Adam-12

1 9 6 8 - 1 9 7 5 (USA)
174 x 30 minute episodes

Adam-12 was developed and produced by Jack Webb of Dragnet fame for NBC. It told the story of  two uniformed LAPD officers roaming the city in their squad car. Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) was a senior officer who, at the start of the  series, was partnered with rookie cop, Jim Reed (Kent McCord). 

The pair encountered a wide range of cases in every episode - some serious, some trivial, some amusing, and some tragic - but the series always focused on everyday police calls rather than the barrage of explosions and shoot-outs found in so many other TV shows.

The producer of Adam-12, Jack Webb, insisted on absolute realism and authenticity in the series, to the point where the voice of the dispatcher behind the "One Adam Twelve" calls heard each week was an actual police officer.

Police radio operator Shaaron Claridge showed up at Universal Studios once a week before working her 4-to-midnight shift in the Van Nuys police station, and was paid $112 a week to record all the radio calls in each script and make sure all her scripting was true-to-life (changing a line from "grand auto theft report" to "stolen-vehicle report," for example).

A syndicated version of the show was produced in 1989 - 1990, called The New Adam-12, with a new pair of LAPD cops, Officer Gus Grant (Peter Paros) and Officer Matt Doyle (Ethan Wayne). The series did not prove as popular as the original, and left the airwaves after 52 episodes.