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39 free Adam-12 trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Adam-12 put viewers in the front seat of an LAPD black-and-white for seven seasons and 174 episodes, riding along with Pete Malloy and Jim Reed from 1968 to 1975. Jack Webb's insistence on real procedure made it the show that taught America what a Code 7 was, and its clipped radio calls are still instantly recognisable. This quiz covers the whole run: the cast and recurring officers, the meaning of the call sign 1-Adam-12, the Plymouths and the AMC Matador, how the driving scenes were filmed, badge numbers, crossovers with Dragnet and Emergency!, notable guest stars, why the series ended, and the 1990 revival. Easy questions handle the leads and the network; the hard ones dig into shop numbers, first episodes and Kent McCord's real name. Every answer has been checked against documented production history and the source is shown after each question.
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Q 01Which two LAPD officers are the central characters of Adam-12?
Pete Malloy and Jim Reed
Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Jim Reed (Kent McCord) ride together as the crew of patrol unit 1-Adam-12 for all seven seasons of the series.
Q 02In which year did Adam-12 premiere?
1968
Adam-12 premiered on 21 September 1968, while creator Jack Webb was also producing his revived Dragnet; the two shows shared a fictional LAPD.
Q 03What is Jim Reed's status when the series begins?
A rookie on probation
Reed begins the series as a rookie on probation, fresh from the academy; Malloy is assigned as his field training officer and the two stay partners long after.
Q 04Jack Webb's production company, which made Adam-12 with Universal Television, was called what?
Mark VII Limited
Mark VII Limited was Jack Webb's production company; its closing logo showed a hand with a hammer stamping the Roman numeral VII into a metal plate.
Q 05On which network did Adam-12 originally air?
NBC
Adam-12 aired on NBC for all seven seasons of its original run; the network also carried Jack Webb's revived Dragnet.
Q 06How many episodes of the original Adam-12 were made?
174
Adam-12 made 174 half-hour episodes across seven seasons; for its first several seasons every episode title began with a 'Log' number.
Q 07In LAPD radio code, what does the 'Adam' in '1-Adam-12' signify?
A two-officer patrol unit
In LAPD call signs the letter A, spoken 'Adam', denotes a two-officer patrol unit; a one-officer car is 'L' for Lincoln.
Q 08Despite a Central Division call sign, which real LAPD station did Malloy and Reed work from?
Rampart
The Rampart Police Station on West Temple Street closed in 2008.
Q 09What make of car did Adam-12 drive in the pilot and first three seasons?
Plymouth Belvedere
Unit 1-Adam-12 was a Plymouth Belvedere for the pilot and the first three seasons, starting with a 1967 model; a Plymouth Satellite followed in season four.
Q 10From the fifth season onward, Adam-12's black-and-white was which model?
1972 AMC Matador
From season five Adam-12's unit was a 1972 AMC Matador, supplied under a product-placement deal with American Motors; a Plymouth Satellite had served in season four.
Q 11What was Malloy's plan at the very start of the series, before he was assigned to train Reed?
To resign from the LAPD
Malloy was about to resign from the LAPD, shaken by his partner's death in the line of duty; being assigned to train rookie Reed in the pilot changed his mind.
Q 12What is Malloy's badge number?
744
Malloy's badge reads 744; partner Reed wears 2430, while Joe Friday's famous 714 belongs to Dragnet.
Q 13Who played Sergeant 'Mac' MacDonald, the watch commander?
William Boyett
William Boyett played Sergeant 'Mac' MacDonald across all seven seasons; he had been best known before Adam-12 as Sergeant Ken Williams on Highway Patrol (1955-59).
Q 21After Adam-12, Martin Milner played the father in which short-lived 1975 adventure series?
The Swiss Family Robinson
Milner played Karl Robinson, the father, in Irwin Allen's The Swiss Family Robinson, which lasted a single season on ABC in 1975-76.
Q 22Before Adam-12, Martin Milner starred as Tod Stiles in which 1960s road series?
Route 66
Milner played Tod Stiles on Route 66 from 1960 to 1964, a series shot on location across America as Tod and his partner drifted from town to town in a Corvette.
Q 23Martin Milner made his 1947 film debut in which movie starring William Powell?
Life with Father
Q 14Officer Ed Wells, Malloy's friend, was played by the son of which famous crooner?
Bing Crosby
Gary Crosby, eldest son of Bing Crosby, played the loudmouthed Officer Ed Wells, a recurring presence at the station across the show's run.
Q 15What did Jack Webb have removed from the car for the pilot because sky reflections hid the actors' faces?
The windshield
Webb had the windshield removed for the pilot because sky reflections hid the actors' faces; blowing hair and sound problems followed, so it was restored with an overhead shade to cut the glare.
Q 16Adam-12 shares a fictional universe with Dragnet and which other Jack Webb series?
Emergency!
Malloy and Reed appeared in the Emergency! pilot movie, and the Emergency! cast turned up in the Adam-12 episode 'Lost and Found'.
Q 17Which recurring Adam-12 investigator was often shown in different divisions, similar to Joe Friday?
Jerry Miller
Detective Sergeant Jerry Miller turns up in whichever division a story needs, much as Joe Friday did on Dragnet; he took over the investigations that Malloy and Reed's arrests fed into.
Q 18Which future NCIS star guest-starred as rookie Officer Gus Corbin in a late episode?
Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon, later NCIS's Leroy Jethro Gibbs, played rookie Officer Gus Corbin in Adam-12's final season, early in his career; his father was 1940 Heisman winner Tom Harmon.
Q 19Jo Ann Pflug played Officer Dana Hall, notable at the time for what?
Being a woman assigned to patrol duty
Wells and other officers mocked her, but Reed treated her as an equal.
Q 20Which sketch-comedy show featured Milner and McCord in cameos as their Adam-12 characters?
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
The cameos came in the fifth season of the show.
Milner debuted as John Day, one of the Day sons, in Life with Father (1947), with William Powell as the father; Sands of Iwo Jima followed in 1949.
Q 24What is Kent McCord's real surname?
McWhirter
Kent McCord was born Kent Franklin McWhirter in Los Angeles in 1942 and was billed under his birth name in his earliest television appearances.
Q 25Kent McCord became a close friend of which teen idol early in his career?
Rick Nelson
McCord met Rick Nelson while playing a fraternity brother on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, the Nelson family's sitcom, and the two became close friends.
Q 26After Adam-12, Kent McCord played Captain Troy in which sci-fi spin-off?
Galactica 1980
McCord played Captain Troy, the grown-up Boxey, in Galactica 1980, the short-lived Battlestar Galactica spin-off that ran for just ten episodes in 1980.
Q 27The 1990–91 revival's lead, Officer Matt Doyle, was played by a son of which Hollywood legend?
John Wayne
Ethan Wayne, John Wayne's youngest son, played Officer Matt Doyle opposite Peter Parros's Officer Gus Grant in the syndicated 1990-91 revival The New Adam-12.
Q 28How many episodes did the syndicated revival The New Adam-12 make?
52
The New Adam-12 made 52 half-hour episodes, two seasons of 26, in first-run syndication from September 1990 to September 1991.
Q 29Which planned Jack Webb project, with Kent McCord as Joe Friday's partner, was cancelled by Webb's death in 1982?
A third Dragnet series
Webb was preparing a third Dragnet series, with himself again as Joe Friday and Kent McCord as his partner, when he died of a heart attack in December 1982.
Q 30Where were most scenes in the earlier seasons filmed?
The Universal Studios lot
Early seasons were shot mostly on the Universal Studios lot in Universal City, its backlot streets standing in for Los Angeles neighbourhoods; later seasons used more real locations.