DRAGGED NET

DRAGNET
(Radio) 1949-1957 NBC
(TV) 1951-1959, 1967-1970 NBC

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DRAGGED NET
MAD #3, February 1953
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder

Dragnet has been parodied by MAD many times over the years. here's the very first one from when it was mostly known as a radio show. Here we see Elder in his chicken fat prime and an example of Kurtzman and Elder's Jewish upbringing.

"How's your mom, Ed?", a parody of the small talk on this show, became one of the many throwaway catchphrases they used.

Not much to talk about here as far as references, the story pretty much explains itself. Except maybe Burma-Shave signs, which were knee-high billboards by a roadside, each one giving the line of a poem and finally advertising the product in the last one.

This also might have been meant to be a regular cop story since MAD didn't do much parodying then and you can see by the lettering the characters' names were later added in. Stan Freberg's parody of the show was probably the best known of his bits. He also did a Christmas version.

DRAGGED NET
MAD #11, May 1954
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder

Second parody, this parodied the TV show, actually showing what Jack Webb looked like this time.

The "Domm-Da-Domm-Domm" of the theme became something they used in all parodies.

'Mark IV' was the name of the production company they often had at the end.
NIGHTWATCH
MAD #27, April 1956
w: Arnold Hayne
a: Bill Elder

Then when Harvey Kurtzman made it into a magazine and started using other writers, they did a third one. I have to say in all honesty I don't get it. I guess you had to be there.

TWO LITTLE MONSTERS
From Here to Insanity (Eh!) #8, February 1955
artist unknown

I think they're trying to parody MAD here as well.

DRAGNUT
Archie Comics #71, December 1954
artist unknown

Most parodies centered around the fact that Jack Webb's character was named Joe Friday, making all other characters named after days of the week.

DRAGNUT
Cracked #232, November 1987
w: Eel O'Brian (Mort Todd)
a: Stosh Gillespie (Daniel Clowes)

Around this time, Cracked was using The Uggly Family as recurring characters. The issues with them seem to be highly sought after collectors' items because they contain the earliest work of Daniel Clowes. Highly unlikely the average sixth grader in 1987 would know what Dragnet was but Todd and Clowes liked to make references to things they loved.

This parodies the later run of the TV show when Harry Morgan was Friday's partner.

Dragnet was also spoofed in popular cartoons.

A film adaptation was made in 1987, foreshadowing the flood in the 00s of TV dramas rebooted as comedies, and when Tom Hanks was primarily a comedy actor.