Highway Patrol

"Highway Patrol" episodes are especially compelling because they are almost all action. There is very little talk. Compare it to "Dragnet," which is almost all talk and very little action. "Highway Patrol" episodes generally start with a crime, and when Dan Mathews and his team are called in, they snap to and get busy. There is no banter around the police station.

Part of this is because of the 30-minute format. There just wasn't time to set everything up. They had to use every minute to develop and resolve the story.

The compelling drama makes it hard to get up, even for a minute. I wish TV shows were still like this. "24" was like this, but just about every other crime drama wastes a lot of screen time with banter and nonsense.

Just about every episode of "Highway Patrol" is a good ride.

This show was my very favorite as a boy, and had such an influence on me, that I grew up to become a Pennsylvania State Trooper. I recently retired from the force after a rewarding career. The stories and action of the Highway Patrol always showed the good guys, the police, prevailing over the bad guys. I also enjoyed the open highway atmosphere in which these stories took place. I would very dearly love to get tapes of this show for old times sake, but have not been able to do so.

I was about 14 when this show first aired and like most teenagers I used to like the cars and the car chases. My uncle had a 1955 Buick Century hardtop and I would pretend that it was a Highway Patrol Car. I saw a few poor copies lately and the production values were rough but I still wish I had some good copies of the shows. Too bad they are not on video.

I remember watching reruns of Highway Patrol with my mother back in 1973 that aired from Philadelphia, PA on a syndicated station at 9:00 every morning. I loved seeing Broderick Crawford (who was from Philadelphia) and his gravely voice and those lovely jet black patrol cars, in glorious black and white. Right after this show was over we switched the channel to the Senate Watergate hearings which were fascinating, to say the least.

This series did for the California Highway Patrol what "Dragnet" did for the LAPD; i.e. established a mythology and a standard of professional conduct. I knew two retired CHP officers (both retired in the late 1960s) who loved this series. It is no small joke that in the Dan Aykroyd movie comedy Dragnet, Harry Morgan is watching "Highway Patrol" on TV when Aykroyd's character calls him on the phone. I, too, wish the old tapes had been saved for posterity.