User reviews

After a few years on radio, star Jack Webb made the move to bring "Dragnet" to television. The first filmed episode takes place in real time as a man named Vernon Carney (Stacy Harris) has a bomb at city hall and is threatening to use it after a certain amount of time unless his brother Elwood (Sam Edwards) is released. Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Ben Romero (Barton Yarborough) huddle with their superior Thad Brown (Raymond Burr years before his "Perry Mason" fame) as well as the fire chief and the lab tech on how to quickly handle the situation. I'll stop there and just say what an excellently tension-filled episode this was! And while I'm sure the radio version written by James E. Moser was nail-bitingly suspenseful enough, the visual touches added by Webb made things even more exciting. So on that note, "The Human Bomb" is highly recommended especially to anyone interested in how Joe Friday was first handled on a visual medium.

Dragnet transferred from the radio to the television. The first episode is directed by Jack Webb who also stars as Sergeant Joe Friday.

Deputy Chief Thad Brown (Raymond Burr) calls in Friday and Romero (Barton Yarborough) as a matter of urgency. A man named Vernon Carney (Stacy Harris) is threatening to bomb City Hall unless his brother Elwood is released from prison.

Carney has given a time limit of 30 minutes and the clock is ticking.

The first episode is done in real time which adds to the intensity. The pressure is on everyone as Joe Friday stalls for time. Such as Elwood does not want to be released as he only has a short time left to serve.

Given this episode was made in 1951. Television drama production was still in its infancy, especially cop shows set in present day LA. You can sense that the audience would had found this to be edge on the seat.