"The Lineup took its listeners behind the scenes of a police headquarters "where under the cold, glaring lights pass the innocent, the vagrant, the thief, the murderer." The police lineup opened and closed each broadcast: Sgt. Grebb would be heard instructing the prisoners and thus setting up how the case was investigated and solved. Dragnet was the trendsetter in police drama, and realism was what each new show was striving for. Grebb was quick-tempered and often bored: Lt. Guthrie was soft-spoken and calm. There were few heroics, said Newsweek: "Everything they do is just a job." Director del Valle and scripter Edwards cruised with police and watched many lineups. Del Valle also read about a dozen newspapers a day and freely adapted truth to fiction."