Adam-12 and Dragnet to MeTV?

[LKellerIII]

Each episode probably has 10 - 12 minutes of actual original material in it acted by actors. Talk about low budget...

Webb was notorious for churning episodes out in 2-3 days, roughly half the time it took for other shows. Also, a number of entire episodes took place in a single room, which cut costs even further. If you notice the tight closeups and quick cuts back and forth, it was because most of the actors were encouraged to read their lines on cue cards so that times wasn't wasted on blown lines, etc.

I can confirm that - my father knew an actress named Virginia Gregg:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339615/.

She was an actress who always got a lot of work in TV, but never gained any real fame. She did a lot of work for Webb - usually playing cranky older women who would blather on until Friday demanded "just the facts, please ma'am"...or whatever.

She wasn't particularly attracted to her "craft" but she liked the income it provided. She knew that a job on a Webb produced show would be easy in and out - a few hours of easy work chewing the scenery and reading off cue cards. And she liked Jack personally - said he was a nice guy.

 

[FredLeonard]

I can confirm that - my father knew an actress named Virginia Gregg:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0339615/.

She was an actress who always got a lot of work in TV, but never gained any real fame. She did a lot of work for Webb - usually playing cranky older women who would blather on until Friday demanded "just the facts, please ma'am"...or whatever.

She wasn't particularly attracted to her "craft" but she liked the income it provided. She knew that a job on a Webb produced show would be easy in and out - a few hours of easy work chewing the scenery and reading off cue cards. And she liked Jack personally - said he was a nice guy.

She also appeared on the original series - playing cranky younger women.

 

[BD Sullivan]

Webb had his own stable of regulars he used, including Bobby Troup, who married Webb's ex-wife, Julie London. Maybe Jack was looking to keep the child support payments down as well. Troup and London, of course, ended up as co-stars on Webb's "Emergency."

http://www.badge714.org/dragnetcast.htm

 

[FredLeonard]

Troup's or London's income would have not effect on Webb's child support payments. Besides, by the time Emergency premiered, Webb's and London's children would no longer be entitled to child support from either parent as the result of a divorce. One of their daughters was working on the crew of Adam-12 at this time.