Adam 12 (1968)

After the success of DRAGNET, Jack Webb developed another series based on the police.  Adam 12 followed the adventures of beat offices Pete Malloy and Jim Reed.  It's a little more relaxed and less preachy than DRAGNET, but it follows the same formula more or less.  Reed is the rookie cop partnered with Malloy in this first season.  Both cops also appeared in DRAGNET 69 for the episode "Internal Affairs".  I don't remember them, but I may go back and check it out.  I watched it, I know it, but danged if I remembered them showing up.  Of course, I hadn't seen either shows in ages so I'm not surprised I didn't remember who was who.

Our heroes are played by Martin Milner and Kent McCord.  They have a good chemistry with each other.  The show lasted seven seasons, three more than it's parent show DRAGNET.  I think the leads are more human than Joe Friday.  The way they play off each other is what makes this one work so well.  The show is a lot less "regimented"- no narration with exact times every two minutes.  That probably helped as well, makes the characters seem more human and less like puppets going through a routine.