Burglary: DR-31

Someone is stealing comic books, posters and other items featuring comic book heroes. When Friday and Gannon finally catch up with the thief, they are in for a tragic confrontation. A well written script and great acting by "the bad guy".

This is my favorite episode of "Dragnet" and I love to watch it whenever it comes on TV. However, at the same time, it might just be the one my wife hates the most--not because it was poorly made but because it makes her cringe--it is THAT hard to watch for some people.

An odd series of robberies is occurring. Some strange person wearing some sort of homemade superhero outfit is running about in tights--stealing memorabilia from local theaters and from a movie studio. All of the stuff relates to superheroes and it's inconceivable that anyone would do this. In the end, a very poor and extremely pathetic man is caught--leading to one of the most grueling and difficult interviews in TV cop history--you might just find yourself crying or changing the channel as it's tough to watch this loser disintegrate during the course of the interview. The very end, with the movie poster, is a classic. Some might find it goes 'over-the-top', I thought it was just perfect.

Tim Donnelly stars as the pathetic thief. You might recognize him as one of the firemen from Jack Webb's later TV series, "Emergency". His acting was actually better and more believable in this earlier show ("Dragnet"), as his role on "Emergency" was almost comic-relief.

Actor (one Timothy Donnelly) makes your skin crawl just to watch him. Out of shape, flabby, silly mustache, creepy eyes he is the epitome of embarrassment and symbolizes all those grown men, collectors of dumb comics, who figuratively wear their underwear on the outside of their pants. (Well, he does it literally!) I don't know if the part was that badly acted but there's just a disturbing and uncomfortable feeling of being embarrassed for this guy, and I do mean the actor for taking such a dumb role or playing it so stupidly.

I'd bet this kid never acted again, never heard of him before or since. Judging by his meager filmography, I wasn't wrong. I'd have thought this would be the only role at his page, though. Not sure what Jack Webb was thinking in hiring someone as unsightly as him to be on TV. This was an era when beautiful people played "ugly".

Many scenes were unintentionally funny. That creepy and cringeworhty moment when he cries all over his poster, LOL! Looks like the actor was as much a failure as this, his signature role, no doubt. Oh well. Glad I don't have to watch him in anything else!

I overall hated this episode, but found something quite good in it. Tim Donnelly gave a moving performance. What I found incredible is the lack of empathy from Friday and Cannon. Shaking their heads and glances at one another while Donnelly described the cruelty he had endured was hard to watch.

This is a hilarious but somewhat sad episode. Tim Donelly plays a misfit that has retreated into a world of fantasy. Sad and quite believable.