The LSD Story
| "The LSD Story" |
|---|
The LSD Story was an episode of the Dragnet television series that appeared on the NBC network on January 12, 1967. It was produced and directed by Jack Webb, who also starred as Joe Friday. It is sometimes called "Blue Boy" after a character appearing on it. The was the first color episode broadcast of Dragnet and the first episode of the later series broadcast.
Plot
Friday and his partner Bill Gannon are working for the Los Angeles Police Department when they are called to a disturbance in MacArthur Park. It seems a man has buried his own head into the ground. When Friday and Gannon arrive they find the young man, who identifies himself as "Blue Boy" and is acting very strangely. After Friday and Gannon arrest him, it transpires that Blue Boy, whose real name is Benjy Carver (played by Michael Burns) is under the influence of LSD. However as it is not illegal at that time to possess or use LSD, the most Carver can be charged with is public intoxication, for which he gets a light sentence.
As time passes, the LAPD hear more and more about Carver and his involvement in selling and using LSD. At last they get two breaks: first LSD is made illegal, and secondly one of Carver's disgruntled former customers gives him up.
The police raid an LSD party in progress. The participants are so stoned, no one even notices the cops entering, until Friday flips a light on. It turns out they just missed Carver.
At last, Friday and Gannon get an address for Carver and, with the landlady's consent raid his apartment. It turns out they are too late again: Friday questions Carver's drug-addled roommate, who tells of their experimenting about an hour earlier. Carver is sitting in the corner, legs crossed, eyes staring out, his face again painted blue; having had a reaction to more of the pills Gannon finds, and told his roommate he wanted to get 'further out'. Friday checks Carver's pulse and finds that the boy indeed got further out. Benjy Carver is dead.
The coroner's inquest determines that Carver overdosed on a combination of LSD and other barbiturates, and therefore took his own life.
Reception
The Old-Time Dragnet Show with Adam Graham, writing in 2010, claims that this particular episode was voted #85 for "greatest TV episodes of all time" by TV Guide and Nick at Nite’s TV Land. Describing the social context, he says:
"The show does a great job showing how those who are charged with enforcing the law are often frustrated by the law. It was also cutting edge in dealing with the issue of LSD in 1967 ... For some, this represented a hard hit back against the emerging counterculture ... Friday re-emerged as the rock solid hero we needed in a time when everything was shifting."[1]
Scott Beale at Laughing Squid comments wryly, "It’s a bit ironic that the LSD episode is the first episode of Dragnet in color."[2]
An IMDb reviewer, who remembers the episode from "back in the day," had a different reaction:
"This was my first look at this updated Dragnet program in 40 years and I was surprised how serious it was. I remember Dragnet has having a lot of humor being added to serious topics. There were no jokes in this one, and the stories, as they remind us, are all true."[3]
A reviewer at "Thrilling Days of Yesteryear" opened his box set of Dragnet DVDs in 2005 and was not happy to see this episode, remarking: "Despite the presence of entries like "The LSD Story" (a.k.a. "Blue Boy," a particular favorite of fans) some of the shows still play fairly well."[4]
A reviewer commenting on the 1968 TV series The Mod Squad, which came out the year after “The LSD Story,” asks: "One wonders if it was something of an answer to Jack Webb’s square brand of policing."[5]
Themes
- While the episode centers on the dangers of LSD and the climax suggest that Benjy died of an LSD overdose, which is nearly physically impossible, the epilogue says that he had been taking barbiturates, a far more likely cause of death.
References
- ^ Graham, Adam (Nov. 24th, 2010). "My Favorite 1960s Dragnet Episodes #2: The LSD Story". The podcast you are about to hear is true ... The Old-Time Dragnet Show with Adam Graham. Retrieved Mar. 6, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ Beale, Scott (Aug. 14, 2008). "Dragnet: The LSD Story". Laughing Squid. Retrieved Mar. 6, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^
ccthemovieman-1 (Mar. 29, 2008). "Dragnet 1967 (TV series 1967–1970), The LSD Story (#1.1)". IMDb, The Internet Movie Database. Retrieved Mar. 6, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Shreve, Ivan G, Jr. (June 13, 2005). "The fuzz industrial". Thrilling Days of Yesteryear. Ivan G. Shreve, Jr. Retrieved Mar. 6, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Ruediger, Ross (2010). "The Mod Squad: Season One, Volume One, 1968". Bullz-Eye.com. Retrieved Mar. 6, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help)
External links
- Hulu link to Dragnet: The LSD Story
- Dragnet: The LSD Story, link to episode at The Old-Time Dragnet Show with Adam Graham