"Dragnet" - December 16, 1951 - August 23, 1959

 

"Dragnet" began as a radio program in 1949 with Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe Friday, Badge 714.  The series moved to television airing its first episode on NBC on this day seventy years ago.  The radio series ended in 1957 and the television series concluded two years later on August 23, 1959, producing 276 episodes.  Sergeant Friday's various partners were played by actors Barton Yarborough, Ben Alexander, Barney Phillips, Ken Peters, Kenneth Patterson and Herb Ellis.