Editing Jack Webb (section)

==1970s and 1980s==
[[File:Jack Webb and Julie London with Stacey and Lisa, 1953.jpg|thumb|Jack Webb with first wife [[Julie London]] and daughters Stacy and Lisa, 1953]]
In 1970, Webb decided to bring an end to ''Dragnet'' and cease acting to focus on expanding Mark VII Limited's production profile.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} In 1971, Webb entered the world of district attorneys and federal government work with two series. The first, ''[[The D.A. (1971 TV series)|The D.A.]]'', starred [[Robert Conrad]] and Harry Morgan as a pair of Los Angeles County ADAs, with Conrad playing a junior ADA and Morgan his superior. The second, ''[[O'Hara, U.S. Treasury|O'Hara, United States Treasury]],'' was a co-production of Webb and [[David Janssen]], the former star of ''[[The Fugitive (1963 TV series)|The Fugitive]]'' and future star of ''[[Harry O]],'' for [[CBS]] (a rare non-NBC Mark VII effort) and featured Janssen as a Nebraska county sheriff-turned-[[United States Treasury Department]] agent. Neither series lasted very long, as ''The D.A.,'' Webb's last 30-minute series, was cancelled after 15 episodes and ''O'Hara'' ended after 22.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}

Later in the 1971–72 season, Webb and Cinader launched ''[[Emergency!]]'', which focused on the fictional Station 51 Rescue Squad of the [[Los Angeles County Fire Department|L.A. County Fire Department]], and its work in coordination with the emergency department staff of the fictional Rampart General Hospital. LACoFD's paramedic program was among the first [[paramedic]] services in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.johnweeks.com/tour/emergency/index.html|title=Emergency! Photo Tour|author=John A. Weeks III|access-date=March 30, 2021}}</ref> Webb cast his ex-wife, [[Julie London]], as well as her second husband and ''Dragnet'' ensemble player [[Bobby Troup]], as Rampart's Chief Nurse of The Emergency Room, Dixie McCall and Dr. Joe Early, respectively, with [[Randolph Mantooth]] and [[Kevin Tighe]] playing paramedics, John Gage and Roy DeSoto and [[Robert Fuller (actor)|Robert Fuller]] playing Dr. Kelly Brackett, Rampart's Chief of Emergency Medicine.

''Emergency!'' ran as part of NBC's Saturday-night lineup for six entire seasons, and it was a hugely popular series, sometimes winning its time slot against CBS's popular Saturday-night comedy block, which included ''[[All in the Family]].''{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} The series came to an end in 1977, but it spawned a series of telefilms that ran until 1979.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} Webb's company and Universal also contracted with animator Fred Calvert to produce a spin-off Saturday-morning cartoon show for NBC titled ''[[Emergency +4]],'' which ran for three seasons (the last in reruns) and featured the paramedics Gage and DeSoto assisted by four youngsters and their three pets.<ref name=Woolery>{{cite book |last1=Woolery |first1=George W. |title=Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981 |date=1983 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1557-5  |url=https://archive.org/details/childrenstelevis0000wool/page/90/mode/2up |access-date=14 March 2020 |pages=90–91}}</ref> The franchise was also credited in performing a social good in easing acceptance of the emergency medical service and encouraging communities to establish the service locally.<ref name="bergman">{{cite journal|url=https://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1810&context=ublr|title=EMERGENCY!: Send a TV Show to Rescue Paramedic Services!|first=Paul|last=Bergman|journal=University of Baltimore Law Review|issue=3|volume=36|date=Spring 2007}}</ref>

''Emergency!'' was Webb's last sustained success. Of the remaining series his company produced, the only two that lasted longer than one season were ''[[Hec Ramsey]],'' a two-season component of the ''[[NBC Mystery Movie]]'' wheel series that featured former ''[[Have Gun – Will Travel]]'' star [[Richard Boone]] as a pioneering [[forensic scientist]] in the Old West,{{citation needed|date=February 2016}} and ''[[Project UFO]]'', an anthology based on the investigations into UFOs as compiled by [[Project Bluebook]] that also ran for two seasons beginning in 1978. In 1977, he quit Universal Studios, and set up [[Mark VII Limited]] independently, signing a distribution deal with [[Worldvision Enterprises]], and set up offices in the [[Samuel Goldwyn Studio]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hayde |first=Michael J. |title=My Name's Friday: The Unauthorized But True Story of Dragnet and the Films of Jack Webb |publisher=[[Cumberland House]] |year=2001 |isbn=9781581821901}}</ref>

Despite his string of short-lived series in the late 1970s, Webb still kept trying to recapture his previous success and decided to bring ''Dragnet'' back to television for a third series in 1983. Five scripts had been produced and [[Kent McCord]], one of the stars of ''Adam-12,'' was cast as Joe Friday's new partner, Detective Jim Reed.

In 1987, [[Dan Aykroyd]] and [[Tom Hanks]] starred in a movie parody (and homage) to Webb, titled ''[[Dragnet (1987 film)|Dragnet]]'', along with Harry Morgan, who reprised his role from the television series as Bill Gannon, who had by now become a captain of detectives. The comedy film was written and directed by [[Tom Mankiewicz]], in his directorial debut. Aykroyd played the role of Joe Friday, described as the namesake nephew of the original series lead, while Hanks co-starred as Detective Officer Pep Streebeck, Friday's new smart-alecky and streetwise partner.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}