Police Squad!
Police Squad! is a television comedy series first broadcast in 1982. It is a spoof of police dramas, packed with visual gags and non sequiturs.
It was created by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, who had previously worked together on The Kentucky Fried Movie and Airplane! The show was cancelled by ABC after just six episodes, apparently because the executives thought it required too much attention from the viewer. However, it gained a strong cult following through repeats on TV, which led to a movie version, The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad! in 1988, and two further sequels. Many gags from the show were reycled for the films. George Kennedy played the role of Alan North. O.J. Simpson also co-starred in the films.
The show was presented in the style of a Quinn Martin show of the early 1970s, with a portentous narrative over the opening titles which made a big feature of the show being "... in color!" The narrative ended with the announcement of the episode's title, which was always different from the on-screen title. A constant running joke was the announcement of a well-known "special guest star", who was always killed off before the opening titles had finished. Also during the credits, Rex Hamilton stars in a quick spot as Abraham Lincoln, who is narrowly missed when shot at by John Wilkes Booth (who is offscreen), and returns fire.
The end of each episode played credits over a 70s-style freeze frame of the final scene—however, once again, it was a spoof, since the frame was not frozen, but the actors simply stood motionless in position while other activities (pouring coffee, convicts escaping, chimpanzees running amok) continued around them.
The program was a parody of many television shows and movies but maybe none more than the Lee Marvin cop show "M Squad" which many episodes are very similar to ones on Police Squad! Despite critical acclaim, only six episodes of the series were produced.
Cast
- Leslie Nielsen - Detective Frank Drebin
- Alan North - Captain Ed Hocken
- Peter Lupus - Detective Norberg
- Ed Williams - Ted Olson
- William Duell - Johnny the Snitch
- Rex Hamilton - Abraham Lincoln
Guest Stars
- Lorne Greene (stabbed and thrown from speeding car)
- Georg Stanford Brown (crushed by falling safe)
- Florence Henderson (gunned down while singing in a kitchen)
- William Shatner (dodges salvo of bullets but drinks poisoned wine)
- Robert Goulet (executed by firing squad)
- William Conrad (stabbed and thrown from speeding car)
- A sequence was filmed with John Belushi (chained to concrete blocks underwater) but the actor died shortly before the episode was due to be shown, and the producers decided to reshoot the scene.
Episodes
Note: The first title is shown on-screen. The title in parenthesis is from the voice-over.
- A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)
- Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment)
- Rendez-vous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood)
- Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi)
- The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)
- Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh)
Quotes
- "Who are you, and how did you get in here?" "I'm a locksmith, and... I'm a locksmith."
- "We're sorry to bother you at a time like this, Mrs. Twice...we would have come earlier but your husband wasn't dead then."
- "It took me two weeks to find Stella's apartment...she had neglected to give me her address."
- "There'd been recent reports of gorgeous fashion models found naked and unconscious in laundromats on the West Side. Unfortunately I was assigned to investigate holdups of neighborhood credit unions. I was across town doing my laundry when the call came in..."
- "Is this some kind of bust?" "Yes, ma'am, it's very impressive, but we need to ask you a few questions."
- "Cigarette?" "Yes, it is."
Spin-offs
A series of advertisements for Red Rock Cider was made in the same style and also featured Leslie Nielsen.
In one of these, Nielsen shouts, "Hey ! You, over there, in the shadows !" The man steps forward and reveals himself to be Hank Marvin, guitarist with sixties pop group, the Shadows.
