Adam-12
A Fool and His Money
TV Flash files “A Fool and His Money” as hour 123 of 174 in the TV Flash guide — Adam-12 (1968–1975) on NBC, season 5, episode 21, aired 1973-02-28, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E21: listed hour 123 of 174 in the Adam-12 guide, hour 21 of 24 in season 5. It aired 1973-02-28 (30 min). The listed hour before it is “Suspended” (S05E20). Next is “Anatomy of a 415” (S05E22).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Malloy has won $10,000 in a woman's shampoo naming contest and is being bombarded with mail at work and suggestions from Reed on how to invest the money but Malloy wants a new boat. Opening call is a loud noise complaint from an elderly gentleman about a new elderly female tenant and her Irish music. Malloy and Reed explain the complaint and introduce the couple to each other and quietly leave them together. While on patrol a sniper starts shooting and they call in support resulting in them shooting the sniper in a car while fleeing. A theft report call is a man in an expensive home that appears to have been stripped. In fact due to his financial ruin and three wives the only items left were two cameras and a TV that were stolen. A call about body in alley is a wino killed for his new tennis shoes. As they leave the scene the officers spot another wino wearing new tennis shoes sleeping it off in a junked car. Malloy realizing Reed has his best interests at heart presents Reed with a gift of a single share of stock worth $5 to develop a "nest egg".
Viewer FAQ
Where does A Fool and His Money sit in the Adam-12 guide?
S05E21 is listed hour 123 of 174 — hour 21 of 24 in season 5, season 5 episode 21.
When did Adam-12 S05E21 air?
A Fool and His Money aired 1973-02-28 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…