"Dragnet" tease?

Just saw tonight's syndicated show, the one about the "roommate switch," where Jerry and George cook up a way for Jerry to "switch" roommates since the one he's dating doesn't laugh at his jokes.

Well, during the planning session whereby Jerry and George are trying to come up with a workable plan for Jerry to "switch" girlfriends, the camera takes an overhead shot of the dining table, showing just Jerry's and George's hands as they pour sugar into coffee cups, stir them, mess with them, etc., all to indicate the passage of time. During this extended shot the background music is sort of reminiscent of a "smoky nighclub," bluesy-band score.

This suddenly reminded me that the same shot was often used by Jack Webb in his "Dragnet" show for the exact same effect: showing the passage of time while Sgt. Friday and his partner discussed whatever they needed to discuss. Has anyone else noticed this particular Dragnet-Seinfeld connection, or am I re-stating an old theme, given that I've never been to this nsg. before? Has anyone noticed similar teases to "Dragnet" (or other shows from the 50s) in other episodes?

Paul: I didn't make the specific connection to Dragnet until you mentioned it. It made me think of the old detective genre of movies with perhaps Alan Ladd, Bogart, etc. Also brought to mind the Philip Marlowe series. Good catch, man! Carl

Ditto here to PPaul R. The Dragnet point of view explains the "film noir" styled scene where Newman meets Kosmo's mom (Babs?) over a cigarrette. . .

In article , Carl Muench wrote:

Paul R. wrote:

(snip)

The first episode that comes to mind is "The Library" in which Jerry is tracked down by the NYC public library "cop" Lt. Bookman. Jerry goes through a "Dragnet type" interrogation with Bookman that is just hilarious.

quarte wrote in article ...

***************Can't leave out "The Statue". When Kramer breaks into the guy's apartment to steal the statue back. "You just turn around and hug that wall, pervert!" and "Yeah, I'm a cop, I am good cop! I'm a damn good cop!!" etc, etc.

On Tue, 08 Apr 1997 23:50:15 GMT, [email] (Paul R.) wrote:

You realize you have just given some struggling TV/Film graduate student a topic for his master's thesis. Honestly, though, that's a good point.

Yeah, Dragnet's teased all the time--for instance, in Jerry's fast-paced, ultra-dry conversation with Mr Bookman in The Library; also, in The Keys, where Jerry confronts Newman in teh lobby and demands to know where Kramer went (he went to California). Can you think of any others?

When Kramer went to CA and was questioned for the deaths of people in the area (The Smog Strangler), was that a reference to anything? The same sort of thing happened when Newman questioned Jerry and George about mail fraud.

Michael Alexander