Scenes obviously shot on the backlot

The downtown/urban street scenes filmed on the backlot for daytime scenes do stick out (for night scenes the dark lighting helps obscure the studio nature of the sets somewhat). But I don't let it distract me--I just accept it as a matter of budget and maintaining full control of the set to get the scenes shot. The downtown backlot set was used quite a bit the first two seasons, but the later seasons do have more location shooting and sometimes they did venture to the real downtown LA for location shooting.

Another reason why the back lot sets really stick out is that one can binge watch Adam 12 these days (via DVD or streaming), unlike back in the show's first run when you had to wait a week (or the summer) for the show's next episode.

Ugh, I hate the studio lot scenes. As you say, after watching a car-tow scene, or a distance shot of the patrol car speeding down an actual LA street, the lot scenes are so.... fake. Especially the commercial district areas, where a call is to a liquor store or other business establishment. (Neighborhood street scenes aren't quite as obvious, for me, at least.) You can always tell a studio scene of a commercial area because the streets are never longer than about 50 yards before there's a turn or T-intersection. There's one set--I think it was in an episode about T.J., and he was chasing a guy who robbed someone, and Adam-12 was chasing him--where there is an inexplicable overhead arch on the narrow street. Looks so fake!

But I also agree that looking at these scenes with 21st-century eyes makes this so much more noticeable than it was "back in the day." And yes, if one only watched a single episode per week, these oddities wouldn't be nearly as obvious. For the time it was a well-done show.

What is funny is that even today, they are occasionally using the exact same backlot 'streets' in other shows.

Anyone who has been on the Universal Studios tour (a lot) or has lived in LA can tell the difference between real city locations and the backlot. It also doesn't help when you see the Munsters house on the street they are driving down. I had forgotten about that arch and it was from the monster movies of the 30s.

I can always tell when they have turned the corner and were on a city street and then they are suddenly on a backlot residential street. I get the same thing in a way when watching Emergency. I know the real station, which is actually Station 127 (not 51) is in Long Beach, (I see them come out the driveway and turn left or right and then there is a shot from inside the cab and they are suddenly on Lankershim in Burbank heading towards Universal. I saw the same thing with Chips. But anyone, really, that does not live in LA or been on the tour isn't going to be that aware. It does not take anything away for me. It actually makes me nostalgic for the time I lived in LA. Seeing all the places I used to go. I find myself going...I know where that is...I've been there. I even saw a house that I shot some scenes at when I was working on an AFI student film. I keep looking to see if they were ever newar my Aunts house but they never are.

I just watched the season 2 episode Astro, the one where Wells is on copter patrol and assists Malloy and Reed in nabbing some robbers. Great use of locations in this one...when real locations are used instead of the studio backlot, the show really popped. Not a surprise as the show went on, locations were used more and more as it made such a difference.