Friday is called back from vacation to work with his partner, Bill Gannon, on a missing persons case.
Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner Bill Gannon encounter a freaked-out young LSD user. This is the famous "Blue Boy" episode.
A neo-Nazi psycho has planted a bomb somewhere in L.A. Friday and Gannon have to find it.
Friday and Gannon help an employee rescue her kidnapped boss.
A new officer has been arrested for robbing a liquor store while on an undercover assignment.
Four bandits wearing red masks commit a series of robberies.
Two con men, posing as bank examiners, are bilking the elderly out of their life savings.
An elderly apartment manager is found to have been beaten to death with a hammer.
Friday and Gannon try to figure out a pattern to a series of candy store hold-ups. The solution comes when they discover that there are two suspects.
Gannon goes undercover as a buyer in order to trap fur theives.
Over $200,000 worth of Imperial Jade is reported stolen. Friday and Gannon determine the burglary was an inside job.
A police officer is shot while making a routine check on a pair of paroled convicts that are parked near a liquor store.
Friday and Gannon use newspapers, radio and TV to publicize their clues to the identity of the hit and run driver.
Friday goes undercover with the Department's chaplain in order to break up a gambling ring.
Friday learns about a scam artist with a novel twist: he uses an authentic Congressional Medal of Honor to solicit magazine subscriptions.
A Japanese widow is senselessly murdered, leaving her small daughter an orphan. Friday has a hard time controlling his emotions while seeking the killer.
A gang of juvenile thieves have been stealing petty items in order to gain membership into an exclusive club.
A dead man has been found in a locked room, along with a gun that could not have been the murder weapon.
A surly teenager throws acid on the back of another student (played by a teen-aged Jan Michael Vincent), then crashes a party armed with a live hand grenade.
Joe stops at an all night launderette to buy cigarettes and interrupts a burglar working the coin changer. When he shouts "Freeze," the criminal comes up shooting. Joe returns fire, hitting the man, who flees with the help of his girlfriend. He's later found dead. When SID tries to find the bullet fired at Joe, they come up empty and Joe faces a shooting board with no proof the man ever fired at him. A great surprise ending.
Three con artists have been swindling businessmen from out-of-town by posing as a prostitute and two policemen. The detectives set a trap as Gannon pretends to be a manufacturer from Lincoln Nebraska.
A nervy bank robber uses innocent women to help commit his crimes. Friday and Gannon are nearly sidetracked when one of the victims lies about her involvement and later proves to have a criminal record of her own.
In this lighthearted, well-written episode, Bill invites Joe to dinner and a football game at his home in Eagle Rock. The only problem: Gannon's neighbors keep interrupting the visit with petty, and not-so-petty, problems.
Sgt. Carl Maxwell, a frustrated fellow detective, goes AWOL; Friday and Gannon have three days to track him down before Maxwell loses his badge for good.
A series of daring daylight house burglaries are taking place; perpetrated by an octegenarian who uses the wedding and obituary notices in the paper to select his victims.
An elderly businessman, concerned about the welfare of his grandchild, informs Friday and Gannon that his daughter and son-in-law are using marijuana regularly. The young couple make no apologies for their lifestyle, which inevitably leads to disaster.
An ex-con named Steve Deal contacts Friday and Gannon when a classified ad that he placed, offering to do "anything" for money, results in an offer to commit murder. Friday goes undercover as Deal.
A woman real-estate agent is missing and turns up dead in a vacant home. The detectives' one suspect - the woman's ex-boyfriend - is cleared; then credit card bills for purchases made after the woman's death start appearing.
A purse-snatching dog? This is the case Friday and Gannon must solve. Making things more difficult, victims give different descriptions of the four-legged thief.
A female con-artist uses an evangelistic approach to lure buyers into her pyramid scheme. The Bunco division can't charge her with false advertising, so they prosecute her for operating a lottery.
Friday and Gannon investigate a scam involving a phony LAPD newsletter, which comes with a card for subscribers entitling the bearer to preferential treatment from the police.
An officer accused of taking a bribe has chosen Sgt. Friday to represent him at his trial board hearing. Witnesses saw the officer accept the money, but he insists it was for the payback of a loan made years ago.
A statue of the child Jesus was stolen from a church. Joe and Bill have to get it back by Christmas. They have less than 48 hours. Briefly appearing in this episode is Barry Williams, best known as Greg Brady on the 1970s sitcom THE BRADY BUNCH.
Drugs are found aboard a plane that has crashed in the San Fernando Valley. The pilot is quickly traced, but in order to force him to name his connection, Friday and Gannon ask the press to sit on the story for a few hours.
Two small girls, ages three and five, are missing. Their mother is certain that her ex-husband, an alcoholic, has kidnapped them. However, he is now in recovery and has no knowledge of the girls' whereabouts. The search seems hopeless until Friday and Gannon, acting on information from a former neighbor, follow a hunch.
Friday and Gannon are convinced that "Brother" William Bentley's Temple of the Expanded Mind is just a sham - a front for Bentley to sell LSD to the students of a nearby elementary school.
Citizens are full of praise for Officer Gideon C. Dengle - they want to bestow him with awards, honors and home-baked cookies. There's only one problem: there's no such officer in the LAPD.
A teenage runaway, intent on becoming a star, has instead wound up in pornographic films. Acting on behalf of the girl's aunt, Friday and Gannon try to find the young "starlet."
Sgt. Friday is offered a bribe to assist a gypsy family trying to gain control of the gypsy community.
When a nine-month old child is beaten, Friday and Gannon investigate the parents, who are more concerned about their failing relationship than their baby son.
An ex-con accused of extortion is interrogated. He calmly and smugly insists that he is innocent, but Friday and Gannon have a surprise for him: taped conversations and a voice analysis device.
Friday and Gannon learn that a young man has called his mother from Hollywood "to say goodbye." With the help of the man's sister, the two detectives trace the impending suicide to a hotel with over 1,200 rooms.
Petty theft from drug and hardware stores leads to a group of four teens who are determined to start their own nation on a remote island off the California coast.
Friday and Gannon are screening applicants for the Police Academy. One seems to have all the right qualifications, except that six months are missing from his application.
Over $100,000 has been embezzled from an industrial company. An investigation of the employees leads Friday and Gannon to a habitual gambler.
Community relations is the theme, as Friday and Gannon try to narrow the gap between the Department and the citizens it is sworn "to protect and to serve." The gap is especially wide between African-Americans and the primarily Caucasian LAPD, as demonstrated when a young - and slightly militant - black man barracades himself in his apartment rather than submit to a traffic warrant.
A biography of Jack Webb through the eyes of people who knew him. This is a bonus feature included on disc 6 of the second season DVD.
Joe and Bill appear on the TV talk show "Speak Your Mind" debating the topic "The Police, Who Needs Them?" with a professor and a hippie (played by Howard Hessman, though listed in the credits as Don Sturdy).
Joe and Bill are working the night watch of Juvenile division. They handle a run away boy from New York, an underage marriage, an abandoned baby, a boy on drugs, and a girl accused of stealing money.
Joe and Bill attend a meeting of the East LA Graduates Union, attempting to recruit recent minority high school graduates into the police academy. A black patrol officer joins their efforts until his house in vandalized and he decides to resign from the force. Joe tries to change his mind.
Joe and Bill are called back to work because of an emergency. It's April 4, 1968, and Dr Martin Luther King has been assassinated less than an hour ago. They are assigned to the police emergency control center to monitor potential unrest in the LA area
There is a police crackdown on dishonest tow truck operators. Joe and Bill are assigned to investigate 6 complaints against the same tow truck company.
Joe and Bill review the progress report of a homicide (thus the name of the episode). Joe has invited Bill and his wife to his apartment for dinner. The dinner is constantly interrupted by neighbors asking for advice and complaining about a loud party. One neighbor calls to say that someone is breaking into the coin boxes in the laundry room. Joe and Bill grab their guns and investigate.
Joe and Bill are working the robbery desk. They handle a variety of complaints about a truck hijacking, a bank robbery and a robbery of a neighborhood market. A woman complains about "thieving birds" and another thinks her wallet had been stolen, but misplaced it in her coat.
Joe and Bill are assigned to help arrange a press conference for the President of the United States at LAX
Joe and Bill are instructors at the Police Academy. They are teaching a class of women cadets. Joe is asked to assist a woman reporter who is writing a story about women in the police force. On of the cadets is being pressured to resign by her boy friend and Joe must convince her to stay.
Joe and Bill have been asked by a store owner to help him form a crime prevention group of neighborhood story owners. Most of the story owners are not convinced they need such a group until two robberies occur.
Someone is selling LSD to teens. Joe and Bill are asked to speak to a local High School group that want to form an anti drug club "Smart Teens". They plan to create posters and Joe gets a Disney artist to draw them. But will the kids follow through?
Joe and Bill investigate a charge of police brutallity against a patrolman. The patrolman was attempting to stop someone from driving drunk when things got out of hand and the drunk tears the patrolman's uniform. This is a crossover episode with Adam-12, taking place in Rampart Station and featuring appearances by Officers Pete Malloy and Jim Reed.
Joe and Bill are sent to a Community Relations conference at Lake Arrowhead with other police officers. Their task is to discuss ways of improving community relations, and in the process find a few officers that have bigoted views.
Joe and Bill are called to an apartment where the manager has found a young woman bound and dead. The 91 year old manager of the apartment building is a suspect until joe find out that the old man was chief of detectives in Chicago. Finger prints lead Joe and Bill to a couple.
Joe and Bill are assigned to the Business Office Division. A priest is in the division to observe its operation. Joe and Bill work a series of problems from a potential tidal wave, a wino, protesters, a suicide, and a lost boy.
The Captain ask Joe and Bill to investigate having dogs trained to sniff out narcotics. They contact a dog trainer to train dogs for the job. Joe and Bill do a demonstration for Judges to prove the effectiveness of using a dog to detect marijuana.
Joe has a new partner, Lt. Chris Drucker while Bill recovers from the flu. Joe and Chris are trying to catch bookies. Drucker is really working for the bookies and has been tipping them off when a raid is planned. Drucker tries to bribe Joe to help him.
A 15-year-old car thief is given a tour of the jail in an attempt to impress him of the consequences for choosing crime. Unfortunately, it doesn't work - the young man later kills someone with a shotgun.
Joe and Bill investigate someone who has fraudulently obtained disability checks. This person has been renting apartments and only using them as a mail drop. Joe and Bill meet with a group of apartment owners to ask for their help.
Joe and Bill are asked to investigate allegation of child abuse by his mother. The story deals with the difficulty of having a child removed from an abusive home.
A costumed thief calling himself "The Crimson Crusader" has been stealing comic books, movie posters and publicity photos of various superheroes.
The Captain assigns Joe and Bill to find the location of a high stakes poker operation that has been preying on visitors. Bill and Joe pose as farmers and check into a hotel where an agricultural convention is occurring.
An actress' pay checks have being stolen and someone have cashed them. Joe and Bill visit the actress' apartment and find her roommate the prime suspect. They try to track the roommate down, but are unsuccessful until her husband contacts them.
A child has been bitten by a dog and the child is allergic to the ant rabies shot. Joe and Bill have less than two hours to locate the dog.
An infant girl is found in a garbage can; Joe and Bill use the child's blanket to track down the mother.
Someone is embezzling from Summers Department Store by opening up false credit card accounts at the store. Joe and Bill figure it is an inside job and question employees in the credit department.
Joe is invited to a night school alumni party. Joe goes and is approached by one of the alumni to join the Fielder Militia, a right wing group. They want Joe to help one of the Militia’s members get a Federal firearms license. Joe works with the ATM to join the Militia to locate Militia’s cache of illegal automatic weapons.
Joe and Bill are assigned to the Medical Services Division. Two policemen have been shot. Joe and Bill must notify the wives.
A sniper shoots a man and a woman as they are leaving a printing plant. Joe and Bill narrow down the suspects to a college student who is part time employee of the printing plant and a fan of the writings of the French writer Baudelaire.
Joe and Bill are working the Special Investigation Unit. Informant “Black 10” asks for a meeting with Joe and Bill and gives them a tip about a bartender who is fencing stolen jade ring. Joe and Bill set up a sting to recover the ring and other stolen jewelry.
Joe and Bill are working a medial detail at a hospital. They handle an old man who's hobby is sitting in hotel lobbies, question a man who brings in a dead woman, investigates a man who had writing a letter threatening to blow up a radio station and try to get a dieing declaration from a shooting victim.
An old woman has all her possessions including her cane stolen by her grandson, "Mister Daniel Lumis". Joe and Bill try to locate Lumis and find a trail of bigamy and thievery.
Joe and Bill are working Juvenile Narcotics Division and find a 12 year old under the influence of narcotics. They go to the boy’s school and conduct a class for teachers on how to identify narcotics. They discover that a ninth grader is selling the narcotics in school and find that his father is the source of the drugs.
Joe and Bill investigate a dead body found in a rundown apartment building. A half eaten peanut butter sandwich and a knife are found at the scene of the crime. A neighbor says that he saw a man and woman running out of the apartment. The man and woman come back and tell Joe and Bill that it was self defense. Joe looks for evidence that will prove or disproves the alibi.
Joe and Bill investigate a missing high school student. They find that both the student and her older sister are missing. However, the apartment manager and neighbor say that there is no younger sister. Joe and Bill must find the truth.
Joe and Bill are in court as arresting officers of three burglars. One of the prosecution witnesses is out of town and has developed car trouble and can’t return in time. Can a case still be made against the three burglars without the witness’ testimony?
The warden of a Colorado prison has notified the department that an inmate is about to be paroled, but there is a hold from LA because of an outstanding warrant. Joe and Bill investigate whether there is still a case after 15 years.
Burglaries are happening and the thieves are leaving a red cloth at each crime scene. Joe and Bill respond to another break in at a chemical company and a safe company. Joe and Bill stake out the chemical company and catch an unexpected pair of thieves.
Charlie Feeney, a wino police informant, calls Joe and claims he was swindled out of $9,000. The problem is the money wasn't his. Feeney turns the money over to someone claiming to be a private detective whose client is a big Las Vegas gambler. Joe and Bill track down the phony detective and start looking for the rightful owner of the money.
A teenage Hype from a nice home has missed his parole officer meeting. Joe and Bill are asked to locate the teenager before he starts up his habit.
A woman befriends elderly people and then steals from them. Joe and Bill contact a radio personality and ask to have him talk about the scam. The radio broadcast turns up a lead, and a stakeout is set up where Bill poses as an invilid.
There is a multiple homicide at a rooming house. When Joe and Bill arrive, they find two dead in the lobby near a broken TV set and the manager has been shot and is near death. The manager mumbles the words "oft one" to Joe as he is taken away to the hospital. Bill and Joe start searching for clues and what the managers word mean.
A victim of a burglary calls and tells Joe she forgot to report one of the items that was stolen. A pawn shop reports receiving one of the stolen items and it leads to a drug dealer. He's not the thief, but Joe has him tailed and the dealer leads them to an unexpected person.
Bill's wife is out-of-town, and Bill invites Joe home for the weekend. They have dinner and play poker with some friends. A woman selling magazines shows up, and Joe and Bill suspect a scam.
A narcotic called "uppers" is being sold to juveniles. Joe and Bill must find who is making the pills and shut the operation down.
Dogs are disappearing from cars parked at the El Centro shopping center. Joe and Bill suspect that the dogs are being stolen to get a reward for the dogs return.
Joe and Bill investigate the identity of a dead 23 year old woman found under the Venice Pier. They check missing person reports to try to identify the woman, and they use a ring she was wearing and a piece of paper found on the body to track down the identity.
Friday and Gannon question a Park Ranger about some stolen checks.
Joe is enrolled in night school and is taking a sensitivity class. The class does not know Joe is a cop until Joe busts one of his classmates for possession of Marijuana. The professor threatens to give Joe an F for the bust. He puts removing Joe up for a vote by the class. An unexpected classmate comes to Joe's aid.
Two of the department's veteran homicide detectives are accused of stealing $800 from a dead man. Joe and Bill investigate and try to find a missing receipt that would clear the detectives.
Joe and Bill investigate a holdup at a small neighborhood grocery store. Joe gets a tip from a woman that the robber was her husband. The husband is cleared. Another supermarket robbery occurs and the wife again accuses her husband. He is cleared again. The wife continues to insist after every robbery that her husband did it.
A furniture store has been burglarized overnight and the thief took $1900 from a locked safe. The store's secretary find a lead and Joe uses it to track down a "baseball fan".
Joe and Bill investigate a series of victims. An elderly man has been stabbed to death in his hotel room. An elderly is assaulted and her purse stolen. A store is robbed and the owner is stabbed. Rights are given to the criminals, but there are no rights for the victims.
Jack Webb last appeared as Sergeant Joe Friday on the Jack Benny Second Farewell Special which aired on January 24, 1974. Webb and Dragnet co-star, Harry Morgan as Officer Bill Gannon performed a comedic skit with Jack Benny involving an alleged 484 PS-Purse theft. Webb's daughter Stacy recalled, "Dad was not only a lifetime fan of Jack Benny, he was also a longtime friend and considered it an honor to make an appearance on the show."
An elderly couple is brutally beaten and the trail leads police to a former handy man.
