History Series / AdamTwelve

** K or King - Investigative unit, generally from HQ.

** "Somebody Stole My Lawn": Some guys dressed as pool cleaners stripped a freshly-seeded lawn from someone's property. Malloy points out that municipal rights of way mean the lawn actually belongs to the city, making it a felony: Grand Theft Real Estate. Reed puts the report out on the radio, which the dispatcher relays, causing some confused reactions:

** "Somebody Stole My Lawn" has a scene where Reed and Malloy have stopped a couple teens suspected of holding stolen credit cards. Reed takes one suspect and Malloy takes the other. It's very routine and casual until the suspect with Reed drops his wallet and starts to reach for it. In a flash, Malloy has his pistol out and with deadly seriousness tells the guy to stop moving. He goes over, searches the suspect's boots, and finds a switchblade that the guy was reaching for.

* CallSign: For radio brevity, every unit is assigned a call sign which details the division, unit type and patrol area.

** An episode involving the LA County Sheriffs' Department also notes the different "10-code" system used by the sheriffs.

** "Someone Stole My Lawn" has a scene where Reed and Malloy have stopped a couple teens suspected of holding stolen credit cards. Reed takes one suspect and Malloy takes the other. It's very routine and casual until the suspect with Reed drops his wallet and starts to reach for it. In a flash, Malloy has his pistol out and with deadly seriousness tells the guy to stop moving. He goes over, searches the suspect's boots, and finds a switchblade that the guy was reaching for.

** "Grand Theft Real Estate" has a scene where Reed and Malloy have stopped a couple teens suspected of holding stolen credit cards. Reed takes one suspect and Malloy takes the other. It's very routine and casual until the suspect with Reed drops his wallet and starts to reach for it. In a flash, Malloy has his pistol out and with deadly seriousness tells the guy to stop moving. He goes over, searches the suspect's boots, and finds a switchblade that the guy was reaching for.

** A big no-no in Jack Webb land. In the episode "A Dead Cop Can't Help Anyone", recurring officer Ed Wells is characterized as a cop of the cowboy variety. He learns his lesson... via shotgun. He lives and is reeled in a bit, but he's still an almighty JerkAss.

** Gus Corbin, a rookie Reed is saddled with in the episode of the same name, has some of these tendencies. He gets chewed out twice for taking reckless chances and "playing with the Academy's money" - once for going into a building without waiting for backup, and again for chasing an armed suspect without backup ''and'' without his gun.

-->'''Malloy:''' Who do you think you are, Sergeant York?
-->'''Reed:''' Got in behind them. Nothing to it, really.
-->'''Malloy:''' Really. You could have been killed. [[TranquilFury When I give you orders, boy, you obey them. Understand?]]

* WhatTheHellHero: In "X-Force", Malloy allows a SmugSnake child molester to get him riled enough to use excessive force. The long dénouement is about the consequences.

* AlwaysOnDuty: Webb did his best to avert this. It is made clear that our main characters are one team out of many working one shift out of many and that just as much happens off-camera as on.

* MoodWhiplash: "Tell Him He Pushed Back a Little Too Hard" starts out as a fairly lighthearted episode, showing Reed and Malloy's frustration with repeatedly being called to intervene in a feud between two neighbors and their jointly owned boat. [[spoiler: Until one neighbor finally snaps and murders the other.]]

PoliceProcedural, featuring Martin Milner as Officer Peter J. Malloy and Kent [=McCord=] as Officer James A. Reed, two Los Angeles cops partnered in a patrol car with the call sign "Adam-12". Produced by Creator/JackWebb of ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'' fame (and arguably a SpiritualSuccessor to that show), ''Adam-12'' was scrupulously accurate about police procedures of the period, to the point that several episodes were used in police academies as instructional films. The sense of realism was aided by casting actual LAPD dispatcher Shaaron Claridge as the unseen voice whose frequent calls of "One Adam Twelve! One Adam Twelve!" were virtually emblematic of the show.

The series ran 174 episodes on Creator/{{NBC}} between 1968 and 1975, accompanied by a comic book adaptation from [[Creator/GoldKeyComics Gold Key]]. There was a failed InNameOnly {{Revival}} in 1990-91 (not to be confused with the 1989 TV movie ''Nashville Beat'', a SpiritualSuccessor starring Milner and [=McCord=] as former partners now working in Tennessee).

* VerySpecialEpisode: The season three episode "Log 105: Elegy for a Pig." It's made more as a documentary. The regular opening credits were replaced by Jack Webb reading them over a black screen. Martin Milner narrated the episode in character. The policeman the episode revolves around, Tom Porter, had not been seen on screen before despite being a friend of Malloy and Reed's, going through the police academy with the former. No lines are spoken by any character on screen. Also, the two-parter "Clear with a Citizen" which features a woman named Edna Dixon, later revealed to be a Police Commissioner. The character is actually representative (as noted in a Special Thanks in the end credits) of LAPD Commissioner Marguerite P. Justice: at the time the ''only'' female police commissioner in the United States.

* VerySpecialEpisode: The season three episode "Log 105: Elegy for a Pig." It's made more as a documentary. The regular opening credits were replaced by Jack Webb reading them over a black screen. Martin Milner narrated the episode in character. The policeman the episode revolves around, Tom Porter, had not been seen on screen before despite being a friend of Malloy and Reed's, going through the police academy with the former. No lines are spoken by any character on screen.

* HappilyMarried: Jim and Jean Reed. Frequently averted with couples encountered on calls, who are often enmeshed in the MasochismTango or perplexing relationships where there is just NoAccountingForTaste.

* {{Expy}}: Picture [[Franchise/{{Dragnet}} Joe Friday]] in his uniform days. That's Malloy. Also, the team dynamic of happily-married X/confirmed-bachelor-playboy X is a typical feature of many other Jack Webb shows, including ''Franchise/{{Emergency}}'' and ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}''.

* {{Crossover}}: with several other Jack Webb productions: ''Franchise/{{Dragnet}}'', ''Franchise/{{Emergency}}'', and the short-lived Robert Conrad vehicle, ''The D.A.''

** In addition, sections of the Penal Code are used as code numbers for various criminal incidents. Frequently-cited sections include 211 (robbery), 415 (disturbing the peace), 459 (burglary), and 502 (driving under the influence).

* GettingMyOwnRoomPlot: a string of small item thefts in a neighborhood leads the officers to a kid who stole the stuff and set it up in a cave because his stepdad wouldn't give him his own room. The problem is, the cave collapses and the boy nearly dies.

--->'''Malloy''': Reds and Muscatel. [[TooDumbToLive Can't you find a faster way to kill yourself?]]