Dragnet, 2 DVD Set (16 Classics Episodes)

There are sixteen episodes of the 1950s Dragnet series on the two DVDs in this set. The series ran for about seven years and produced more than 200 episodes, so this is just a sampling of them. They do not appear on these discs in the order they originally aired. That said, there is some good stuff here. A number of familiar actors appeared as guests in these episodes, some before they became famous. It can be fun to recognize the likes of Carolyn Jones, Martin Milner, and Lee Marvin while you watch TV's first great police drama series. The picture and sound quality varies at times, largely due to the age and condition of the source materials, but is generally pretty good. The original theme music has not been removed or tampered with (a plague of some budget DVDs), and the producers of this set have interspersed a handful of vintage commercials in the program, one after about every second episode. The commercials are fun, and several of them feature Jack Webb hawking cigarettes, himself so sold on smoking that he died of the effects of it in 1982. The price of this set is reasonable, considering there is about seven hours of material over the 2 DVDs. If you like Jack Webb, the Dragnet shows, or just 1950s TV, this is a good choice.