Dragnet was one of the most popular police-oriented television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) series in the 1950s. But it was no slam-bang, action-packed cop show featuring handsome police officer heroes. Instead, its lead character, Los Angeles Police Department sergeant Joe Friday, played by Jack Webb (1920–1982), was notoriously colorless and efficient, so much so that his blandness made him ripe for parody.

Friday—who grimly announced to the viewer, "My name's Friday. I'm a cop"—was the essence of the steadfastly dedicated policeman whose interpretation of the law was strictly "by the book." He had neither wife nor personal life. Seemingly, he was a twenty-four-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week upholder of law and order. He courteously explained to people he questioned during his investigation that all he was concerned with were "just the facts." Predictably, by the end of the show, Friday and his partner nabbed the...