Adam-12
Adam-12 is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Robert A. Cinader and Jack Webb and produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. The series follows Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed as they patrol Los Angeles in their police cruiser, assigned the call sign "1-Adam-12". Adam-12 stars Martin Milner and Kent McCord, with several recurring co-stars, the most frequent being William Boyett and Gary Crosby. The series ran over seven seasons from September 21, 1968, until May 20, 1975.
For the revival, see Adam-12 (1990 TV series). For the human gene, see ADAM12.Adam-12
United States
English
7
174[1] (list of episodes)
Jack Webb
- Robert A. Cinader
- Edward K. Dodds
30 minutes[2]
September 21, 1968 –
May 20, 1975[3]
Like Webb's other series, Dragnet and Emergency!, Adam-12 was produced in cooperation with the actual department it was based on, in this case, the LAPD. Adam-12 aimed to be realistic in its depiction of policing and helped familiarize the American public with police procedures and jargon. A syndicated revival by The Arthur Company aired from 1990 to 1991 for two seasons, featuring new characters and an updated setting.
Production[edit]
Universal Studios co-produced the show with Mark VII Limited. The series' first episode, "Log 1: The Impossible Mission", was filmed in September 1967, a year before the pilot was picked up.[11]
The production of Adam-12 involved showing all aspects of correct police procedures. Police cruisers played a central role, as "Webb wanted the vehicle itself to be considered a character".[4] The show's routine use of police radio communications and jargon helped reinforce "the sound of radio as an anti-crime technology."[12] The police vehicles used in the production of the show were purchased from local dealerships and outfitted by the prop department to accurate LAPD cruiser specifications.[5]
The driving scenes were filmed on public streets using a dedicated camera platform mounted to the cruiser's hood, which was towed by a station wagon. The platform held three cameras: the center camera would film both Milner and McCord in one shot, while the left and right cameras would film Milner and McCord, respectively, on a cross-angle. All three cameras were remote-controlled and would roll simultaneously. For the pilot, Webb did not like the reflections of the sky on the windshield (which made Milner and McCord difficult to see), so the windshield of the vehicle was removed; however, this made the actors' hair blow and caused issues with the audio recording equipment. The prop department's solution was to reinstall the windshield and build an overhead shield that extended over the hood and windshield of the car to block the reflections. Sides were added to create a large "black box" over the front of the vehicle with both ends "open", which allowed for more controlled filming circumstances.[11] During filming, the script supervisor would lie on the floor in the back of the car to read script dialogue for the voices coming from the police radio, which Milner and McCord would respond to. The director and the sound man would sit in a rear-facing seat in the back of the station wagon towing the police car.
Most scenes in the older seasons were filmed at the Universal Studios Lot, mostly in Courthouse Square and Colonial Street. Starting with the third and fourth seasons, the series gradually shifted to filming in actual locations in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. The garage used tow trucks from the LAPD's North Hollywood Division that was located near Universal Studios.
The police station used in the series was the Rampart Police Station, located at 2710 West Temple Street. The station was built in 1966, two years before the series began, and could thus be considered "state of the art" for most of the series' run. Rampart Police Station was closed in 2008, and Rampart Division moved to the newer and larger Rampart Community Police Station. The old station was renovated to serve as the headquarters for the LAPD Metropolitan Division. The renovated building, now known as the LAPD Metropolitan Division Facility, opened in 2016.[13][14]
In 1974, during the production of the seventh season, Martin Milner signed to play Karl Robinson on the short-lived television series The Swiss Family Robinson, taking him off Adam-12. Several options were tested during this season, which would allow the series to continue should the production of a proposed eighth season move forward. Jo Ann Pflug, Mark Harmon, and Michael Warren were tested for their potential to replace Milner in episodes where McCord served as their training officer or partner. Another idea proposed that the series be continued with Officer Ed Wells, played by Gary Crosby, replacing Malloy, who would be written off with a promotion to Sergeant at another division. However, the birth of Kent McCord's son three days before the seventh season's finale aired took McCord off the show as well, forcing the series to end with the seventh season.[15]
Notable guest-star actor and actress appearances[edit]
Many famous performers and some who achieved fame later appeared in various episodes of Adam-12.
Episode 2, "Log 141: The Color TV Bandit", stars Cloris Leachman and Melody Patterson.[24]
Episode 8, "Log 72: El Presidente", guest-stars James Sikking, later of Hill Street Blues fame (Lt. Howard Hunter), and other various character roles as an armed robber.
Episode 10, "Log 132: Producer",[25] stars Karen Black (Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, Airport 1975, Dogtown) and James McEachin (DJ in Play Misty for Me). McEachin also appeared in five additional episodes, each time in a different role, as well as several episodes of Emergency! as a Sheriff's Detective.
Episode 16, "Log 62: Grand Theft Horse?", guest-stars Tim Matheson as a horse thief.
Episode 19, "Log 51: A Jumper, Code 2", stars Hal Smith of The Andy Griffith Show.
Episode 22, "Log 152: A Dead Cop Can't Help Anyone",[26] stars Barry Williams (Greg Brady of The Brady Bunch).
Episode 25, "Log 92: Tell Him He Pushed Back a Little Too Hard", guest-stars Dick Sargent (Darrin Stephens #2 of Bewitched) and Jacqueline Scott (who played Donna Taft, the sister of Dr. Richard Kimble, in four episodes of The Fugitive).
Episode 26, "Log 22: So This Little Guy Goes into This Bar, and..." guest-stars Harry Dean Stanton as a welfare hustler.
Episode 43, "Log 24: A Rare Occasion" stars David Cassidy of The Partridge Family as a neighbor of Reed's who falls victim to a drug pusher.
Episode 53, "Loan Sharks", guest-stars Eve McVeagh, film actress of High Noon, Tight Spot, and television series The Clear Horizon and Faraway Hill.
Episode 57, "Cigarettes, Cars, and Wild, Wild Women", features Tony Dow (Wally from Leave It to Beaver) as a young United States Marine who is a victim of a car theft ring.
Episode 58, "Log 55: Missing Child", guests stars Jodie Foster as the playmate of a missing child.
Episode 60, "Log 105, Elegy for a Pig" guest-stars Mark Goddard (Major Don West of Lost In Space) as Malloy's friend and police academy classmate, Officer Tom Porter; and shows a great deal of Malloy's backstory, as well as what happens when an LAPD officer is killed in the line of duty.
Episode 66, "Log 115: Gang War", guest-stars Trini Lopez as a local Latino priest who tries to help the officers prevent a rumble between two Latino gangs. Lopez would also appear the following year as "Steve Hernandez" in Episode 95: "The Parole Violator".
Episode 69, "Log 66: The Vandals", guest-stars Robert I. Clarke as the father of a teenage girl.
Episode 77, "Log 88 - Reason to Run", guest-stars Randolph Mantooth as "Neil Williams";[27] and in an Emergency! cross-over episode as a paramedic, "John Gage", Episode 106, "Lost and Found".[28] This episode also guest-starred Linda Kaye Henning of Petticoat Junction.
Episode 80, "The Million Dollar Buff",[29] guests-stars Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman) as a jewelry counter attendant.
Episode 81, "The Grandmother", guest-stars Ozzie Nelson of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet fame. He also directed this episode.
Episode 82, "The Radical", guest-stars Robert Conrad as Paul Ryan of the DA's office. This episode was a crossover with Conrad's series, The D.A.
Episode 91, "The Pickup", guest-stars Barbara Hale of Perry Mason and Kathy Garver of Family Affair.
Episode 94, "The Tip", guest-stars Larry Linville (later of M*A*S*H fame as Frank Burns) as a police detective whom Malloy and Reed assist on an ongoing case.
Episode 97, "Mary Hong Loves Tommy Chen", guest-stars Foster Brooks, Keye Luke, and Jo Ann Worley.
Episode 98, "Sub-Station", guest-stars Frank Sinatra, Jr., portrays a disturbed man who takes a stewardess hostage and demands a meeting with a Hollywood director. He would also guest-star in a later season episode as an officer in the same division.
Episode 100, "Who Won", guest-stars Dick Clark of American Bandstand and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve fame as Benson, the drag strip owner.
Episode 103, "Dirt Duel", guest-stars Edd Byrnes of 77 Sunset Strip and Micky Dolenz of The Monkees as bikers.
Episode 104, "The Late Baby", guest-stars both Tina Sinatra and Frank Sinatra Jr. as unrelated characters.
Episode 105, "Airdrop", guest-stars singer Al Martino of Godfather who portrayed "Paul Stocker", a drug smuggling private plane pilot.
Episode 108, "Badge Heavy", features Jack Bailey, host of Queen for a Day and Truth or Consequences.
Episode 131, "Venice Division", guest-stars Laurette Spang of the original Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series) as a woman who fears for her life after receiving obscene phone calls.
Episode 137, "Northwest Division", guest-stars Johnny Whitaker of Family Affair as a juvenile on a minibike. In addition, Martin Milner's real-life son Andrew played Whitaker's stunt double in the minibike chase scene.
Episode 149, "L.A. International", Season 6, Episode 23. This episode aired 12 March 1974, with guest-star Tina Cole who played Katie from My Three Sons.
Episode 150, "Clinic on Eighteenth Street", guest-stars Sharon Gless, later of Cagney & Lacey fame and most recently co-star of Burn Notice on USA Network and Frank Sinatra Jr. in his third role on the show.
Episode 151, "Camp: Part 1" and "Camp: Part 2", guest-star June Lockhart, of Lost in Space as the widowed mother of a son who is on the edge of being a full-blown juvenile delinquent.
Episode 158, "X-Force", guest-stars Paul Gleason as the father of a kidnapped girl. Gleason guest-starred in other various roles throughout the series.
Episode 159, "Alcohol", guest-stars Dick Van Patten, later of Eight Is Enough fame, as a belligerent drunk who believes himself to be Albert Einstein.
Episode 164, "Victim of the Crime", features Martin Milner's real-life daughter Amy Milner as Debbie McMahon, the shopkeeper's daughter.
Episode 170, "Operation Action", features Kent McCord's real-life daughter Kristen McCord as a child named Debra, playing hopscotch when Reed pulls up behind Malloy's abandoned car.
Episode 171, "Gus Corbin", guest-stars Mark Harmon, the star of NCIS since 2003.
Episode 172, "Dana Hall", features Jo Ann Pflug of the movie M*A*S*H as Officer Dana Hall, a probationary police officer, Acting Watch Commander Malloy, teams with Reed in 1-Adam-12.