How Did “Adam 12″ Do In The Ratings
A few years ago, when the last Matrix movie was released, there was a bit during a frenzied chase scene set on an LA freeway. A radio in a now empty squad car squawked out, “1 Adam 12, 1 Adam 12 see the man at…” Sadly, that golden nugget of television nostalgia went right over the heads of the primarily young audience, but I laughed at that lovely little gift. That unknown dispatcher’s voice is one of the best remembered and oft repeated catchphrases of ’60′s television, right up there with “Beam me up Scotty.”
Adam 12 was the from the Jack Webb factory of police procedurals that marked the shift from fluffy and unrealistic portrayals of crime solving to a somewhat grittier. more factual level. It was television verite and the American viewing public was ready for it. During it’s seven year run, Adam 12 regularly cracked the Nielsen top 10 alongside other favorites like the Mary Tyler Moore Show and Gunsmoke.
The series followed two beat cops, veteran Pete Malloy and rookie Jim Reed, tackling a variety of crimes large and small. The show didn’t back away from topics previously unseen on TV cop shows such as drug use, gang membership and domestic violence but confronted them head on while hewing to the real life procedures used by the police. This new and candid view of police work did not drive away the viewers as was originally feared by the network but rather reinvigorated the genre which attracted a new, younger demographic.
By today’s standards, Adam 12 seems a bit quaint and old fashioned, so it is frequently overlooked when debating our cultural TV landmarks. However, without Adam 12 future critical and commercial hit shows like Hill Street Blues and Law & Order might not have come along.