Police Squad!
Police Squad! is an American television crime comedy series that was broadcast on the ABC network in 1982. It was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, starring Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin. A spoof of police procedurals and many other television shows and movies, the series features Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker's usual sight gags, wordplay, and non sequiturs. It resembles the Lee Marvin police show M Squad (in particular the opening credits) and the late 1960s series Felony Squad.[2] It was canceled after six episodes, and yielded The Naked Gun film series from 1988 to 1994.
Police Squad!
Crime comedy
- David Zucker
- Jim Abrahams
- Jerry Zucker
- Tino Insana
- Nancy Steen
- Neil Thompson
- Robert Wuhl
"Theme from Police Squad!"
Ira Newborn
United States
English
1
6
- David Zucker
- Jim Abrahams
- Jerry Zucker
Sherman Kunkel
- Tom Benko
- Malcolm Campbell
24–25 minutes
March 4 –
July 8, 1982[1]
Overview[edit]
Police Squad! was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker (ZAZ), who had previously worked on The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) and Airplane! (1980). They wanted to make another spoof film similar to Airplane!, using the television series M Squad as a basis for the spoof. They had lacked an overarcing plot to the concept, so Paramount's Michael Eisner was able to secure them a six-episode television series, despite ZAZ wanting to make it into a film.[3]
The show aired as a mid-season replacement in March 1982, but was taken off the schedule after four episodes.[3] The remaining two episodes were dumped onto the summer schedule in place of the usual summer reruns. Against critical acclaim, the show was canceled by ABC after just six episodes.[4] The show gained a strong cult following through repeat broadcasts on cable channels.[5]
Alan North played Captain Ed Hocken, and Peter Lupus co-starred as Officer Norberg. In the films, those roles were played by George Kennedy and O. J. Simpson respectively, with Norberg renamed Nordberg. The only actors who reprised their roles in the films are Leslie Nielsen, Ed Williams as scientist Ted Olson, and Ronald "Tiny Ron" Taylor as the very tall Al. Joyce Brothers played herself in the fourth episode and in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. Robert Goulet, one of the "special guest stars" killed during the title sequence, plays the villain Quentin Hapsburg in The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear.[6]
Cancellation[edit]
ABC announced the cancellation of Police Squad! after four of its six episodes had aired in March 1982. The final two episodes were aired that summer. In an interview for the DVD release of the series, Nielsen said ABC entertainment president Tony Thomopoulos asserted Police Squad! was canceled because viewers had to pay close attention to the show in order to get much of the humor: "the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it".[25] Nielsen also thought the premise was more effective in the successful Naked Gun films because the much larger screen size in a cinema increases the efficacy of the visual gags. In its annual "Cheers and Jeers" issue, TV Guide magazine called the explanation for the cancellation "the most stupid reason a network ever gave for ending a series".[26]
Home media[edit]
In 1985, Paramount Home Video first released all six episodes of the show on VHS, Betamax, and LaserDisc formats as two separate volumes: Police Squad!: Help Wanted! and More! Police Squad!, each with three episodes in their production order.[27][28]
Paramount and CBS DVD first released the series on DVD in 2006 in a keep case on one disc.[29] The episodes are in airing order from ABC. The DVD extras include production notes from network executives, a "freeze-frame" that was filmed but never used, bloopers, casting tests, and an interview with Nielsen.[30] Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, producer Robert K. Weiss, and writer Robert Wuhl recorded audio commentary for the first, third, and sixth episodes.[31] Critics universally praised how the show was still funny after more than 20 years.[32][8][33]
The series was released in Blu-ray format in the US on April 14, 2020.[34]
Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
On Rotten Tomatoes, Police Squad! has an aggregate score of 90% based on 28 positive and three negative critic reviews. The website’s consensus reads: "Wacky, inventive, and endlessly quotable, Police Squad! is a hysterically funny leap forward for TV comedy that was tragically ahead of its time."[41]
Upon the home video release in 1985, Washington Post critic Tom Shales commented "People can rent them and laugh, and then cry that ABC was so cruel."[42] In 2009, the DVD set was nominated for a Satellite Award for Best DVD Release of a TV Show, though it lost to the DVD set of the eighth season of Fox's The Simpsons.[43] In 2013, TV Guide ranked it #7 on its list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".[44]
Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, has said, "If Police Squad! had been made twenty years later, it would have been a smash. It was before its time. In 1982 your average viewer was unable to cope with its pace, its quick-fire jokes. But these days they'd have no problems keeping up, I think we've proved that."[45]