Wow, ‘50s Dragnet. Only a fraction of the nearly 300 made, but still.
Do all of them still exist? How do they compare to the radio show?
“Wow, ‘50s Dragnet. Only a fraction of the nearly 300 made, but still.”
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Those would be episodes that fell out copyright protection for one reason or another, same with the other classic shows (and movies) there. Either a proper copyright was not affixed to the original media or the copyright expired & was not renewed. They became public domain.
For example, the classic horror “Night Of The Living Dead”, as Wikipedia explains:
“Night of the Living Dead entered the public domain in the United States because the original theatrical distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, neglected to place a copyright indication on the prints. In 1968, United States copyright law required a proper notice for a work to maintain a copyright.”