Police Squad!
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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! Despite critical acclaim, the show was cancelled by ABC after just six episodes. According to the producers' commentary on the DVD release of the first Naked Gun movie, ABC 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 recycled for the films. Leslie Nielsen played Detective Frank Drebin in the series and all three films. George Kennedy played the role of Captain Ed Hocken in the movies; on TV the role was played by Alan North. O. J. Simpson also co-starred in the films as Nordberg, while Peter Lupus appeared as Nordberg in the series. Ed Williams, who played scientist Ted Olson, would reprise his role in the films, making him and Nielsen the only two actors from the series to appear in the movies. Robert Goulet, who appeared as the "special guest star" who was killed off at the beginning of one episode, would appear as villain Quentin Hapsburg, in the second Naked Gun film.
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", followed by numerous gags (See below)
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 from which many episodes are very similar to ones on Police Squad.
Cancellation
ABC announced the cancellation of "Police Squad" after four episodes had aired. According to a spokesperson for ABC, (on "Entertainment Tonight"); "'Police Squad' was cancelled, because the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it". What the spokesperson meant, (as stated above), was that the viewer had to actually look at, and pay attention to, the show in order to get much of the humor, while most other TV shows do not demand as much effort from the viewer. In it's annual "Cheers and Jeers" issue, "TV Guide" magazine called the explanation of why "Police Squad" had been cancelled after only 4 episodes: "The most stupid reason a network ever gave for ending a series".Paramount Home Entertainment has slated a North American DVD release for 2006. Co-creator David Zucker has said that he and some of the other creators will be recording audio commentary for the DVD release, but he doesn't know about deleted scenes because he's not sure they even exist. "In those days, they just threw stuff away." [link]
Cast
- Leslie Nielsen - Detective Frank Drebin
- Alan North - Captain Ed Hocken
- Peter Lupus - Detective Nordberg
- Ed Williams - Ted Olson
- William Duell - Johnny the Snitch
- Rex Hamilton - Abraham Lincoln
Running or well known jokes and gags
Title sequence
The title sequence was packed with sight and visual gags. A selection:
- When Captain Hocken is introduced in his office, someone offscreen starts shooting the place up, with ridiculous results (People catching on fire, jumping out windows, etc)
- 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. Had the show been renewed for a second season, this sequence would have been replaced by Mahatma Gandhi brandishing an assault rifle.
- A well known "special guest star" was introduced just after the opening sequence... and promptly killed off (See the list below for who and how).
- The opening narrative ended with the announcement of the episode's title, which was always different from the on-screen title and never came close to agreeing with past or future titles.
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 air, and the producers decided not to use the scene. According to the user-edited Internet Movie Database the producers wanted to include the Belushi scene when Police Squad was rebroadcast by ABC in the 1990s, but the footage could not be located and is presumed lost.
Episode titles
The title in parentheses here is the one read, while the other is shown on screen.
- A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)
- "Ring of Fear" (A Dangerous Assignment)
- Rendezvous 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)
Running Gags
- Frank Drebin's title within the police force is "Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant Police Squad", which is a non-existent rank made up of three real ones (Larger police departments often have Detective Lieutenants and Detective Sergeants, but usually NOT all three titles.)
- Drebin is first seen in his car driving from something.
- Each episode had a crime lab scene where Ted Olson is giving a highly suspect or dangerous lesson to a kid, in a parody of Watch Mr. Wizard, when Frank interrupts him.
- Ted uses the doorway while Frank walks around the set.
- Drebin would offer a cigarette to people he was interviewing with the line "Cigarette?", to which they would respond "Yes, I know." or "Yes, it is." Drebin's usual response would be a slightly nonplussed "Well...."
- Drebin frequently needs to meet with Johnny, the omniscient shoeshine boy, who knows everything in town for "the word on the street", but who won't actually tell you until you slip him a bribe (often saying, "I dunno anything about it" or "It's a big city" at first until he's paid). After Frank leaves Johnny, a specialist or celebrity goes to Johnny for advice about their particular profession (Dick Clark about music, Joyce Brothers about psychology), to which he again keeps tight-lipped until he's bribed.
- The Act II label is followed by a joke:
- * Act II: Bruté?
- * Act II: Gesundheit
- * Act II: Richard III
- * Act II: Ball III
- * Act II: Lieber
- There's always a joke involved with the cops taking the weekly criminal to "the Statesville Prison" (A pun on State Prison).
- In the closing scene, there's a fake freeze-frame in some way.
- The glass door of the squad room has "Police Squad" written on it in gold but it is written so that whichever side you look at it one of the words is written backwards.
- The number of trash cans Frank hits with his car equals the number of episodes that were filmed. First episode - one can; second episode - two cans, etc.
Other jokes
- In "Rendezvous At Big Gulch" they work undercover in a locksmith shop. Whenever anyone enters, Norberg is cutting a key on a grinding wheel and loses his grip. The key flies up and embeds itself in the ceiling - along with hundreds of others already stuck. As someone exits the shop, the door slams and all the keys fall to the floor.
- Also in the locksmith shop, behind the counter is a board labelled "Car keys, House Keys, Honkeys (which are all white), Turkeys, Florida Keys, Francis Scott Keys, and Pot Roast"
- In "The Butler Did It" the kidnapping takes place in the Japanese garden. This consists of pots with Japanese people standing in them. Drebin asks to see the crime scene so they all sit down in canvas chairs and a film projector starts up showing the kidnapping.
Spin-offs
A series of British 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. The catchphrase was "Red Rock Cider – it's not red, and it's got no rocks in it."See also
External links
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