Adam-12 is an American television drama which originally aired from September 21, 1968 to August 30, 1975 on NBC for 175 episodes. The show was produced by Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited, which also produced Dragnet and Emergency!. The series was nominally considered a spin-off of Webb's Dragnet 1967–70, and the Reed and Malloy characters appeared on episodes of the parent program (though the actors did appear as different characters on some of the Dragnet episodes).
The program followed the daily activities of a pair of LAPD patrol officers – seven-year veteran officer Peter 'Pete' Malloy (Martin Milner) and rookie officer James 'Jim' Reed (Kent McCord) – and to a lesser extent Sergeant William "Mac" MacDonald (William Boyett). Much like Dragnet, the episodes were based on true incidents culled from LAPD case files.
The series originally ran on the NBC television network from September 21, 1968 through May 20, 1975. This was followed by a long syndication run on many local television stations throughout the United States. Following this syndication run, Adam-12 found a new audience in the 1990s on TV Land. After an absence from widespread distribution, due to the Jack Webb Estate owning some ancillary rights to the show[citation needed], the series has reappeared on television where it is broadcast on the Retro Television Network.
A remake/update was attempted in 1990, starring Ethan Wayne, Peter Parros, and Miguel Fernandes, but this version, entitled The New Adam-12, ran for only two seasons in first-run syndication, in tandem with The New Dragnet.