The article you're about to read is true. No names have been changed to protect the innocent--or the guilty, for that matter.

Recently, Dick Wolf--the creator of the "Law & Order" series--told "The New York Times" about his decision to revive a classic police procedural for the new millennium: "I sure as hell don't want to be known as the producer who screwed up 'Dragnet'". And he had good reason to worry. "Dragnet" became the most-popular police drama in U.S. history, in part because it brought a new realism to the genre. Until "Dragnet", police shows hinged on a successful conclusion through good luck, larger-than-life characters or a lucky break. "Dragnet" showed what typical cops did every day--question suspects and witnesses, examine evidence, and slowly but surely come up with the information needed to bring a suspect in. "Dragnet's" realism was helped by the fact its stories were based on real-life cases from the Los Angeles Police Department. A three-person panel provided the cases; the names and situations were changed for broadcast. The use of actual situations helped give the show a documentary look, enhancing the realism.

"Dragnet" was also unusual for a police drama in that it did not delve deeply into the personal life of its main character, Sgt. Joe Friday, played with determined seriousness by the late Jack Webb. (We knew he was single and occasionally dated; any woman who thought about getting serious with Joe knew she would play second fiddle to his law enforcement career.) And it was unusual for its lack of violence. Webb, the former clothing store clerk-turned actor, producer and director of "Dragnet" noted that there were only 15 gunshots and three brawls in the first 60 TV episodes.

Webb portrayed Friday in three different versions, including the radio show that began in June 1949 on NBC. Initially unsponsored (and lacking support from network executives), critical praise and word-of-mouth eventually made "Dragnet" a radio hit and helped the show land a sponsor (Liggett & Myers Tobacco, which made Chesterfield cigarettes). The radio version ran until 1957.

NBC was interested in bringing "Dragnet" to television, and Webb was ready to shift focus to a video version. NBC wanted a live show from New York; Webb wanted to film "Dragnet" in Los Angeles (a battle not unlike Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz waged with CBS over "I Love Lucy"). But Liggett & Myers pressured NBC to compromise and do it Webb's way. The pilot "The Human Bomb", which featured a man who threatened to blow up Los Angeles to get his brother out of jail, aired as an episode of Chesterfield's short-lived variety program "Sound-Off Time" on December 16th, 1951. (The pilot featured a pre-"Perry Mason" Raymond Burr as Friday's superior.)

With sponsorship from Chesterfield, "Dragnet" became a regular series in January 1952. At the time, Webb's production company Mark VII could not make enough episodes for weekly airing, so NBC and Chesterfield aired the television version of the radio classic "Gangbusters" on alternate weeks. Despite the fact "Gangbusters" ranked 8th in the Nielsens overall, it was cancelled in December 1952--probably the highest-rated series ever to get the axe. Apparently, "Gangbusters" was designed to air only until Webb could provide new "Dragnet" episodes on a weekly basis. By the 1952-53 season, "Dragnet" was the fourth highest-rated program on television. A year later, it went to #2, right behind CBS' formidable "I Love Lucy". And both shows signalled the rise of filmed television series in the US; the live program would be almost a memory by the end of the decade.

Friday's first partner was Sgt. Ben Romero, played by actor Barton Yarborough on the 1951 pilot. But Yarborough died a few days after the broadcast, forcing Webb to search for a new partner when the series began. Barney Phillips was Sgt. Ed Jacobs, followed by Herb Ellis as Officer Frank Smith. In 1953, the Smith character remained, but Ben Alexander replaced Ellis in the role.

Another distinction of "Dragnet" was its theme. Walter Schumann wrote the music, known also as the "Dragnet March" and "Danger Ahead". (Most folks know it by the first four notes: Dum-de-dum-dum.) Bandleader Ray Anthony took his version to #3 on the American music charts in 1953. But a parody of "Dragnet" also did well. Composed and written by satirist Stan Freberg, it was called "St. George and the Dragonet" ("The story you are about to hear is true, only the needle should be changed to protect the record."). "Dragonet" sold over a million copies.

The success of "Dragnet" led to similar shows as "The Lineup" and "M Squad". But by the late 1950's, programs such as "77 Sunset Strip" and "Peter Gunn" became the "anti-'Dragnet'" by focusing on the glamour and sex appeal of crime fighting, instead of the nuts and bolts--along with a good dose of violence. In this climate, "Dragnet" had become old hat for viewers and was cancelled by NBC in 1959. But the black-and-white reruns continued to live on, renamed "Badge 714" for syndication.

In 1966, Webb produced a new made-for-television "Dragnet" movie. NBC loved the result so much, the network ordered a new "Dragnet" series to begin airing the following year. Ben Alexander couldn't join Webb in the remake; he was already doing his own police drama "Felony Squad" on rival ABC. So the TV film gave Joe Friday a new sidekick: Veteran actor Harry Morgan, who was at the time best-known for his role in the 1950's sitcom "December Bride" and its spin-off series "Pete & Gladys". became Officer Bill Gannon. Ironically, the TV movie didn't air until 1969, but the new series--entitled "Dragnet 1967"--made its debut on January 12th of that year with an episode entitled "The LSD Story". (Fans know it better as "Blue Boy" because of the main character, Benjie Carver, who got his nickname because part of his face is painted blue.) The new "Dragnet", now in living colour, stuck to the formula that made the original popular, but leaned quite heavily on an anti-drug message and teenagers in trouble. (Those episodes always seemed to have wayward teens and parents telling Friday and Gannon: "No! Not my child! He doesn't use drugs!" And more often than not, the parent/user got a stern anti-drug message from Friday.) The new "Dragnet" also led to a spin-off of its own. In 1968, NBC premiered "Adam 12", featuring a pair of beat cops in the "Dragnet" formula of relatively little violence and cases pulled from the LAPD; it ran for seven seasons. Other Webb-produced shows of the late 1960's and 1970's included "Emergency!"; "O'Hara: US Treasury"; and "Project UFO".

The second generation colour "Dragnet" ran until 1970 and still runs on many a television station (unlike the black and white episodes). By the 1980's, however, new wave police dramas such as "Hill Street Blues" and "Cagney & Lacey" began to make "Dragnet" look old-fashioned--and in some quarters, even parodies of police drama. (Jack Webb himself died of a heart attack in 1982.) In 1987, Universal Studios released a film version of "Dragnet", with Dan Aykroyd as Joe Friday and Tom Hanks as his scruffy partner Pep Streebeck. Unlike a 1954 "Dragnet" film (which was largely based on the TV series and is seldom seen today), the new "Dragnet" movie was played for laughs. Harry Morgan--now better-known to TV viewers as Col. Sherman Potter on M*A*S*H--appeared in the film as Bill Gannon, with a promotion to captain. And Aykroyd's portrayal of Friday was dead-on. But the script was weak and loaded with drug and sex references that did neither Aykroyd nor Hanks any favours. Still, the "Dragnet" name did ensure a large audience at the box office and led to more films based on TV series.

In 1989, a syndicated version of "Dragnet" aired on local television stations in the US. Jeff Osterhage played Vic Daniels; Bernard White was his partner Carl Molina. It died in 1990 after a run of just 52 episodes.

Which leads me to the new "Dragnet". While he didn't want to be known as the producer who damaged a classic, Dick Wolf recently told reporters that "nobody under 35 has ever seen "Dragnet", unless they're stoned watching TV Land at 3 in the morning". But he noted that he had to walk a thin line: "Part of the mandate I had is if you're going to do it, the older audience had to find a show that signalled 'Well, OK, that's cool, that's 'Dragnet'. But the younger audience had to get a cop show that was really different." With his "Law & Order" trio for NBC (the original and spin-offs "Special Victims Unit" and "Criminal Intent"), Wolf has proven to be a master at doing straightforward stories. As a result, the new "Dragnet" is not unlike "Law & Order", with some elements of the old series thrown in (a more stylish version of the classic Schumann theme updated by Mike Post; and the voiceover by Joe Friday). This time around, Friday is being played by Ed O'Neill, a dramatic actor who is still better-known for comedy--specifically, the hapless shoe salesman and husband Al Bundy on the sitcom "Married With Children".

In my review for Television Heaven (Teletronic's sister publication), I wrote that "O'Neill is an effective Friday, enough to make you forget that once upon a time, he was Al Bundy..." Appearing as his partner is Ethan Embry as the younger, sarcastic Frank Smith--a far cry from Harry Morgan's grandfatherly Bill Gannon. The pilot episode was also light years from the "Dragnet" of old. Jack Webb would have been shocked to see Friday and Smith discuss gory "CSI"-like amputations of body parts; and the exclamation by Smith when semen is found on the genitalia of a female murder victim: "Premature ejaculation--we've got a squirter!" (The old Friday and Gannon would have kept that information to themselves.) The same episode also featured a fan of serial killer memorabilia, who showed the cops a scar from a prostate operation and tells them he could not have raped and attacked several women because the operation left him impotent. (Come to think of it, you can probably get the same sexual information on an episode of "Friends". But that's another story.)

The new "Dragnet" is a well-produced, well-written, well-acted police drama. And that's the rub. American television is currently filled with good police dramas. The two "CSI" shows look at crime from a scientific point of view; the veteran "NYPD Blue" deals with the relationships among members of a detective squad; "The Shield" blends good cops and bad cops together in a satisfying mix; and freshman series "Boomtown" looks at the same crime through different eyes. By contrast, Wolf's latest creation comes off as yet another "Law & Order" spin-off--nice to look at and watch, but with few twists to set it from the crowd. That may be the difference between a second season or cancellation. But that familiarity could be just fine with viewers.

Whatever the future lies for the new "Dragnet", the old series' place in television history is secure. And so is the legacy of Jack Webb, who brought us one of the most memorable fictional TV characters ever.