Police Squad! is a television comedy series first broadcast in 1982, created by David
Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker, and starring Leslie Nielsen. A spoof of police
procedurals, the series featured Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker's usual sight gags, wordplay and
non sequiturs. While a parody of many television shows and movies, it bore a particular resemblance
to the Lee Marvin cop show, M Squad and the late 1960s series Felony Squad. Although cancelled
after only six episodes, the show spawned the successful Naked Gun film series. TV Guide
ranked it #7 on their 2013 list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon".
Overview Police Squad! was created by Zucker, Abrahams
and Zucker, who had all previously worked together on The Kentucky Fried Movie and Airplane!.
Despite critical acclaim, the show was cancelled by ABC after just six episodes. The show gained
a strong cult following through repeat broadcasts, which led to The Naked Gun film series. Many
gags from the show were recycled for all three films.
Alan North played the role of Captain Ed Hocken on the show; in the films, the role was played
by George Kennedy. Peter Lupus co-starred as Officer Norberg, but in the films, O.J.
Simpson appeared as the similarly named Officer Nordberg. Ed Williams, who played scientist
Ted Olson on the show, reprised 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 one
of the "special guest stars" who were invariably killed off at the beginning of their episodes,
appeared as the villain Quentin Hapsburg in the second Naked Gun film. Dr. Joyce Brothers
played herself in the first Naked Gun film. She also played herself in the fourth episode
of the show. Vanna White appeared in the third and final Naked Gun film.
Each episode featured end credits over a 1970s style freeze frame of the final scene, except
that the frame was not frozen – the actors simply stood motionless in position while
other activities continued around them. Episodes
Each episode had two different titles. The first title was shown on the screen, while
an announcer reads the second one instead. The episode number often corresponds to the
number of garbage cans that Frank's car crashes into.
Cast
Leslie Nielsen portrayed Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant Police Squad. Jerry Zucker
explained that the name Drebin was picked blindly from the phone book. Zucker, Abrahams
and Zucker had met Nielsen when working on Airplane! and felt their kind of humor matched.
The team felt Nielsen would be perfect as Drebin as the character lampooned the roles
Nielsen had played in television dramas such as The Bold Ones: The Protectors and S.W.A.T..
Ed Williams co-starred as lab technician Ted Olson; Williams had been a science teacher
for many years and had done a little acting. Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker were amazed by
his performance. Leslie Nielsen as Detective Frank Drebin
Alan North as Captain Ed Hocken Peter Lupus as Officer Norberg
Ed Williams as Ted Olson, Scientist William Duell as Johnny the Snitch
Ronald "Tiny Ron" Taylor as Al Of the main cast, Nielsen, Taylor & Wiliams
were the only ones who returned and portrayed their original characters in The Naked Gun
film series. Captain Ed Hocken was portrayed by George Kennedy in the film series, while
O. J. Simpson played Officer Nordberg. Production
Opening sequence
The show's opening sequence was a satire on traditional opening sequences of crime dramas
at that time, and of the 1950s, particularly Quinn Martin shows such as M Squad and The
Fugitive. Hank Simms, who had worked as an announcer for some of Quinn Martin's programs,
announced the title of each episode, though the spoken title never matched the title caption.
The sequence introduces Nielsen and North as their characters during a shoot out, as
well as Abraham Lincoln impersonator Rex Hamilton, who dramatically returns gunfire to John Wilkes
Booth. Hamilton never appeared in the show though.
Another recurring gag used in the opening sequence was the introduction of a "special
guest star", a celebrity who was introduced but immediately murdered during the credits.
Lorne Greene, Georg Stanford Brown, Robert Goulet, William Shatner, Florence Henderson
and William Conrad appeared as special guest stars during the show's run. A scene with
John Belushi, tied to blocks of concrete under water, was filmed but replaced with footage
of Henderson, due to Belushi's subsequent death before the episode was broadcast. Belushi's
death came as a shock to Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker, as they had joked about it after
he almost choked during the filming of the scene. A list of possible celebrity death
shots was included on the show's DVD release in 2006.
Writing The show was set to mock cop procedurals the
same way Airplane! mocked disaster movies. Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker wrote the pilot
episode, in which most straight lines were directly copied from an M Squad episode. Pat
Proft, who had worked with Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker on Airplane! and The Kentucky Fried
Movie, wrote the third episode. Robert Wuhl was invited to join the writing staff after
he had auditioned for the lead role in Airplane!. He co-wrote the show's second and sixth episodes
with Tino Insana. Both episodes contained cultural references to old movies such as
On the Waterfront and The French Connection. In the audio commentary Wuhl recorded for
the DVD release, he mentioned that it was a nice opportunity, but that he did not really
feel a connection with the show, especially because of its short run.
Music The opening and closing music was penned by
composer Ira Newborn. The jumping big band/blues theme was retained for the Naked Gun movies,
along with the opening police-light visual of the Police Squad! series. It has been covered
by some swing-style dance bands on CD, and has even been scored in marching-band style
by arranger Paul Jennings. The animated TV series Family Guy used the
theme in the opening of its "PTV" episode, complete with character Stewie Griffin's tricycle
replacing the visual of the Police Squad car. Awards and nominations
Emmy Awards Other awards
Cancellation 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. According to the DVD Commentary of "A Substantial Gift", then-ABC entertainment
president Tony Thomopoulos said "Police Squad! was cancelled because the viewer had to watch
it in order to appreciate it." What Thomopoulos meant was that the viewer had to actually
pay close attention to the show in order to get much of the humor, while most other TV
shows did not demand as much effort from the viewer. 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." 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." Home video releases
In 1985, Paramount Home Video first released all six episodes of the show on VHS, Betamax,
and LaserDisc; Paramount released the show on two separate volumes: Police Squad!: Help
Wanted! and More! Police Squad!, each volume containing three episodes. On the release
of the show, Washington Post critic Tom Shales commented "People can rent them and laugh,
and then cry that ABC was so cruel." Paramount and CBS DVD first released the series
on DVD in 2006 in a keepcase, on one disc. The DVD contained various extras, including
actual production notes from network executives, a "freeze-frame" that was filmed but never
used, bloopers, casting tests, and an interview with Nielsen. Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker,
producer Robert K. Weiss and writer Robert Wuhl recorded audio commentary for the first,
third and sixth episodes. Critics universally praised how the show was still funny more
than 20 years after its cancellation. 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. While the Police Squad VHS and Beta videocassette releases had audio
only playable in mono sound, the 2006 CBS/Paramount DVD release had its audio remastered and all
6 episodes are available in Dolby Digital 5.1.
Spin-offs The Naked Gun films
Six years after the cancellation of Police Squad!, the first Naked Gun film was released
called The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!. It performed well at the box office
grossing around $78,756,177. The hit comedy became so popular that two sequels The Naked
Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear and Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult were released, The Naked
Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear was considered the most successful of the three, grossing
around $86,930,411, while Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult grossed $51,132,598. Roger
Ebert rated the first movie 3½ out of four stars, and gave 3 stars to the two following
films. Red Rock Cider commercials
A series of British advertisements for Red Rock Cider were made in the same style, with
the opening titles changed to other names such as "Fraud Squad" or "Fried Squid", featured
Leslie Nielsen. In one of these ads, 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 there's
no rocks in it." The opening titles were re-used for the commercials, they included:
There Go My Trousers Operation Undercover
My Wife Ate A Walrus Albert Einstein Form Guide
Some of the jokes that were used in the commercials were originally taken from Police Squad! such
as when Frank says "Cover me!" he gets covered with a blanket, which was one of the gags
taken from "The Butler Did It". The advertisements were shown in British cinemas
as well as on television. Other spin-offs
After the show's cancellation, the producers considered turning the show into a movie by
linking several episodes together with new scenes. A few of these scenes were actually
filmed before the project was abandoned. This footage can be viewed on the DVD release.
The Police Squad! characters were resurrected during the WWE's Summerslam 1994 PPV. In this
guise, they were looking for The Undertaker, who in storylines had previously vanished.
See also A Touch of Cloth, a 2012 UK mini-series that
spoofs crime shows in similar fashion. References
External links Police Squad! at the Internet Movie Database
Police Squad! at TV.com The TV MegaSite's Police Squad Site
Intro video for TV series "M Squad" Transcribed scripts for all 6 episodes at
policesquadscripts.com Script of the unproduced seventh episode "Testimony
Of Terror" [1]