Adam-12
Airdrop
TV Flash files “Airdrop” as hour 105 of 174 in the TV Flash guide — Adam-12 (1968–1975) on NBC, season 5, episode 3, aired 1972-09-27, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E03: listed hour 105 of 174 in the Adam-12 guide, hour 3 of 24 in season 5. It aired 1972-09-27 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “The Late Baby” (S05E02). Next is “Lost And Found” (S05E04).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Reed and Malloy spend most of their time in the countryside surrounding Los Angeles. Among their more mundane tasks is to stop an erratic driver under the influence of drugs and alcohol. However, the bigger catch is alerted to them by Teri, a girl on horseback, who saw a light plane land in secluded field. Reed and Malloy investigate to see the plane and a departing jeep off in the distance. When they arrive just in time as the plane is about to take off, they flag the plane to a halt. The rented plane is piloted by Paul Stocker, a cocky but "clean" individual who had all the right answers as to why he landed in the field. Although they know he was up to no good, they have nothing to hold him on so let him go. They later learn from Sgt. Marco and Det. Edwards of the DEA that this scenario has all the hallmarks of a new Mexican drug smuggling ring, the use of the rented plane a device to feign ignorance by the pilot if anything is found on the plane itself. Thus the only way to stop the smugglers is to catch them in the act of transferring the actual drugs at the drop offs. Luckily a few days later, Reed and Malloy have a chance encounter with Stocker. From that encounter, they run a check on some license plates which leads them to the jeep; the DEA officials now can tail the jeep for whenever the next drop is to take place. Reed and Malloy ask to be there when the bust is made just to see the smug look on Stocker's face wiped off.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Airdrop sit in the Adam-12 guide?
S05E03 is listed hour 105 of 174 — hour 3 of 24 in season 5, season 5 episode 3.
When did Adam-12 S05E03 air?
Airdrop aired 1972-09-27 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…