Police Squad!

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Police Squad! ranks 1,043 out of the 18,228 shows on TV.com.

The 208 users who count themselves as Police Squad! fans have written a total of 16 reviews.

Status

Premiered

Ended

Genre

Theme

From the creators of Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane!, the Hot Shots! movies, and Top Secret!, Police Squad! began as the brain-child of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. The series would later spawn three follow-up movies under the new Naked Gun titles. The... more »

From the creators of Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane!, the Hot Shots! movies, and Top Secret!, Police Squad! began as the brain-child of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker. The series would later spawn three follow-up movies under the new Naked Gun titles. The series was set up to spoof the Quinn Martin Productions' police dramas of the 1960s and 1970s, hence the use of "In Color" by the narrator.

The show's main staple of entertainment came from sight gags (such as a tow truck being a truck in the shape of a big toe) and misunderstandings in dialogue, mostly from people taking things extremely literally. Several great routines came from these misunderstandings that left characters in the scene very confused, but left the audience with loads of humor.

Though critically acclaimed, it never did well in the ratings. In fact, Abrahams, Zucker, and Zucker got the word from ABC right away that the show would be canceled. The reason? Because the audience actually had to watch the show. This isn't a bad thing, but the fast pace of the show was too intellectual for the average viewer, tired after a day's work. All the jokes, puns, and sight gags were too much to handle. Though it was never a ratings hit, the show has achieved cult status today.

Police Squad! is available on two VHS tapes, each containing three episodes. The VHS tapes are titled Police Squad! Help Wanted and More Police Squad!.

Fun Facts
* Each episode has two titles. What appears as the on-screen title differs from the voice-over narration title.
* The show contained on-screen act numbers after commercial breaks (Act I, Act II, etc.), with Act II being a gag title.
* Each week featured a special guest star who was killed in the opening credits, and never actually appeared in the episode.
* In each episode, Frank Drebin runs over a number of garbage cans equal to the episode number.
* Starting with the second episode and continuing with each episode, Frank Drebin would reel off a list of the criminals captured from previous episodes.
* During the closing credits, the cast would pretend to "freeze frame." However, coffee being poured into a cup would overflow onto a character's shoes, or Nordberg would enter the scene not knowing to stand still.
* Frank could come to shoeshine boy Johnny who knew everything on the streets. Inevitably, someone else would come for information on fires, religious advice, baseball coaching, etc. Dr. Joyce Brothers would ask for sexual advice, and Dick Clark for music info and some of his "special face cream."
* When Frank came into the lab, scientist Ted would be in the middle of some kind of vaguely sexual or sadistic experiment with a small child as his assistant (echoing Peter Graves' lines in Airplane!). Ted would then dismiss the child with the promise of another weird experiment later.
* No matter how quickly Frank got to the scene, his boss Ed would already be there.
* ABC wanted the show to have a laugh track, but Abrahams, Zucker, and Zucker wouldn't give in.
* Though he was in the opening credits, Rex Hamilton never appeared in any of the episodes.
* CBS re-ran the entire series over six-weeks when Naked Gun 2 ½ : The Smell of Fear was released. Unfortunately, it still did poorly in the ratings.less «

• The first Naked Gun film is part of the Police Squad!'s TV.com guide?

  Should the first Naked Gun film be included with Police Squad!'s TV.com guide?

  Should the first Naked Gun film be included with Police Squad!'s TV.com guide?less «

  SunSpeed Last online 4 days ago
  2 comments, last one May 26, 2009 + Add Comment

• Re: Tons Of Gags Like Police Squad---Have Any Of You Ever Watched...

  The tv show 'Arrested Development'? Much like 'Police Squad', there was gag after gag after gag and the vie...more »

  The tv show 'Arrested Development'? Much like 'Police Squad', there was gag after gag after gag and the viewer needed to pay attention with both eyes and ears (and multiple viewings always help) to catch them all. Like 'Police Squad', 'Arrested Development' didn't score high enough ratings to stay afloat (if FOX ever promoted the show properly to help the cause any it might still be on the air). Then one day a movie was made long after the shows (Police Squad) cancellation that set the comedic world on fire: Naked Gun. Well, it appears that an 'Arrested Development' movie is in the works, and I'm hoping lightening strikes twice: Arrested Development was THAT good of a show. So here's hoping the movie catches on like 'Naked Gun' did, so sequels will be made and heck, with some luck, it may even get back on tv, who knows? Oh, my question was: Anyone here ever watch 'Arrested Development'? If so, what are your thoughts on the show, it's 'Police Squad' paralells, and anything else under the sun regarding these two shows? less «

  MarkKellerman Last online Jun 17, 2009
  1 comments, last one Jul 27, 2008 + Add Comment

• What the hell?

  They aired a few of these episodes on the Sci Fi channel once and I thought I was watching a tiny bit of a long series not the entire thing. Did they really only make 6 episodes?... Codeguru

  They aired a few of these episodes on the Sci Fi channel once and I thought I was watching a tiny bit of a long series not the entire thing. Did they really only make 6 episodes?... Codeguruless «

  Codeguru Last online 13 days ago
  7 comments, last one Oct 25, 2007 + Add Comment

•  

  10 Perfect

  Coffee? Yes it is
  
  I love this show how can you not, it so silly and dumb it makes you forget everything and just laugh. hide « show »

  Leslie Neilson rules, on this show and in the movie Naked Gun, which most know is based on this show. I liked the episode when they were fighting behind the trash can, and they were firing their guns at each other and they were inches apart, you gotta love it. There of course are the sayings like above Coffee? and then the other person says yes it is. There are alot of good gags that they did on the show that was classic. I never saw the show when it originally aired, or at least I don't remember it from then because I was like 5 years old, but I have watched it since and it is timeless comedy, from timeless comedians.

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  kevinb4444 Added Dec 18, 2006 All my reviews
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  9.4 Superb

  "Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" Never thought of it too much until I discovered ths series. hide « show »

  As a fan of the Naked Gun movies I was thrilled to discover there was a shortlived series that inspired the movies and Frank Drebin is just as entertiaing as he is in the movies themselves with his terrible driving skills and slow mind.
  
  The freeze frame parodies that end the episodes are a brilliant idea and really sum up the feel of the show - slapstick and clever. Unfortunately, the latter caused this show to be cancelled since it is clear that you need to pay attention to the show to get a lot of jokes.
  
  Overall, I'd say this show is very good for it's time and is a very memorable program.

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  jimbo_001 Added Dec 17, 2006 All my reviews
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  10 Perfect

  One of the funniest tv shows ever. hide « show »

  This show is the progenitor of the naked gun trilogy. This show is a spoof of 70s cop shows. It's so funny, at the end of each show the actors holds their positions pretending that the camera have a frozen show when in fact it is still filming. It's so funny, you can get a good laught by watching this show. The jokes are hilarious, you're just waiting for the next punchline to come. This type of show is rarely duplicated today, this show is a true classic. If you loved watching the naked gun movies, you'll surely enjoy this show.

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  sfviewer Added Sep 3, 2006 All my reviews
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  8.8 Great

  hide « show »

  This is the brief series that lead to the NAKED GUN trilogy. Leslie Nielsen gets to play madman with all the delicious relish he can bring to the part of the straight-faced detective.
  The stories are parodies of all the very, very, very serious and very, very, very important police and crime shows on TV over the years. Nothing escapes the satiric bashing that goes on here. The guest stars each week are murdered in the opening scene and then are never heard of again. The titles of the episodes don't fit the narration. Nielsen's own narration is a wonderful satire of all the crime story voice-overs going back to film noir and DRAGNET. And -- wonder of wonders -- the show is "In Color!"
  No pun goes un-punned. No sight-gag is left un-gagged. Nothing is spared. Imagine the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges in a crime movie setting, and that gives you a hint of what POLICE SQUAD is all about. This is one of the funniest shows ever made for TV, but since it is satire, it of course had only a short run. Nevertheess, I loved it.

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  bonefactory Added May 6, 2006 All my reviews
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  9 Superb

  Very funny and not too bad of a cop show, give it a shot. hide « show »

  A pretty good cop show. Very funny. If this is a show that you do not normally watch and you are sitting at home with nothing to do, you are going to wish you had it on tape. Having it "on tape" had become the generic term for recorded programs. Today you are more likely to have the show on Tivo or DVR than VHS, or god forbid Beta!! It is kind of like how a lot of people still call CD's "records" or "albums." Anyway, back to the show. This is the type of show that is really pretty good if you would just give it a chance. So on those cold, lonely, rainy days, pop in your tape or DVR or whatever if you were smart enough to tape it. If not, check to see if it is on as a re-run. After all, as they say, if you have never seen it, it is new to you. Not too bad of a cop show, give it a shot. A very funny show.

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  vicmackey31 Added Apr 18, 2006 All my reviews