Posing Robots

I have watched a few episodes of "Dragnet", and written about it here at least once. It's a peculiar show. It's probably fair to say that it's a pretty pure expression of Jack Webb's vision. It's a very establishment-minded show. The characters are all super-square cops, criminals who are almost as square, or cartoonish hippies. There's little action to the show, and the so-called crackling dialogue is just people talking fast.

One of the most fascinating aspects of the show is the time allotted to showing the human side of the officers. That's because they don't really have a human side. Imagine if someone tried to prove they were human by cutting open their arm, only to reveal motor oil and whirring gears. It's funny that they would be so confident that you'd be impressed by the depth of their humanity considering what they knew would be revealed. Then again, maybe that person wouldn't have known.

It's like that with Detectives Friday and Gannon. The latter comes close to seeming like a real person in those scenes. He occasionally cracks a real smile, unlike the fake ones that are the best Friday can muster. He also seems to have fun and references personal interests. By contrast, Friday seems driven only by the bland duty of law and order. He is unmarried and unburdened by any apparent interests outside of his work.

Those are the two men whose allegedly more personal side we are subjected to for several minutes of the episode. They'll be talking about how they're having dinner that night at Friday's house, and it sounds like a couple of POW's bluffing their way through a conversation with a guard as they escape the prison. They're just grimly, desperately trying to sound relaxed and normal. It's the most gripping part of the show.