[3][4] After Friday was discharged from the U.S. Army, he returned to the police and the pair eventually reunited in the Detective Division, prior to the events of the series.

Over the earlier run of the series, Friday was partnered with Sergeant Ben Romero (Barton Yarborough), Sergeant Ed Jacobs (Barney Phillips), Romero's nephew Officer Bill Lockwood (Martin Milner), and then (for the rest of the radio run as well as the 1951 television series and the 1954 film) Officer Frank Smith (first Herbert Ellis, then Ben Alexander).

As the footage continued, Friday would give assorted details about Los Angeles, from its geography and history to its landmarks and population, the latter of which would often lead to observations about how most of the people are good while some go bad.

What followed was the introduction of the story's plot: "It was [day of the week and date], it was [weather conditions] in Los Angeles; we were working the [day|night] watch out of [police division].

His first time was in the "The Big Thief", broadcast December 18, 1953, when he was forced to shoot and kill a fleeing robber who was firing at him:[7] he had stopped off at an all-night laundromat to purchase a pack of cigarettes and caught someone attempting to slip-wire a change machine; he exchanged gunfire and killed the man, falling under investigation as there were no corroborating witnesses.

He casually kept company with Policewoman Dorothy Rivers in the early 1950s, and did not object to his mother's occasional attempts to match him with daughters of her friends.

In the 1951 TV series, Joe tells Frank that he has received a letter from his mother, who had moved East to an undisclosed city where she had bought a house down the street from her sister.

The badge that Friday carried as a lieutenant during the final season of the 1951–59 series was ultimately used in real life by LAPD officer Dan Cooke.

Just before filming started on the TV-movie that became the pilot for the revived series, Cooke found the badge that the LAPD had lent to Webb in the 1958–59 season.

However, Webb informed Cooke that he wanted Friday to be a sergeant in the revived series, and, consequently, would not need the lieutenant's badge from the original show.

After graduating with the lowest honors at criminology school, the stooges join the police force, and they track down a wanted criminal known as the Eel.

Harry Morgan reprised his television role as Bill Gannon, now Captain, and Tom Hanks appeared as Friday's partner Pep Streebek.

During the first season of the series, Friday's partner was named "Frank Smith", played by Ethan Embry, but unlike the character played by Alexander and Ellis on the original series, this Frank Smith was not an experienced veteran officer, but a young detective mentored by Friday.