About this season
Follows the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from the police term "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.
Episodes (39)
1. The Big Pipe
Aired 2 September 1955 • 30 min
A young woman is beaten to death with a led pipe and left in an empty office.
2. The Big Chet
Aired 9 September 1955 • 30 min
3. The Big No Rain
Aired 16 September 1955 • 30 min
4. The Big Lift
Aired 23 September 1955 • 30 min
An organized gang of shoplifters is looting large department stores in the city.
5. The Big Confession
Aired 30 September 1955 • 30 min
A man walks into the station and tells Friday that he wants to confess to a murder, but the cops have a hard time varifying his story.
6. The Big Gap
Aired 7 October 1955 • 30 min
A pawn shop owner alerts Friday and Smith when a man claimed to have purchased an expensive ring that turns out to be junk and then asked the pawn shop owner to sell him a gun.
7. The Big Look
Aired 14 October 1955 • 30 min
A woman is dragged from her home and badly beaten by an unknown attacker.
8. The Big Glasses
Aired 21 October 1955 • 30 min
A housewife, Ella Ryburn, reports to Friday and Smith that she cannot contact her mother, who is married to Alfred Rudolph Shroder. When he is questioned, Shroder claims his wife left him and that, out of shame, he sold their house and put her items in storage.
9. The Big Bird
Aired 28 October 1955 • 30 min
Sgt. Friday investigates a robber who only targets pet stores and homes that have pet birds.
10. The Big Laugh
Aired 4 November 1955 • 30 min
A con man makes lonely women fall for his charms, then steals their money and disappears.
11. The Big Smoke
Aired 11 November 1955 • 30 min
An elderly couple is brutally beaten and the trail leads police to a former handy man.
12. The Big Bounce
Aired 18 November 1955 • 30 min
Joe Friday searches for a check forger who has been using the name of the old-time movie villain Parker Allington... who died three years ago.
13. The Big Shot
Aired 25 November 1955 • 30 min
A night club owner is shot down and there are no witnesses to the crime.
14. The Big Locker
Aired 2 December 1955 • 30 min
Friday and Smith happen to catch a man trying to sell a stolen ring at a pawn shop.
15. The Big Note
Aired 9 December 1955 • 30 min
An anonymous note leads Friday and Smith to a group of teenage drug users and their neglectful parents.
16. The Big Genius
Aired 16 December 1955 • 30 min
Friday and Smith investigate what seems to be the perfect crime.
17. The Big Reminisce
Aired 30 December 1955 • 30 min
During a quiet New Year's shift, Friday and Smith remember some of their past cases and why it is they became cops.
18. The Big Tour
Aired 6 January 1956 • 30 min
19. The Big Sisters
Aired 13 January 1956 • 30 min
An elderly woman fakes a burglary report so she can get attention from the police and the media.
20. The Big Ruling
Aired 20 January 1956 • 30 min
21. The Big Fall Guy
Aired 27 January 1956 • 30 min
Friday and Smith are on the trail of a robbery suspect that has robbed two stores.
22. The Big Set
Aired 3 February 1956 • 30 min
A city councilman is beaten and robbed by two men outside a bar. When he dies from his injuries, Friday and Smith feel pressure to find the killers.
23. The Big Child
Aired 10 February 1956 • 30 min
A two-year-old child after drinking bleach from under the sink. Friday and Smith are unable to locate the mother for questioning.
24. The Big Slug
Aired 17 February 1956 • 30 min
A liquor store owner is shot and killed during a botched robbery, but police can find no trace of the fatal bullet.
25. The Big Daughter
Aired 24 February 1956 • 30 min
Friday and Smith investigate a missing persons report.
26. The Big No Suicide
Aired 2 March 1956 • 30 min
Friday gets a call from a former mental patient who is threatening to kill himself and his family.
27. The Big Siege
Aired 9 March 1956 • 30 min
Police find themselves in a stand-off when an armed bank robber takes a woman hostage in her home.
28. The Big Mama
Aired 16 March 1956 • 30 min
29. The Big Revision
Aired 23 March 1956 • 30 min
Friday and Smith hit a blank wall when a burglary suspect refuses to admit where he hid his stash.
30. The Big Ex-Blonde
Aired 30 March 1956 • 30 min
Friday goes undercover to catch brothers who steal people's money by posing as real-estate agents.
31. The Big Bobo
Aired 6 April 1956 • 30 min
A police officer is suspended from duty when he is accused of taking a bribe in exchange for a prisoner's release.
32. The Big Rush
Aired 13 April 1956 • 30 min
Two bandits turn cop killer when they gun down an off-duty policeman during a tavern hold-up.
33. The Big Setup
Aired 20 April 1956 • 30 min
An informant tips off police to a shipment of heroin coming into the country. Friday goes under cover to bust open the ring.
34. The Big Deal
Aired 27 April 1956 • 30 min
Friday and Smith are investigating a rash of car thefts. The stolen cars are being sold with forged pink slips.
35. The Big Wish
Aired 4 May 1956 • 30 min
A teenage boy turns himself in and confesses to being an addict, but he refuses to give up the names of his friends who supplied him.
36. The Big Hat
Aired 11 May 1956 • 30 min
A young man is found hiding in an empty train car with the strangled body of an older woman next to him.
37. The Big Housemaid
Aired 18 May 1956 • 30 min
38. The Big Gift
Aired 25 May 1956 • 30 min
39. The Big Salvage
Aired 1 June 1956 • 30 min