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"'Adam-12"' is a television program which ran from 1968 until 1975 on NBC. The program concentrated on the daily activities of a pair of Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles LAPD|police officers, veteran Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and rookie Jim Reed (Kent McCord), and to a lesser extent Sergeant William "Mac" MacDonald (William Boyett). The show was produced by Jack Webb, who also was behind ''Dragnet (series)|Dragnet'' and ''Emergency!''. The series was nominally considered a spin-off of Webb's ''Dragnet 1967'', and the Reed and Malloy characters appeared on episodes of the parent program.

Story settings

In the pilot episode, seven-year veteran Malloy is planning to resign from the police department following the death of his partner, who was killed in the line of duty while trying to foil an armed robbery. Malloy is persuaded to stay on and train a new partner: rookie officer Jim Reed, fresh out of the police academy and a two-year stint in the Army. Reed has a lot of potential, but is green and overeager. At the end of the pilot episode, Reed disobeys Malloy's direct order, but succeeds in arresting several armed persons. Malloy yells at him; however, the Division's Watch Commander, Malloy's one-time training officer (played by veteran character actor and voiceover announcer Art Gilmore, who also narrated the openings to the 1955-59 TV series ''Highway Patrol (TV series)|Highway Patrol''), reminds Malloy that he was once an eager young rookie, much like Reed. Malloy takes it on himself to mold Reed into one of Los Angeles' "finest," which, as evidenced by later episodes, he does.

''Adam-12'' episodes centered on Malloy and Reed's maturing skills and relationship as patrol partners, and their shared experiences. Both would be wounded in the line of duty, kidnapped, and held hostage (separately and together), and face disciplinary measures for their mistakes. Car chases and shoot-outs occurred, but with less frequency than in other TV cop series. A typical episode involved Reed and Malloy encountering people and places on their daily patrol beat, with incidents ranging from humorous to deadly serious. Sometimes a common incident or theme is explored throughout the episode, or incidents therein. Other episodes focused on mistakes of rookie, and sometimes more experienced, officers.

A memorable 1970 episode, "Elegy for a Pig," detailed Pete Malloy's earlier relationship with his best friend from the police academy (Officer Tom Porter, played by Mark Goddard), starting from the stormy night that Porter was killed in the line of duty, and going back to their shared experiences as LAPD cadets in the early 60's, before ending with Tom Porter's full-LAPD-honors funeral. Among some of the one-time-only features of this episode were that it used relatively little background music, especially over the opening credits (which included a voiceover by Jack Webb) and end credits. There was also no on-screen dialogue in the half-hour, episode, except for Pete Malloy's narration.

In later years (after the patrol car switches from Plymouth Belvedere to AMC Matador), Reed completed his probationary period, and was granted regular LAPD Officer status, and Malloy was promoted to Field Training Officer ("Officer-3", ranking one step below Sergeant, with two chevrons/star patches on his shirt-sleeves). The duo also became members of their division's SWAT team (a then-relatively new concept pioneered by the LAPD) and were shown in that capacity for a handful of episodes.

In the latter part of the seventh and final season it is strongly implied that Malloy will become the Division's new Patrol Sergeant/Watch Commander (after he fills in for an ailing Sgt. Mac on at least two episodes), and Reed will attain Detective status, after a successful plainclothes stint in LAPD's Narcotics Division as detailed in the final two episodes.

Pete Malloy's birthdate is March 17 ("Log 111").

Production history

Adam-12

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