Nostradragnetus

[Joe Guy]

[wesw]

why was colonel potter older in the 1950 s than he was in the 1960s?

not smoking pot must have been the fountain of youth...

ponce de leon should have just layed off the weed

[Big RR]

Joe--if I recall this episode, I think it was the one where the guy and his wife were having a reefer madness party at the end, and the high parents ended up killing their baby (either drowning in the tub or put in the oven, I don't recall. It was as bad as the worst of the anti-drug we had to watch in school around the same time. I used to watch Dragnet at the time, and recall another anti-drug episode which had Mark Hammil as a guy distributing LSD in the park (I think in blue makeup, but I'm not sure)--another howler. Dragnet was funner than many of the sitcoms of the time.

It's been years since I saw it, but I'd bet some of the rerun channels broadcast Dragnet episodes.

Wes--now pot ages you? Is there no end to the evil and depravity of this cursed substance?

[BoSoxGal]

I think Willie Nelson was gonna get old and wrinkled either way - at least he was mellow on the trip to old age!

[Joe Guy]

It's been years since I saw it, but I'd bet some of the rerun channels broadcast Dragnet episodes.

I've seen episodes of Dragnet on MeTV in early morning hours a few times and I just looked it up on Amazon and you can watch season 1 from 1967 for free if you have Prime. It really is one of the funniest non-comedy tv shows ever made. It's especially funny when Sgt Friday gives one of his lectures.

I don't recall ever seeing it but the original Dragnet - also with Jack Webb - started in 1951, according to Wikipedia.

[Big RR]

Actually, as I recall, Dragnet started as a radio show with Jack Webb as Friday; this became the 50s TV series. In the early 60s I recall a lot of black and white episodes which were from the 50s (Wiki said it ran 51-59 and started up again in 67) . Each episode wa s pretty much the same, and Friday's lectures were a hoot.

[BoSoxGal]

I had a boyfriend in college who loved to watch Dragnet when we were baked - it’s very funny when you’re baked. For several years I had a cat named Chesney Guthrie, after a witness on one of the episodes we watched. We pissed ourselves laughing over old Chesney - who was actually young and sort of a hippie type.

Strike that, I’ve misremembered. I looked up that character on magic IMDB and found this bit which comprised the appearance of Chet Stratton as Chesney Guthrie in Dragnet 1967 episode The Hammer:

Officer Bill Gannon : [Friday and Gannon are interviewing Chesney Guthrie] You understand your rights, Mr. Gutherie?

Chesney Guthrie : Yes, very fair, very fair.

Officer Bill Gannon : You're a barber, is that right?

Chesney Guthrie : Oh no, I'm a hairstylist, there's a difference.

[He points to Friday]
Chesney Guthrie : Now you go to a barber, but a hair stylist could do wonders for you.

[He turns to Gannon]
Chesney Guthrie : But you stay with a barber. Nothing personal.

You can clearly see the hilarity and why my rescue cat ended up named after Mr. Guthrie, who was more 1960s Queer Eye than hippie.

I found the episode if anyone wants to watch it: https://youtu.be/mG0D0k_Adyo?si=M8fzYZFgsG01PHSk (Chesney Guthrie appears at minute 8:45) There is a Boston connection in the episode, and also an Arizona connection! No wonder I named my cat Chesney.

[wesw]

yeah, RR...

i was gonna say something clever but....

...what were we talking about?