Two Cop Shows For The OTN.

The shows in question are "87th Precinct" and "The Lineup"
I never saw "87th Precinct" when it was on originally, in the early 60s.
It was on opposite something I watched regularly.
I think it was "Make Room For Daddy", which I never missed.
I was recently sent an episode of "87th Precinct" to watch.
It was an hour-long, much better than average cop show..
Sort of a cross between "Dragnet" and Naked City"
Like Dragnet, in that it was out and out Detective work.
And it had a bit of a sense of humor, embodied by an early career Norman Fell as a Detective named Meyer Meyer.
Like "Naked City" in that shootouts were a regular element.
I don't recall Joe Friday ever even picking up a gun.
Good dialogue and storytelling, and a very good cast, including Robert Lansing and Ron Harper.

"The Lineup" was the San Francisco version of "Dragnet"
It ran concurrently with it in the mid-fifties.
Straight police work.

Wonderful location shooting, and old cars.
And like "Dragnet", it had a great narrator.
Of course he wasn't as great as Jack Webb.
Nobody was.
But he was pretty great.
His name was Art Gilmore.
Art Gilmore was perhaps best known as the voice of almost every movie trailer in the 1950's.
Particularly comedies.
I think he did all the Martin and Lewis movies, and all the Doris Day light-hearted virgin and non-virgin movies.
He was a major asset on "The Lineup"
He performed a very similar role on "Highway Patrol", which starred Broderick Crawford.
Same asset.
If you can't imagine his voice from this information, you might recall his work as the announcer on "The Red Skelton Show"
And "The Lineup" had a lot going for it besides Art Gilmore.
The two lead cops were played by the extremely straight Warner Anderson, and the extremely wry Tom Tully.
Tom Tully was wonderful.
His rap sheet on the IMDB is a mile long.
He played Dick Van Dyke's father on the Van Dyke Show when J. Pat O' Malley didn't.
Tully was much funnier than J. Pat.
Unlike Jack Webb and whoever he was partnered with on "Dragnet", Anderson and Tully were equal partners.
And they were two relatively old guys.
And there were plenty o' shootouts, and rolling around on the ground.
And they both handled themselves with aplomb.
Apparently without stunt doubles.
And there was usually a scene that took place at a Lineup.
The show was always interesting.

These two shows should both be seen again on a regular basis.

Mark Rothman, CEO of the OTN.

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