"Police Squad!" (1982) TV series

Creators:

Jim Abrahams
David Zucker
Jerry Zucker

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

4 March 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Plot:

Sight-gags and non-sequiturs dominate this spoof of police dramas. The six episodes formed the basis for later very successful "Naked Gun" movies.

Plot Keywords:

Police | Spoof | Murder | Different Gags During Credits | Slapstick

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Leslie Nielsen	...	Det. Frank Drebin (6 episodes, 1982)
Alan North	...	Capt. Ed Hocken (6 episodes, 1982)
Rex Hamilton	...	Abraham Lincoln (6 episodes, 1982)
Ed Williams	...	Mr. Olson (6 episodes, 1982)
William Duell	...	Johnny (6 episodes, 1982)
Marvin Miller	...	Narrator (6 episodes, 1982)
Peter Lupus	...	Norberg (4 episodes, 1982)

Runtime:

30 min (6 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:TV-PG | Singapore:PG | Norway:15 (DVD) (2007) | Denmark:15 (DVD) (2007) | Sweden:15 (DVD) (2007) | Finland:K-18 (DVD) (2007) (self applied) | Ireland:15 (DVD) | UK:15 (DVD)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Television

Trivia:

The theme song, the opening credits and the character of Lt. Frank Drebin were spoofs of "M Squad" (1957). Lee Marvin starred on that show as Lt. Frank Ballinger.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Warrior of the Lost World (#6.1)" (1993)

"Airplane!" Meets QM Productions

This was a funny show. It had an "Airplane!" flavor to it and it parodied the Quinn Martin Productions shows that were popular in the 60s and 70s ("The Streets of San Francisco", "Barnaby Jones", "Cannon", etc). If you're familiar with these shows, they all had the same type of beginnings; Same announcer who would go through the starring cast, that night's guest stars, special guest stars (if any) and the name of "tonight's episode". As well as the on screen act numbers and the epilogue after commercial breaks.

It was everything like "Airplane!", in the sense that you had to watch the show to see the gags and other hidden gags that were in the background along with the verbal jokes and gags.

It was a shame that only 6 episodes were produced, since this was one of my favorite shows. Unlike "The Naked Gun" movies, although funny, the problem with those movies were, the show lampooned QM Productions shows, it was probably hard to transfer that to the big screen. It just didn't have the same feeling to it as the tv show.