I was watching an episode and as Adam-12 was backing out of a parking lot to go to a call, something caught my eye so I rewound and paused. I wonder what this odd wire/cable was for. I looks as though they attempted to disguise it and without rewind and pause back in 1974 they got away with it.

Probably the cable for the front mounted camera(s)? Just a guess.

Good eye

Very cool catch!I think you're Wright something to do with camera maybe microphone,hopefully it's not keeping the bumper own lol

The cable looks thick enough to not pass easily under a closed door. Maybe the door got hacked a bit to allow clearance?

I know 'quick and easy' is the rule, but how much more difficult would it have been to pass it thru the firewall thru a body plug? Or even thru the floor?

Good catch! Is this one of those moments 'You know you're getting old when.....'?

I belive it might have wires for high powered lights that were mounted on a jig to cast the wight lighting on our heroes in Adam 12 the had thick wires fom the lights all over the hood during filming

One of the wires may have had to be taped over the fender and run back to the body the used black pieces of tape because it matched the fender and spray painted white over the rest of it to match the door.

Attleboro sloppy but it probably wasn't noticed but man you have a eagle eye sir!You make stuff good enough to be on scree.No one noticed for 53ish years.

I think it could be something like this. I've read that driving scenes they had a body of car sitting on a trailer that was being pulled through streets.

I had the luxury of rewind and pause unlike viewers way back then

Yes for sure John! Getting old lol.

Filmed in the mid 70s and it took until now, almost 50 years later to discover it. I think they did a pretty good job, to tell the truth. Things have come a long way in 50 years of TV show making.

If you do that with every old show, I suspect you will see a lot of stuff that doesn't conform to today's standards. Maybe that is some of the beauty of the old shows, they don't conform to today's standards.

Maybe that is some of the beauty of the old shows, they don't conform to today's standards.

Yes.

They weren't perfect and that was the beauty of it.

My son and I spotted it also this past Sunday during the second episode when the motorcycle officer Grant went missing. The scene was in a parking lot with Sargent McDonald standing outside Malloy's driver's window but Malloy's partner officer Reed was also heard talking even though he was on the other side or the car. That's why we were guessing it was for a microphone as there was no in car camera work for officer Reed. The camera zoomed out and Malloy backed away out of the lot and there was no evidence of a boom microphone and you couldn't see the front of the Matador so a quick disconnect of the mic is what we figured. Couldn't figure out why they didn't run it down the passenger's side of the car? I'm too busy looking at the other passing cars, the cars parked on the streets and the ones in the parking lots to always keep up with the episode plot. BTW Jack Webb had the car's windshield remove after the first episode for those on trailer or film screen behind the car scenes. And the inside rearview mirror is always moved up as much as possible. Yeah too much time on my hands at the moment

In the very first episode (Season 1, Episode 1) Officer Jim Reed made a mistake the first time in the car and did not use the "A" Adam code in clearing them from the station. He said "this is Unit 1, A12 Clear" and Malloy gave him the look. The scene still had the windshield in, the inside mirror down and the windshield wipers still in place. Nice to know they had a show actually called (by mistake) A12

Mike

Back in those days a big tv was 27". My parents had only had a color tv for a couple years.

Yes A12, that indeed was the episode. They had to do a divisional roll call.

The car used for Reed and Malloy's close-ups was towed by camera car. The car's windshield showed reflections of the camera and crew, so the car's windshield was removed. However, this led to the wind blowing Reed and Malloy's hair, so a shield was created to enclose the camera and front of the car.

Power cord for early electric car. Only down side is you can only go as far as length of the cord.....

I watch Adam-12 and Emergency! almost every night as they are back to back. Not sure why I pay money to watch re-runs (could have something to do with "current programing"... but anyway on some of the Emergency! episodes the windshield wiper arms on the Dodge truck are black while some episodes are the correct stainless.

I haven't noticed that one but I have noticed that sometimes when the view is looking out the windshield from inside their squad 51 it appears it's NOT a bird bath hood.

Thanks, now I have something else to look for

Reflections & glare are a couple things that really mess with filming, even in the lower-res TV (vs. movies) stuff of the time.
You'll notice chrome mirrors and such are sprayed with a "dullcote", aimed away, some trim sometimes removed or painted over.
Also, different angles & such are edited in during post-production, so sometimes the continuity - small details, the car the actors are in, the background, whatever - suffers.
Some details aren't "seen" by the camera, yet some colors film differently than what the eye sees: tan can come across as pink, dark brown as red, it's a bit weird.
A bit of time, or a re-shoot, chews up a LOT of production money, so the speed of getting it in the can is paramount.
Back then, before CGI, it was all of course basically analog and physical.