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 black-and-white squad car. “Adam” indicated it was a two-man patrol unit while “12” referred to the area they patrolled.

Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) – badge #2430 – was a senior officer who, after losing his partner in a gun battle at the start of the series, was partnered with over-eager rookie Jim Reed (Kent McCord) – badge #744.

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.

Producer 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).

Many of the ideas for storylines in the series came from serving LAPD police officers who passed their ideas to Sgt Dan Cooke, head of the public information division of the LAPD. He then presented the ideas to the production team.

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.

Officer Pete Malloy 
Martin Milner
Officer Jim Reed 
Kent McCord
Sgt. MacDonald 
William Boyett
Officer Ed Wells 
Gary Crosby
Dispatcher’s voice 
Shaaron Claridge
Officer Jerry Walters 
William Stevens
Sgt. Jerry Miller 
Jack Hogan
Jean Reed 
Mikki Jamison
Officer Norm Green 
Claude Johnson
Officer Grant 
William Elliott
Officer Woods 
Fred Stromsoe