Personnel: The Shooting

Wow...this is a very powerful and touching episode of "Dragnet" and ranks as one of the very best of the series. The episode starts off on a mundane note--Friday and Gannon are chatting as their workweek comes to an end. However, at the last minute, they get a phone call--two cops have been shot and are possibly dying. Their job is to go to the hospital to coordinate--to deal with the wives of the fallen officers, the doctors and their superiors.

The two wives are very different. One (Virginia Gregg) is the wife of a career beat cop. She is strong, stoic and the epitome of the sort of wife you'd expect for such a man. The other is young, angry and emotional. She loves her husband and blames the department for his condition. Gregg's strength does a lot to help the other woman cope and this is the best episode Ms. Gregg was in--though she was a very frequent guest-star on the show. Unlike her usual scum-bag persona, she is more muted, believable and really showed she could act--especially towards the end of the show.

Overall, the show gets very high marks for realism and reflects the sad side of police work that is seldom seen in other police shows--the sacrifice and heroism of the men who wear a badge. Extremely well handled and well worth seeing--just be sure to have some Kleenex handy just in case.

I've seen many episodes of Dragnet. This one touched me like no other. There are funny episodes (which include drama) but this one is a standout in its presentaion, from beginning to end, about a very serious side of police work. I couldn't stop the tears...I was unprepared to watch such a dramatic episode; including the reactions of the wives. That one who had a son that had joined the force,who never says a word as he hugged his mother and slowly walked away, was a standout performance. No words were necessary as the scene comes to an end. This was an excellent episode, even if I usually avoid things that make me cry...