First Aired - October 12th, 1967
Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon are working in Frauds Division, Bunco Section. A sailor reports a swindle for the second time while Gannon invites Friday to his house to watch the football game, however Gannon's neighbors keep interrupting them as they try to watch the game.
Just the Tropes, ma'am:
- Always on Duty: The major theme of the episode. Bill and Joe are off the clock and just trying to enjoy a quiet evening. Bill's neighbors come to him when he is home as he is a cop and think he is always on duty to help them. This is played straight with Ruth Walker, as her house is being broken into. After they help Ruth Walker,by capturing the intruder breaking into her house, she says that Gannon should post big signs saying a cop lives there but Friday points out that Gannon would never get any sleep.
- Casting Gag: Ann Guilbert plays Marnie Prout, Bill's neighbor. Her most famous role was Millie Helper from The Dick Van Dyke Show as Rob and Laura's neighbor.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: Friday and Gannon only spend about a minute on any police work, the rest of the episode is very different with Friday and Gannon trying to watch Football at Gannon's house with Bill's neighbors coming over to ask for help.
- The Ghost: Gannon's kids are mentioned but not seen as they are over friends houses. Inverted with Eileen, Bill's Wife. While she was often talked about in the first season, this would be her first on screen appearance in the series.
- The Trouble with Tickets: Art Bonham wants Bill to fight his parking ticket that he got for parking too close to the curb. However, Bill doesn't want anything to do with it. Also counts as a Brick Joke as Bill also gets a ticket for parking in front of his driveway at the end of the episode and wants to fight it with Joe mentioning the same thing Bill told Art.Gannon/Friday: Pay the 2 dollars.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The case about the Sailor doesn't get brought up again after Joe and Bill go home.
