.

the car junkie daily magazine.

.

Video Review: Adam 12


Video Review: Adam 12

Are Reed and Malloy both staring at that chick’s rack, or what?

Now you get to ask those kinds of questions at will, because seasons 2 through 7 of Adam 12 have now been released on dvd. Season 1 was available for the past few years through Universal, but now a company called Shout! has the license for the rest of them. We’ve read that Emergency! is coming, too.

If you’re not familiar with Adam 12, then you’ve hardly lived. It’s the series that was created after Dragnet by Jack Webb, and the first season reveals some of that style that’s unique to Webb, especially Malloy’s staccato delivery of the cop-car specs in the very first show. Adam 12 follows the exploits of beat officers Jim Reed and Pete Malloy on the streets of Los Angeles from 1968 to 1975.

For us 40-somethings, that makes it smack-dab in the middle of our TV development years. It’s no less fun these days, and there’s tons of sport in looking for great cars in the backgrounds. Season 2, in particular, has some good ones: on the frirst disc alone you’ll see a ’69 Camaro SS convertible, a ’69 Mach 1, and a ’69 Super Bee. Interestingly, you’ll see that any emblems on non-Chrysler vehicles have been covered in tape, or removed. It’s also funny to spot continuity problems with the ’68 and ’69 Plymouth Satellite cop cars used in the first few seasons. Lots of stock footage from ’68 was used in ’69, so they mix up the cars a lot. It’s also hilarious to see how often the background footage when they are riding in the car does not at all match the scenes when they get out of the car (especially when then switch from real locations to the Universal backlot). Even so, those of us who live in Los Angeles can spot plenty of familiar streets and landmarks.My own grammar school is in the opening credits and is featured in one of the later episodes.

For car-spotting or just for reliving a great old campy show, you’ve got to get Adam 12. It’s at all the regular video outlets or on Netflix.

Read more about the show and the cars at Wikipedia here.


  • Share This
  • Pinterest
  • 0