The U.S. Postal Service has released a "Dragnet" stamp featuring series star, writer and producer Jack Webb, who began the program on radio in 1949 and brought it to television in 1951. The stamp is part of a commemorative series honoring programs that include "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Hopalong Cassidy," "The Honeymooners," "Kukla, Fran and Ollie," "The Lone Ranger," "Perry Mason" and "Twilight Zone."

I suppose we should be smoking Fatima cigarettes (an early sponsor) at the Daily Mirror HQ in honor of the show, but we're not. The "Dragnet" formula was set in concrete the first time Webb stepped before the microphone, and it never varied: A long-suffering, thin blue line of dedicated, hardworking, underpaid officers threading their way through a landscape of dithering housewives; folksy, long-winded clerks and cashiers; and sullen, cop-hating suspects. Except to make a point under rare circumstances, there are no corrupt officers and no police brutality in the world of "Dragnet." 

At its best, which was brilliant in the beginning, "Dragnet" was a welcome alternative to shoot-'em-up shows that dominated radio programming. At its worst, "Dragnet" was a ghastly self-parody of a robotic Sgt. Joe Friday delivering rambling, almost-angry monologues about the ills of American society. Not that Webb ever became too upset; Gort, the extraterrestrial police officer in "The Day the Earth Stood Still," showed a wider range of emotion than Webb had as Joe Friday. 

My biggest objection to "Dragnet" is that it is accurate without being realistic. All the details are correct down to the names of actual officers and crime lab personnel, and the show even used the LAPD's radio call sign, KMA-367. When Webb brought the show to TV, he precisely and painstakingly re-created the LAPD offices (then at City Hall) on a sound stage down to the number of holes in the ceiling tiles, the dots on the linoleum floor and the cigarette butts in the ashtrays on the detectives' desks. 

But at the same time, the show is terribly unrealistic. There are never any unsolved cases in "Dragnet." Especially in the early years, Joe Friday is part of an all-white police department working in an all-white city. His first partner, Ben Romero, is perhaps the only Spanish-surnamed person in Los Angeles with a Southern accent. Taken in that light, the show is ridiculous.

I'm glad Jack Webb got a commemorative stamp, and I wish he were around to see it (he died in 1982). But we'll be using "Twilight Zone" stamps around here. Rod Serling — now there was a writer.