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The Worst Episodes of Dragnet

Every episode of Dragnet ranked from worst to best. Explore the Worst Episodes of Dragnet!

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Police Detective Sgt. Joe Friday and his partners investigate crimes in Los Angeles.

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Worst Episode
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    Dragnet Season 3 Episode 13 - Community Relations - DR-17
    6.5/10(122 votes)

    #1 - Community Relations - DR-17

    S3:E13

    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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. Dragnet Season 3 Episode 11 - Narcotics - DR-16
    6.7/10(145 votes)

    #2 - Narcotics - DR-16

    S3:E11

    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?

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Burt Prelutsky

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  3. Dragnet Season 3 Episode 8 - Public Affairs - DR-12
    6.9/10(137 votes)

    #3 - Public Affairs - DR-12

    S3:E8

    Joe and Bill are assigned to help arrange a press conference for the President of the United States at LAX.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. Dragnet Season 1 Episode 5 - The Masked Bandits
    7.1/10(197 votes)

    #4 - The Masked Bandits

    S1:E5

    Four bandits wearing red masks commit a series of robberies.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 21 - The Big Clan
    7.1/10(152 votes)

    #5 - The Big Clan

    S2:E21

    Sgt. Friday is offered a bribe to assist a gypsy family trying to gain control of the gypsy community.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. Dragnet Season 3 Episode 7 - Robbery - DR-15
    7.1/10(121 votes)

    #6 - Robbery - DR-15

    S3:E7

    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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  7. Dragnet Season 3 Episode 9 - Training - DR-18
    7.1/10(133 votes)

    #7 - Training - DR-18

    S3:E9

    Joe and Bill are temporarily assigned as 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 boyfriend and Joe must convince her to stay.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Robert C. Dennis

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  8. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 6 - The Big Frustration
    7.2/10(150 votes)

    #8 - The Big Frustration

    S2:E6

    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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 18 - The Big Prophet
    7.2/10(183 votes)

    #9 - The Big Prophet

    S2:E18

    Friday and Gannon confront "Brother" William Bentley at his Temple of the Expanded Mind. They think he is using his new age religion as a front to push drugs to the nearby elementary school.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. Dragnet Season 3 Episode 10 - Public Affairs - DR-14
    7.2/10(118 votes)

    #10 - Public Affairs - DR-14

    S3:E10

    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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  11. Dragnet Season 3 Episode 12 - Internal Affairs - DR-20
    7.2/10(147 votes)

    #11 - Internal Affairs - DR-20

    S3:E12

    Joe and Bill investigate a charge of police brutality 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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  12. Dragnet Season 1 Episode 10 - The Jade Story
    7.3/10(176 votes)

    #12 - The Jade Story

    S1:E10

    Over $200,000 worth of Imperial Jade is reported stolen in a burglary, and Friday and Gannon are on the case.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  13. Dragnet Season 1 Episode 16 - The Big Kids
    7.3/10(174 votes)

    #13 - The Big Kids

    S1:E16

    A gang of juvenile thieves have been stealing petty items in order to gain membership into an exclusive club.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  14. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 5 - The Big Neighbor
    7.3/10(173 votes)

    #14 - The Big Neighbor

    S2:E5

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  15. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 27 - The Big Gambler
    7.3/10(133 votes)

    #15 - The Big Gambler

    S2:E27

    Over $100,000 has been embezzled from an industrial company. An investigation of the employees leads Friday and Gannon to a habitual gambler.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  16. Dragnet Season 3 Episode 6 - Homicide - DR-06
    7.3/10(130 votes)

    #16 - Homicide - DR-06

    S3:E6

    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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Robert C. Dennis

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  17. Dragnet Season 3 Episode 27 - Intelligence - DR-34
    7.3/10(116 votes)

    #17 - Intelligence - DR-34

    S3:E27

    At a night school alumni party, Joe is approached 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 ATF to join the Militia to locate Militia’s cache of illegal automatic weapons.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:James Doherty

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  18. Dragnet Season 4 Episode 4 - D.H.Q. - Medical
    7.3/10(114 votes)

    #18 - D.H.Q. - Medical

    S4:E4

    Joe and Bill are working a medical detail at a hospital. They handle an old man whose hobby is sitting in hotel lobbies, question a man who brings in a dead woman, investigate a man who had writing a letter threatening to blow up a radio station, and try to get a dying declaration from a shooting victim.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Robert C. Dennis

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  19. Dragnet Season 4 Episode 12 - Bunco - $9,000
    7.3/10(116 votes)

    #19 - Bunco - $9,000

    S4:E12

    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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  20. Dragnet Season 4 Episode 13 - Narco - Missing Hype
    7.3/10(120 votes)

    #20 - Narco - Missing Hype

    S4:E13

    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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Michael Donovan

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  21. Dragnet Season 1 Episode 14 - The Subscription Racket
    7.4/10(171 votes)

    #21 - The Subscription Racket

    S1:E14

    Friday learns about a scam artist with a novel twist: he uses an authentic Congressional Medal of Honor to solicit magazine subscriptions.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  22. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 16 - The Big Shipment
    7.4/10(153 votes)

    #22 - The Big Shipment

    S2:E16

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  23. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 23 - The Squeeze
    7.4/10(145 votes)

    #23 - The Squeeze

    S2:E23

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  24. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 24 - The Suicide Attempt
    7.4/10(138 votes)

    #24 - The Suicide Attempt

    S2:E24

    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.

    Director:Jack Webb
    Writer:Unknown

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  25. Dragnet Season 2 Episode 25 - The Big Departure
    7.4/10(157 votes)

    #25 - The Big Departure

    S2:E25

    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.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Worst Episodes Summary

"Community Relations - DR-17" is the worst rated episode of "Dragnet". It scored 6.5/10 based on 122 votes. Directed by Jack Webb and written by Unknown, it aired on 1/2/1969. This episode scored 0.2 points lower than the second lowest rated, "Narcotics - DR-16".