A woman reports being blackmailed by some thugs. The Police Squad gets additional reports of the same kind from other shop owners. So Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen in fine deadpan form) and the bumbling Norberg (the excellent Peter Lupus) open up a key store in the most troubled area to find out what's what. Director Reza Badiyi, working from a blithely wacky script by Nancy Stern and Neil Thompson, relates the off-the-wall story at a zippy pace and maintains a cheerfully zany tone throughout. The guest cast have a ball in their juicy roles: Al Ruscio sneers it up well as fierce ringleader Dutch, Robert Costanzo and John Ashton are appropriately menacing as brutish thugs Leo and Rocky, Connie Needham does well as fetching and frightened ballet instructor Jill, and Rebecca Holden is a vampy delight as Dutch's foxy moll Stella. Moreover, there are amusing appearances by regulars Ed Williams as brainy forensics expert Mr. Olson and William Duell as sage shoeshine guy informant Johnny. "Brady Bunch" matriarch Florence Henderson briefly pops up in the opening credits as a woman who gets blown away in her kitchen. Of course, there are also plenty of inspired loopy gags that include a Mommie Dearest Daycare Center run by a Joan Crawford lookalike, Dutch keeping various animals in drawers in his office, and keys on the ceiling of the store falling down throughout the show. Ira Newborn's cornball melodramatic score provides a fair share of laughs as well. A total hoot.
