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The Theme Song

  • You know the tune. You know you love it.
    • The 2003 version has an incredibly awesome remix of the theme tune. It is gorgeous.

Radio

  • In #7, "Attempted City Hall Bombing", the final plan for Romero to get the bomb away from the terrorist: Romero climbs along the ledge of the building — with no safety ropes, and the wind blowing hard — from the next room over to the unlocked window behind the perpetrator in order to knock him out before he can pull the trigger on the bomb. (The episode was remade twice: first as "The Big Bomb" on the radio, then as "The Human Bomb" for the first episode of the TV version.)
  • In #61, "The Big Actor", when Friday and Romero are Perp Sweating their lead suspect on the set of a film crew doing a cop movie.
  • In #72, "The Big Meet", when Friday manages to smuggle a gun into the meet without breaking cover, and thereby get the drop on the suppliers.
  • Real Life example: After ".22 Rifle for Christmas" (about the accidental shooting of a child), the NRA complained. In response, both the LAPD and Webb refused to back down and said they were willing to put on more episodes preaching against giving guns to children.

Revival

  • In "Burglary - Mister," Friday telling Smug Snake Mister Daniel Loomis that where he's going, there are no 'Misters', only numbers.
  • How Gannon and Friday bust the phony bank examiners:
    Phony Bank Examiner: We always carry our badges!
    (Shows his badge from his case. Cut to Friday's palm with his own badge in it.)
    Friday: So do we! You're under arrest!
  • Friday warning a mother who has been abusing her child that he has her eye on her.
  • Friday's famous speech to Paul Culver in "The Interrogation," which fans have given the title "To Be a Cop." See the quotes page or watch it here.
  • At the end of "The Shooting," Friday and Gannon have two ex-cons in custody on suspicion that they shot a police officer after holding up a liquor store. Believing the police officer dead, both of them smugly claim that with no witnesses, the cops have nothing to connect them to either crime. Friday opens the door to interrogation to reveal the police officer standing there, alive and well. One of the perps immediately confesses. Afterwards, the police officer tells Friday he still doesn't remember anything about being shot. Friday tells him that thanks to the confession, recorded on tape, there's now no need for him to remember.
    • When they raid the flophouse where the suspects have been holed up, one of them reaches for a sawed-off shotgun. He doesn't get very far as Friday sticks his own shotgun in the mook's face.
    Friday: Flinch - and you'll be chasing your head down Fifth Street!
    • And later, during the interrogation
    Friday: You listen to me, punk! I've handled *jaywalkers* who were tougher than you.
  • Friday is working a bookmaking case with a Lieutenant from another division, when he discovers the other detective is a Dirty Cop. He plays along, working with the captain to get enough evidence to bust him. At the end of the episode Friday hands the Lieutenant his notebook and asks him to read the back of it, which is where the Miranda warning was placed at the time. Incredulous, the Lieutenant does. Friday asks if he understands it. The Lieutenant snaps that of course he does, at which point the Captain places him under arrest.
  • In "The Bank Jobs" a robber has been forcing women at gunpoint to aid him in robberies. This works until he unwittingly picks a karate instructor. As soon as she has a chance to think, she knocks the gun out of his hand and then proceeds to beat the living daylights out of him.
  • In "Homicide (DR-22)", Friday and Gannon are investigating the murder of a young woman and have to deal with an elderly apartment manager who keeps telling them what they should look for and look at. Initially, they think he's just an Amateur Sleuth with too much time on his hands. But they run his prints just to be sure. Turned out the nosy guy was a retired Chicago Police Detective, who had done 44 years on the job and made it all the way to Deputy Chief. Friday and Gannon treat him with a lot more respect, and when his hunches turn out to be right even offer to take him with them when they go make the arrest.
  • In “The Big Departure” Friday and his partner give a combination of The Reason You Suck and You Are Better Than You Think You Are to a bunch of disaffected teens to try and make them turn their anger at society to more positive ends as seen here.

Film (1987)

  • Art of Noise's rendition of the famous theme song, used for the opening credits. Seriously, just listen.
  • Joe Friday is for the most part presented as a figure of fun; a hopelessly out-of-touch and out-of-date humourless killjoy whose only real purpose is to be mocked. And then, confronted with a street gang filled with psychotic kids and armed with various weapons (including one with nunchucks), he single-handedly hands every single of them their asses without breaking into a sweat. And then, once they've fled in complete terror, he merely shakes his head and sadly mutters "...And on a school night, too."
    • And then, at the final fight, he provides a one-man cavalry charging to the rescue of the cops storming the bad guys' headquarters by bursting through the gates of their mansion. In a tank.
      • 'Thank God! It's Friday!'
    • He also pulls off some badass driving trying to catch the bad guy before he can flee in an airplane.
    • And then at the end, it seems that the bad guy has gotten away with it, having kidnapped his girlfriend and managed to board a private jet to somewhere with no extradition treaty. Until Joe Friday pulls up next to them in an LAPD T-38 jet. And gestures for them to pull over.
    • And at the very end, when he tells his partner he had a very nice evening with said girlfriend, Connie Swale, Streebek says "Don't you mean 'the virgin Connie Swale'?". Friday merely raises one eyebrow, and Streebek reacts in shock. Bum-da-bumbum!
  • Pep goes Drill Sergeant Nasty on an unkempt uniformed cop who fails to properly address him as "Detective" while stressing over Friday and The Virgin Connie Swail going missing. Seeing Pep suddenly light up the guy and put the fear of the Almighty into him had a great degree of Catharsis Factor (followed by his own frazzled reaction to acting exactly how Friday would have).

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