Police Squad!
Police Squad! was an American television crime comedy series broadcast on the ABC network in 1982. It was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, and starred Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin. 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" (in particular the opening credits) and the late 1960s series "Felony Squad". Although the show was canceled after six episodes, it was  later followed by a successful film trilogy, "The Naked Gun", which was produced from 1988 to 1994. In 2013, "TV Guide" ranked it #7 on its list of 60 shows that were "Cancelled Too Soon". Overview. "Police Squad!" was created by David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, who had previously worked together on "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Airplane!". Despite critical acclaim, the show was canceled by ABC after just six episodes. The show gained a strong cult following through repeat broadcasts. Alan North played the role of Captain Ed Hocken on the show, 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). Apart from Nielsen, the only actors who reprised their roles in the films were Ed Williams as scientist Ted Olson, and Ronald "Tiny Ron" Taylor as Al, a very tall officer who is seen only from the neck down. Robert Goulet, who appeared as one of the "special guest stars" who were invariably killed off at the beginning of episodes, appeared as the villain Quentin Hapsburg in the . Joyce Brothers played herself in the . She also played herself  in the fourth episode of the show. Cast. Leslie Nielsen portrayed Sergeant Frank Drebin, detective lieutenant of 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!" (1980) and felt that their kind of humor matched. The team felt that Nielsen would be perfect as Drebin, as the character lampooned the roles that Nielsen had played in television dramas such as "" and "S.W.A.T.". Ed Williams, who co-starred as lab technician Ted Olson, had been a science teacher for many years and had  some previous acting experience. Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker were amazed by his performance. Rex Hamilton was credited in every episode as "Abraham Lincoln", and the same clip of him was invariably played in the opening credits. However, he never appeared in the program, only in the credits. Nielsen, Taylor, and Williams were the only members of the main cast who returned to portray 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 (slightly renamed from "Norberg"). Production. Opening sequence. The show 's opening sequence was a satire on traditional crime-drama opening sequences, particularly those of "M Squad" and various Quinn Martin shows such as "The Fugitive" and particularly "The New Breed" (which also starred Nielsen). Hank Simms, who had worked as an announcer for some of 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 shootout, as well as Abraham Lincoln impersonator Rex Hamilton, who dramatically returns gunfire to John Wilkes Booth. Hamilton never appeared in the show itself. 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 following Belushi's 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 had  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. Johnny the Shoeshine Guy. At some point in each episode, Lt. Drebin would stop by the shoe-shine stand of Johnny (William Duell), an informant, and would obtain some valuable information about the crime after passing him some money. A running gag was the subsequent arrival of another customer (including celebrities Tommy Lasorda, Dick Clark, and Dr. Joyce Brothers) offering money in exchange for information for their own personal or professional needs. Closing sequence. The  end of every episode featured Drebin and Hocken talking about the week's criminal going to "Stateville Prison", and mentioning the names of the criminals from all previous episodes. The scene ended with an imitation freeze-frame, with the actors trying to stand still while various things happened to or around them (such as Hocken pouring coffee into Drebin's cup until it overflows and starts burning him.) Writing. The show was intended to mock police dramas in the same way in which "Airplane!" had mocked disaster movies. Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker wrote the pilot episode, in which most straight  lines were directly copied from an "M Squad" episode. In fact, the pilot episode was an almost scene-for-scene remake of "More Deadly," the opening episode of the second season of "M Squad". 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 that 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. 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. 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. Nielsen also thought the premise was more effective in the successful "Naked Gun" films because the much larger screen size in a cinema meant viewers saw more 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." 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 media. 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 volume containing three episodes in their production order. 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 episodes were placed in the order in which they had aired on ABC. 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". The series was released in Blu-ray format in the US on April 14, 2020. Continuation. The "Naked Gun" films. Six years after the cancellation of "Police Squad!", the first "Naked Gun" film was released, titled "". It performed well at the box office, grossing around $78,756,177. The hit comedy became so popular that two sequels, "" (1991) and "" (1994), were released. "The Naked Gun : The Smell of Fear" was considered the most successful  of the three, grossing around $86,930,411, while "Naked Gun : The Final Insult" grossed $51,132,598. Roger Ebert rated the first movie out of four stars and gave three 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", and featuring 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 of a  popular music group called The Shadows. The advertisements were shown in British cinemas as well as on television. They were directed by John Lloyd, with such apparent success that Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker approached him to direct "Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult", but he turned them down. Other spin-offs. The "Police Squad!" characters were resurrected during the WWE's Summerslam 1994 pay-per-view event, when they were shown looking for The Undertaker, who in storylines had previously vanished.