Adam-12
The Wednesday Warrior
TV Flash files “The Wednesday Warrior” as the last listed hour of season 4 — Adam-12 (1968–1975) on NBC, season 4, episode 24, aired 1972-03-15, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S04E24: listed hour 102 of 174 in the Adam-12 guide, last listed hour of season 4. It aired 1972-03-15 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Eyewitness” (S04E23). Next is “Dirt Duel” (S05E01).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Albert Porter, Reed's friend in the reserves is on his first day of patrol partnered with Officer Wells. Wells is not impressed with his geeky partner. First call is to a park where they advise a young group where they can legally camp. Second call is a bank robbery where they are the backup to Wells and Porter. The robbery seems to fit a pattern of other crimes where the robber is always different, wears a backpack, and is young. Reed suspects a car they pull over for a broken brake light. Malloy believes the young man to be okay but Reed spots a problem in their story leading to their arrest. Reed and Malloy see Wells and Porter with a traffic stop and stop to check out the situation. Porter accidentally backs the stopped car into their patrol car. Malloy and Reed are called to another bank robbery where they corner the suspect and learn that he is wearing a bomb and is being forced to holdup the bank. The man behind the robberies forces the suspect to flee with him in a car chase. At a dead end the man tosses the backpack to Wells trying to hold him hostage. Porter suspects a fake bomb and yanks it away from Wells.
Viewer FAQ
Where does The Wednesday Warrior sit in the Adam-12 guide?
S04E24 is listed hour 102 of 174 — last listed hour of season 4, season 4 episode 24.
When did Adam-12 S04E24 air?
The Wednesday Warrior aired 1972-03-15 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…