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Finally, a discussion worth commenting on! Great question… thanks, Matthew.I watched a lot of these shows first-run, as a kid (yes, I am old :->) TV was a different world then, and the viewers had different expectations. Compare Dragnet to other shows of the era. It was vastly more realistic, less “campy” in style, heralding a whole new approach to making TV shows. Then, we didn’t really expect the level of realism we take for granted now. We were willing to suspend disbelief in the name of good entertainment. It didn’t bother us a bit to see the same actor or actress cast in a different role… in fact, we often appreciated seeing what a good actor could do in various roles. Familiar faces in different roles, particularly in minor roles, were almost a sort of shorthand for us, like archetypal characters to move the story along smoothly. I suppose we were more aware that the whole thing was really fantasy anyway, even though “the story we were about to hear was true”!Also, take into account that there were no home video recorders back then. You caught the show once a week, when it ran, and if you missed it, you missed it until rerun season. If you missed it again then, too bad. After a busy week, when you sat down with the family after supper to watch one of your favorite shows, the last thing you cared to pick on was seeing the same actor you MIGHT remember doing a different role earlier in the season. As long as they were convincing in the show you were watching, all was well.But about that shortage of actors in the 60’s… yeah, I think there might have been a shortage of GOOD ones. That obviously has not changed in the 00’s! I guess ol’ Jack must have been content to stick with the ones he liked to work with, eh? Glad he did, or we might never have got Adam- 12, and that would have been a shame!
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