any hints??)

Another ideal little extra in a potential "complete series" package would be the brief "copper clappers" TONIGHT SHOW sketch between Jack Webb and Johnny Carson.

Also, the 1954 feature does belong to Universal now, not Warner Bros. It's one of the titles listed in Universal's just-announced "burn-on-demand" deal with Amazon, along with THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING WOMAN, RUGGLES OF RED GAP, GAMBIT, KITTEN WITH A WHIP, etc.

The 1954 Dragnet feature film was released on VHS by Universal Home Video. I do not know if that means anything in terms of current ownership. As for the arrangement of the episodes in the new set, I looked on the Barnes & Noble website, which often lists the precise contents of each DVD in a multivolume set. However, this information has not been added (yet?) for the rerelease. For the 2005 release, B&N indicated that 7 episodes were put on disc 1 side A, 7 episodes were put on disc 1 side b, three episodes were put on disc 2 side A, 0 episodes were put on disc 2 side B, and the radio episode was on disc 3 side A.

As for the 1950s series, I think that it is all in the public domain, but there are very few prints out there as the syndication prints generally were destroyed in the early 1960s. I think that the complete series is in the UCLA archive, but will anyone ever distribute it to the public? I recommend checking out the 1950s radio show, most of the six year run of which is available on either the internet or on MP3 cd from various sources.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on a complete series package?

The '54 Dragnet is available in the Archives from WHV apparently, according to what I discovered on Amazon last month. I was hoping it would actually see a proper catalog release, but I truly think those days are behind us and we're not likely to see any older films on pressed disc in this current format from any of the major studios anymore.

DRAGNET is available from the Universal Vault Collection now on Amazon.

Today, Shout revealed that it is releasing Leave it to Beaver Season 3 on license from Uninversal and a complete series set. My hope is that Shout also licensed Dragnet. The possibility that Shout would release a Dragnet Season 2 set (maybe a complete series?) would explain why Universal chose to rerelease Dragnet Season 1 after selling out all of the units of the 2005 release. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

I would love to see the abandoned 60s Dragnet be picked up for more DVD releases. This program is definitely a classic.

I'd love to see them do a double pack of season 1 of Emergency! and Adam-12 on single sided disc. I hope that's the next reissue they consider doing.

Season 2 of Emergency! was also on double sided disc, but doesn't seem prone to playback issues so I'd be in no hurry to replace it if an alternative arrived.

I'd like to say again... I'd like to see Dragnet 6X finished off, but I'm more interested in the original B&W Dragnet.

Has it been absolutely beyond a doubt confirmed that S1 is available in single sided discs? I'd like to know if anyone's picked up this repackaged version so I can decide whether or not to buy.

I see that season 2 has been announced as coming from Shout Factory. Has anyone ever purchased the rereleased season 1 package to confirm if they went with single sided disc over the double sided disc that so many of us have grown to hate?

I really hope this deal includes the 50s episodes. I've only seen a small percentage of those, but they hold my attention much more then the 4 color seasons do.

From what I've seen of the B&W episodes, I agree that the color seasons just weren't as good as the B&W seasons.

In fact, I'd say that Dragnet 6X felt kind of... tired compared to Adam-12.

But, the color seasons are the ones most everyone have seen, since Nick at Nite and TV Land had 'em in the 90s, while the B&W episodes have been gone for years.

I figure it's best to wait until Adam 12 and Dragnet 6X are closer to finishing to start begging for Dragnet 5X.

AT LAST!!!!!!! This is by far the greatest TV on DVD news for me I can ever recall, because the wait for this has been the most infuriating thing for me in TV on DVD history. Now at long last, we'll have legit releases of Friday before the Review Board and the magnificent Christmas episode (which is superior to the original 50s version), which are the best episodes of the series.

"Our long national nightmare is now over!"

I was pretty confident this would happen once they picked up Adam-12. Was starting to second guess myself though since that deal has been going on for almost two years now.

I just really hope that Shout considers the 1950s era of this program. Hopefully they can strike a deal with Universal where transferring the original film elements will be economical and the cost shared by both so Universal can make the show available digitally and Shout can release it on DVD rather then it rotting in the vaults unseen. But that's probably just wishful thinking with 8 seasons and well over 30 (Usually closer to 40) episodes per season after season 1.

Originally Posted by JoeDoakes

As for the 1950s series, I think that it is all in the public domain, but there are very few prints out there as the syndication prints generally were destroyed in the early 1960s. I think that the complete series is in the UCLA archive, but will anyone ever distribute it to the public? I recommend checking out the 1950s radio show, most of the six year run of which is available on either the internet or on MP3 cd from various sources.

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The first 100 episodes of the show are P.D. The next 100 episodes are copyrighted. The remaining episodes are a mix with some being under copyright and others being P.D. Universal has never done anything with the black and white shows and only bought them when they decided to revive the show in 1967 in order to take them out of syndication so that they would not compete with the new version. In the 43 since, they have never done anything with those episodes, although I have a Universal TV catalogue which does list the show (under the title Badge 714). So I'm sure that the 35mm negatives exist but that's about it. Probably no 16mm syndication prints and for sure no videotape transfers. To think the Universal would ever do anything with those episodes is really a pipe dream of the highest order.

Originally Posted by Neil Brock




The first 100 episodes of the show are P.D. The next 100 episodes are copyrighted. The remaining episodes are a mix with some being under copyright and others being P.D. Universal has never done anything with the black and white shows and only bought them when they decided to revive the show in 1967 in order to take them out of syndication so that they would not compete with the new version. In the 43 since, they have never done anything with those episodes, although I have a Universal TV catalogue which does list the show (under the title Badge 714). So I'm sure that the 35mm negatives exist but that's about it. Probably no 16mm syndication prints and for sure no videotape transfers. To think the Universal would ever do anything with those episodes is really a pipe dream of the highest order.

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Well, there's always a small glimmer of hope.

I mean, there didn't look to be any hope for Leave it to Beaver, or Dragnet '68 until this past month.

You would think, though, Universal would let the B&W Dragnet out of the vaults for use on RTV... maybe try to build an audience for it, no matter how small, so they could make some money off of it.

I think for it to ever escape that someone else is going to have to partner with them to help share the cost of transferring the original film elements. They obviously don't consider it worthwhile enough to take on the burden entirely by themselves.

Hopefully season 2 and the remaining seasons of the color program will be great successes for Shout and they'll explore the possibilities of tackling the 50s series.

While I would like to see the 50s show come to DVD in good quality transfers, truthfully I'm not as concerned over that because my exposure to 50s Dragnet has been more with the radio shows, and whenever I have seen a TV episode on the PD transfers, I usually come away less impressed than I was with the radio show. The reason is that after awhile, the over-use of the tight close-ups that Webb was noted for in his directing style really starts to become distracting especially since when I was listening to the same scripts done on radio, my mind was *not* envisioning all these tight close-ups of the characters going back and forth. The radio scripts if anything, allowed the stories to "breathe" more and come off as more effective. Thus, with all of the radio shows available to listen to through downloads and commercial releases, I feel reasonably content with 50s Dragnet, even though I'd be the first to buy a legit release of the good quality masters.