Adam-12
Extortion
TV Flash files “Extortion” as the first listed hour of season 4 — Adam-12 (1968–1975) on NBC, season 4, episode 1, aired 1971-09-15, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E01: listed hour 79 of 174 in the Adam-12 guide, first listed hour of season 4. It aired 1971-09-15 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Log 125: Safe Job” (S03E26). Next is “Million Dollar Buff” (S04E02).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Patrol starts with a call to a robbery at a bar and a car chase but the thieves escape. A call to a dry cleaners concerns the owner being extorted for protection money along with other shop owners who are Jewish survivors of the Holecaust. The dry cleaner wants to press charges but others are fearful of retribution. Two men are captured but two escape. Some searching turns up the car used in the robbery and a lead on the second car they used to escape. This is followed by a return call to the dry cleaners where the owner's panel truck is burning. During patrol they spot the second car used in the escape and a chase ensues resulting in their capture after Malloy comes close to taking a shotgun blast. They close out with another call to the dry cleaners where the owner has been attacked. With a tip from a nearby store owner they track down the two men responsible for the beating and destruction in the store.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Extortion sit in the Adam-12 guide?
S04E01 is listed hour 79 of 174 — first listed hour of season 4, season 4 episode 1.
When did Adam-12 S04E01 air?
Extortion aired 1971-09-15 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Do I need Dragnet first?
No. Mark VII sister spirit, not a sequel. Adam-12 is two-man patrol television: Malloy, Reed, and the next call.
In the series
Why this series still plays
One-Adam-12: Malloy and Reed on patrol in a black-and-white unit while Jack Webb keeps the moral grammar tight. Ride-along procedural before every badge show learned the radio-code poetry. Two officers closing the shift, case by case, with the calm of a training film that became a hit.
The black-and-white unit arrives before the siren. NBC, 1968–1975: Martin Milner's Officer Pete Malloy and Kent McCord's Officer Jim Reed in a patrol car that defined the two-man format, Jack Webb and R.A. Cinader's Mark VII shop keeping the moral grammar tight. Adam-12 is sister spirit to Dragnet: real LAPD consultation, radio-code poetry, shift-by-shift calls with by-the-book ethics. *Black-and-white paint as a silhouette, radio as jewelry, training-film calm as a press strategy.* Style is the plot. One-Adam-12…
Filed against
- Martin Milner as Officer Pete Malloy
Martin Milner’s Tod Stiles put a Corvette on actual American pavement in Route 66 — location drama when most series never left the lot — then patrolled Adam-12 as Malloy with Jack Webb’s moral grammar tight. Highway as character;…
- Kent McCord as Officer Jim Reed
Kent McCord's Officer Jim Reed made Adam-12 a ride-along before every badge show learned radio-code poetry — Malloy and Reed in a black-and-white unit, Jack Webb's moral grammar, case by case, shift by shift. TV Flash files him as 1970s…