Almost nobody fights/struggles - Adam-12 (1968) Discussion

[–] mactach 12 years ago

Why bother watching it if it bugs you that much?

Nothing we can so about now since Adam-12 has been out of production for 37 years.

reply

[–] censorshipsucks06 12 years ago

Machtach - are you READING IMPAIRED?? I said "One of the few things that bugs me about Adam 12" get it? FEW things.

Point out to me where it indicates it bugs me 'so much' I might consider not watching it? Ass hole.

Thank's Captain Obvious for pointing out it's off the air too. Glad to see you can figure out how long as well. Shows you're not a complete idiot - just a JERK.

If you don't want to read ANY criticisms - go to FAN pages - not discussion boards.

reply

[–] ScotchRox 12 years ago

censorshipsucks06,

As I've pointed out to previous posters, 'mactach' is IMDb's board retard.

Take a look at hs posting history, just a few should convince you.

I've considered putting him on IGNORE, but it's like watching a train wreck...

*EDIT*
I now see that you've had words with him in the past.

Should I be worried because this 'tard enjoys many of the programs I enjoy...

reply

[–] censorshipsucks06 12 years ago

He's just another typical IMDB mental case - looking to prop up his damaged ego by going after other posters with his smarmy questions and what he THINKS are clever comments. So many of these clowns out here - it makes the IMDB experience a pain sometimes.

If you notice - RARELY if EVER does this particular troll ever join in any actual discussions. His main goal is to pick at other posters. What a sad existence.

reply

[–] censorshipsucks06 12 years ago

But back to the topic.

I wonder WHY they so rarely had anyone even remotely struggle once tackled or caught. They nearly always seem to - in an almost shrug your shoulders fashion - politely cooperate and submit to searchers and put their hands behind their backs so the cuff can be easily applied.

Just sort of odd - and one of the most unrealistic points of a show renowned for it's attention to realism/detail.

reply

[–] madman58 12 years ago

i remember one episode where reed and malloy went into some wrestlers house on a domestic call and he threw them around. ALSO, i too have run into a couple of people who get ALL there courage behind a keyboard. i think they call them LOSERS.

reply

[–] mike_7857 12 years ago

Yeah that one was good...they got tossed around pretty bad. My opinion would be back then on broadcast tv they couldn't show as much violence? People now a days get bored if a cop show doesn't have shoot outs and fights every 2 seconds...but back then people didn't need that to be entertained. I'm only 34 but I prefer classic t.v. shows like these...adam 12...emergency...etc

reply

[–] KayEn78 12 years ago

I got the first season of Adam-12 and enjoyed it very much. I ended buying three other seasons on DVD.

I have a long way to go with this series, but in answer to the question, it could've been the censors or the timing of an episode. Also, the focus of Jack Webb's shows was not the violence (even though we know there was plenty of it), but he wanted to educate, yet entertain and not go overboard with violence.

Mike, I'm also 34 and enjoy classic TV from the '60s and '70s, such as Dragnet, Emergency1 and now, Adam-12. It's great that others from my generation can acknowledge and enjoy these shows, even though we weren't around when they originally aired.

-Kristi

reply

[–] mike_7857 12 years ago

Yeah...I remember when i was 5..i would come home from kindergarten and watch emergeny...they were ofcourse re-runs but still a great show to watch as a kid. CHIPS is also a great one to watch...adam 12 ofcourse...I like most of the shows from then. Macgyver,knight rider,the fall guy, etc...

reply

[–] LesterFester 12 years ago

by - censorshipsucks06 on Mon Aug 20 ... virtually NO suspects ever seem to struggle once they are tackled after a chase

I don't know if it was because the money wasn't there or director quality but you find that in all the police shows of the 70's (Cannon, Mannix even H-50). Yesterday's A12 episode showed a number of teenagers breaking into a 'Rock Concert venue. What you saw was a group of teenagers trying to break into a ticket booth type building, a policeman appears behind them, the teenagers scatter. Then the same senario repeated 2 more times.

The thing I notice are the interior police staton shots. Everything is so clean and neat. Bulletin boards with few notices neatly arranged. Simple wood furniture perfectly arranged and no one is overloaded with paperwork.

UPDATE 08/30 INCLUDED H-50. MY REVISED OPINION WOULD EXCLUDE IT ... THE FIGHT SCEENES WERE MORE REALISTIC.

Levon Helm... The Best There Ever Was, The Best There'll Ever Be

reply

[–] Manth_Sigdaw 12 years ago

I'm sure it had something to do with the standards and practices of broadcast TV in the 1960s and early 70s. They likely wouldn't allow for such day in and day out violence and suspects brutally resisting arrest. It wasn't until later in the 1970s and then the 80s that you started to see the violence really escalate on TV. Then ofcourse in the late 80s probably the first ever reality based TV show, COPS, premiered and everyone got to see what real life arrests of drunk, trashy people can be like. I'm sure this all happened in the 1960s, we can see old footage of cops throwing tear gas at rioters and such, it just would have been frowned upon to show stuff like that on a dramatic TV series.

reply

[–] slackersmom 12 years ago

I concur with what some others have said. For one thing, the object of the show was to showcase patrol officers in a wide variety of situations, and show how they handle themselves. In fact, the whole series is almost a PR piece for the LAPD. (Which is fine, I think it did a great job portraying officers as humans and being as efficient and polite as possible.) Yeah, the criminals don't usually struggle once they're confronted by the cops, but that's not really the point of the show. Besides, the show is only a half-hour, which I find unusual, and they do often have perps who run, so that's not too far from struggling (and it's always Reed who gives chase).

I always have to chuckle when either Reed or Malloy says "Freeze, mister!" It's so... cheesy! :-p

reply

[–] Lima6 11 years ago

i have thought about that but i also see when they are chasing the guy into the ground they are using both arms to get just one of the guys arms behind his back and once you have that and start worrying about your arm being broken then perhaps they say blank it and dont resist, but i do see them, quite a few times, using both arms to just work one of the suspect's arms. And as for nowadays, there are some big cops, but there are also smaller cops nowadays, and more women cops, whereas back then i think the size was larger on average. i dont know if they would have used the tazing tools as much back then as they do now, but i dont think they would have. cops were supposed to be able to get on top of and handle a situation back then.
Thats just my observations, given the fairly unpleasant neighborhood i live in as my observation pool.

"Malt does more than Milton can in justifying God's ways to man."

reply

[–] charcas67 11 years ago

This evening I watched the Season 7 episode GTA and that one did offer a criminal who offered more resistance than usual. As always Reed was on foot chasing a gas station hold up man. This time the perp hid behind a garage with a two by four and was going to wack Reed with it, but Malloy got there in time to warn Reed. After he swung and missed, the perp than threw a tricycle at Reed and then gave chase, to no avail as Reed tackled him. But the perp did his best to resist having the cuffs slapped on him.

reply

[–] seldon913 11 years ago

Well, once Reed made the tackle that guy gave up. I think the OP is talking about something more like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbegd6Owd2Q
It's an old 5-0 episode with Richard Hatch as the bad guy and he struggles pretty good to the extent of even trying to throw a punch after his first hand is cuffed. Skip to about 2:45 into the clip.

reply

[–] ZoneFighter 11 years ago

Try watching CHIPS. Those motorcycle officers NEVER draw their guns.

reply

[–] rockmail 11 years ago

Yes, yes, yes! Bugs the hell out of me. Looks stupidly unrealistic.

No doubt driven by Jack Webb's overreaching desire to paint the police as angels and criminals as hopeless dullards.

It really does spoil the show tremendously.

reply

[–] slackersmom 11 years ago

Yes, I sort of agree. Sort of, because I understand the "non-resistance" being shown for reasons I mention in my earlier post. But I do agree w/ your assessment of Webb's tendency to portray LAPD in terms of stark black and white, with almost no shades of grey. He took a basically good theme about an important function of society (law enforcement), and proceeded to club viewers over the head with it: cops=guys in white hats who save the day, and lawbreakers= villains in black hats. (Actually, I see that more in Dragnet than I do A-12, as everyone Malloy & Reed ran into wasn't a scumbag druggie or evil murderer.)

However, due to the era when Adam-12 was produced, I think the "smoothness" and non-resistance during arrests by Malloy & Reed served an larger purpose--a bit extreme and exaggerated, possibly, but maybe necessary nonetheless. IMO

reply

[–] urgeking 10 years ago

I too have taken note of this surprisingly compliant behavior. You know, Webb might have been trying to be prescriptive rather than just descriptive. He may have been trying to send a message to the public, and to criminals in particular: "When officers have guns drawn and are ordering you to stand still, or when they have you face-down and are beginning to cuff you, THIS is the example of how to behave."

We'll probably never know if this actually did influence real people's behavior when they found themselves being arrested, but Webb (and his LAPD advisers) might have figured, "Hey, with so many people watching this show and (we hope) absorbing its lessons, we should give this a try-- it couldn't hurt!" Anyway, that's my theory.

reply

[–] rockmail 10 years ago

That's actually a pretty good point. Along with also not wanting to show his pretty boy cops getting their buts handed to them, they were "stars" after all, and it really wouldn't serve much purpose to destroying a bunch of uniforms and having to apply wound makeup all the time.

reply

[–] urgeking 10 years ago

True enough-- although it takes away a lot of suspense if you know the good guys are always going to win. Did the audience really want to see them come out on top with little or no struggle every single time? Well, maybe so, considering that this series was so popular for so many years.

That is, unless a lot of people were thinking, "Let's tune in tonight. Maybe this will be the episode where the tables finally get turned..."

reply