Comments on: Episode 109: The Big Confession

By: Jessica Hanna

Jessica Hanna — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 20:59:52 +0000

Oh man, I love Dragnet. I love Dragnet so much. Friday is just *kisses fingers* – this is a great episode, it was dark and noiry, and also I’m hungry for prawns? Lorraine, ugh, what a number, that one. Her introduction I thought was so wonderful, putting on lipstick as they enter, she glances up to look at them and then goes back to putting on her lipstick, that said SO MUCH about her, and as we get to know her (and try to get past the squick factor of her being only 16), she’s so awful, how did Paul fall in love with her? Did she play sweet with him, did his mental, er, issues, make him blind to her nature? I have so many questions. And the murder, so, in the moment of her rejection, sounds to be a cruel and heartless rejection, he must have, in that moment, been filled with so much rage and humiliation that he imagined murdering her, and the guilt of that imagining made him believe he really did it? I’m not a psychiatrist (certainly not a COMPETENT one, lol) but the whole store is fascinating to me. Really get my wheels turning.

By: Mark Forrester

Mark Forrester — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 23:12:46 +0000

I was pleased to hear this! I’ve been hoping you would do more of a straight crime show, and this episode of Dragnet is a corker. Like Gunsmoke, Dragnet was extremely well-written and well-acted and maintained its high standards over a long run. I like the Pat Novak Show too – the stories aren’t as well-constructed, but the dialogue is fantastic. Unfortunately, there’s so many great lines coming so fast that by the time an episode is over, I’ve usually forgotten them all.

By: Dave Potts

Dave Potts — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 22:51:48 +0000

In reply to Dave Potts. Also, I want to see a bumper sticker that says "Talk to your kids about Dragnet."

By: Dave Potts

Dave Potts — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 22:50:28 +0000

Loved this. If I had to pick one all-time favorite radio series (and fortunately, I don’t), it would be Dragnet.

If Eric has never heard any other radio Dragnets, he really needs to listen to some of the early ones, because he will love Barton Yarborough as Ben Romero.

By: Timothy DeForest

Timothy DeForest — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 18:34:41 +0000

In reply to Christian Neuhaus.

Best Pat Novak one-liner is when he expressed disappointment by saying:

“It was like washing your kid’s face and finding out he’s ugly anyways.”

By: Timothy DeForest

Timothy DeForest — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 18:32:25 +0000

In reply to Joshua English Scrimshaw. Thank you.

By: Joshua English Scrimshaw

Joshua English Scrimshaw — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 03:14:00 +0000

In reply to Timothy DeForest. I have a friend who is working his way through the Dragnet radio series in chronological order. I'll run that description past him and see if he recognizes it...

By: Joshua English Scrimshaw

Joshua English Scrimshaw — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 03:06:01 +0000

In reply to Aimee Pavy. We had a blast too. Thank you for joining us. For the last two years, I've considered featuring "A .22 Rifle for Christmas" on the podcast as my holiday selection but ultimately decided against it because, as you said, the anguish and the tears. Next year though...

By: Christian Neuhaus

Christian Neuhaus — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 02:36:25 +0000

Whenever I think of tangential, naturalistic conversations in Dragnet, I think of a conversation that Friday and his partner had about turtleneck sweaters. I don’t remember what episode it was in. Dragnet does have a more uplifting Christmas episode, with the delightful title “The Big Little Jesus” (https://archive.org/details/itotr-dragnet-thebiglittlejesus).

If you’ve never heard Jack Webb’s Pat Novak, be prepared for a feast of film noir similes.
“She sauntered in, moving slowly from side to side like a hundred and eighteen pounds of warm smoke.”
“I had a nice mess to juggle. It was like trying to walk the baby on a floor full of marbles.”
“It was a long, rambling place on the left side of the road. There was no plan. It just followed the erosion line until they ran out of material. There was enough neon to light up a main intersection in Heaven.”

Those are from just one episode. http://www.genericradio.com/series/patnovak

By: Aimee Pavy

Aimee Pavy — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 19:12:07 +0000

It was so much fun to talk with you guys about this episode…thanks again for the opportunity! On a side note, never listen to holiday-themed Dragnet episodes expecting warm and fuzzies. I listened to “A .22 Rifle for Christmas” on Christmas Eve one year and was reduced to anguished tears…never again! Brutal!

By: Timothy DeForest

Timothy DeForest — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 03:18:35 +0000

This is an excellent Dragnet episode. It reminds me of a couple of other sort-of similar Dragnets, as they also consist largely of Friday simply talking to someone and generating a remarkable level of suspense. One, from 1951, consists almost entirely of Friday and his partner interviewing a murder suspect and gradually getting a confession out of him. The script was reused a year or so later for the TV show, with Lee Marvin doing a brilliant job playing the suspect. The two versions can be compared here: http://comicsradio.blogspot.com/2018/06/fridays-favorite-otr.html

There’s another Dragnet I heard years ago on “When Radio Was” about Friday interviewing a young guy who claims to have murdered his older girl friend. In the end, it turns out she had drank herself to death and the guy had convinced himself he was guilty of murder because he hadn’t saved her from herself. I’ve been trying to find that episode for years, but still haven’t managed to do so.