User reviews

The creative team that brought us Police Squad - and the Naked Gun derived from it - said in interview that they were told by their network contact that the show would be canceled, after their delivery of the first episode. Basically, the show was never given any chance. Typical Hollywood. The contact apparently told the team that the problem with the show was that, for the show to be funny, the viewer would actually need to watch it; most shows are presented on TV with the understanding that the viewer needed to get up and miss a few minutes while getting food, or going to the toilet, etc.

The humor of the show is extremely dry (it uses no laugh-track), and the universe the characters inhabit is one in which anything can happen, regardless of logic, as long as it was totally unbelievable; so, for instance in one episode a surgeon has to bribe an informant on the street in order to get a tip on heart surgery.

Those familiar with the Naked Gun films should be warned that there are a number of interesting disjunctions between the show and the films. In the films, Nielsen developed a particular "take" approach - that is, eyes widened when confronted with the unexpected. This doesn't happen in the show, where Nielsen's Drebin is the center around which the rest of the universe revolves - nothing is unexpected to him. Also, there are no romances in the show, and no parodies of MTV. Finally, the show takes certain risks that the films avoid; in the first episode, Drebin, to "re-enact the crime", has a squad of homicide detectives shoot each other from a number of different angles - ballistics the hard way. This is actually a risky bit of humor, since we need to accept that it's perfectly normal for policemen to kill each other while investigating a crime, for no other reason than experimentation. This sort of thing rarely happens in the films.

Taken individually, each of the episodes is actually funnier than any one of the Naked Gun films, since they are both more compact (more happens in a shorter time-frame), yet more leisurely paced (there's not the rush for a punch-line as sometimes happens in the films). There are some inconsistencies that happen in the films (primarily "2" and "3") that never occur in the show's shorter time-frame.

Of course, there's no doubt that Naked Gun (the first film) is one of the great comedies of theatrical cinema. And if you watch the TV show episode after episode in one sitting, the dry quality of the humor might wear away one's tolerance.

None the less, it would be useful to have a DVD of this, and watch an episode a day for a few weeks - If laughter has, as some claim, medicinal value, watching this show is good for one's health.

Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) is a veteran of the Police Squad led by Captain Ed Hocken. Each episode starts with the police siren and ends with the fake freeze frame. It's the team of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker who created the iconic Airplane! movie. After the show's quick cancellation, the team would take it to the big screen as the Naked Gun franchise. As silly as the ABC cancellation seems, it's probably for the best to move it to the theaters. It says more about the network brass than the audience at large who certainly got the humor in the movies. It's great that the guys can recycle some of the jokes into their movies.

The jokes come fast and furious. The Frank interviewing Sally scene is hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard for a long time. It's as good as any "Who's on First" routine. Leslie's deadpan delivery gets me right away. The audience gets hit with that joke early in the first episode and it doesn't slow down. The jokes, both visual and verbal, are not going to stop. It's unlike anything I can recall during that TV era. It's Airplane! on steroids. Even now, the style of outrageous spoof is mostly in the animated field. It has few compatriots and no real competition. Peter Lupus is a bit stiff as Norberg although with hindsight, he's a much better choice than O.J. Simpson.

When I was young, I was a big fan of the Naked Gun movies but just recently I watched the show Police Sqaud! and I think its great! Leslie Nielson's awesome, Alan North is cool, and who the heck is Rex Hamilton? But anyways, it's one goofy show.

One of my favorite parts of this show when they do the freeze frame scene during the end credits. I think my favorite one is when Norberg (not O.J.) walks in during the scene and he tries to fit in with the freeze frame. Classic!

The only problem to me is the cigarette gag gets very old (when Drebin shows a cigarette to someone and asks, "Cigarette?" and the person replies, "Yes. I know.") I think they used it too many times by whatever.

Good acting, good gags, great show!

7/10

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. Nevertheless, I loved it.

One night I was listening to talk radio and they had Leslie Nielsen on the program. He went on to explain why there were only 6 shows. '

With TV shows like MASH you could go to the fridge to get a beer and as long as you heard what was going on you didn't miss anything. But with Police Squad, you HAD to watch the show, with the sight gags you missed a whole lot if you didn't see them. Who could forget "... the part of town known as "Little Italy"..." with the coliseum in the background.

Even the movies relied heavily on the sight gags, but then again being in the theater you were a captive audience.

Leslie also said the one reason the show, movies and other movies like Airplane were funny is because they didn't attempt to tell what was funny. It was up to the viewer to get the jokes.

Well that's just my 2 cents.

Proof that TV execs don't always know a good show when they see it (See "Family Guy"), all you have to do is look at "Police Squad!" A VERY short lived show (Only 6 episodes were aired) with humor that still holds up 20 yrs later. Leslie Neilsen as Frank Drebin is incredibly funny, with his partner, The late Alan North as Ed Hocken. My favorite episode is "Rendezvous at Big Gulch," (Or, as the announcer says, "Terror In The Neighborhood.")when Drebin runs a locksmith business to check out the thugs (Next to the keys, are "Florida Keys, Francis Scott Keys,""Turkeys," and "Pot Roast."). Too bad the network didn't get a clue to the humor of the show, but at least it inspired 3 very funny movies based on the series! If you haven't seen the movies or the show, you should check out the inspiration behind the movies!

"Police Squad" was one of the shortest lived television series in history...lasting a paltry six episodes. Looking at them now on the DVD collection, you wonder why. The jokes were hilarious and just what you'd find in the "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" movies...which were made by the same folks who made the show. All that is obvious is that the network didn't have any faith in the program and just killed it. It's a shame...but other great shows have also failed...only to be discovered later (such as the movie spin-offs). So my advice is to go to Amazon.com or another site which offers the DVD and buy it. If you don't like it...you're probably dead.

To say that this is a good show is not to say anything at all. After all, this show is made by the same crew responsible for Airplane and other hilarious and brilliant movies. Writing is superb. Even though the show is built on one-liners, they don't become overbearing or annoying. Leslie Nielsen is flexing his comedy muscle to the full extent as if saying: You ain't seen nothing yet. The format was definitely polished to introduce Naked Gun. When watching these movies, notice how many schticks are taken from the TV show. The brilliant part is that they don't have to be changed too much. The show was truly a testing ground for bigger and better versions to come later.

Two years after 'Airplane!' took off, Jim Abrahams, Jerry and David Zucker cast one of its stars - Leslie Nielsen - in this hilarious television series, a glorious take-off of old U.S. detective shows such as 'Dragnet'. Nielsen played Frank Drebin, America's answer to 'Inspector Clouseau'. It had the same style of humour as 'Airplane!'; clever visual gags in the background, unnoticed absurdities, and recurring characters such as Johnny the shoe-shine boy who seems to know everything about everything. Guest-stars ( including William Shatner! ) were killed off in the opening credits. 'Police Squad' was the first U.S. sitcom since 'Batman' to lack a laugh track. Many have lamented the fact that only six episodes were made, but I think it was about right. The concept could never have sustained a full 24-episode run. Five years later, 'Police Squad' made a successful transfer to the big screen, when the first of the 'Naked Gun' trilogy was released. Jim, Jerry, David, and Leslie had the last laugh.

The funniest show ever on TV, albeit the humor is not for everyone. I realize it would have been hard to keep the show fresh if it had ran longer, but it's a shame only six episodes were filmed. The gags fly rapidly from the opening credits until the very end, when you would see Drebin and his boss, Ed Hocken, pretending to be in freeze frame as the closing credits rolled, during which the criminal (still moving) would see everyone else motionless and try to escape. In another episode, the building started collapsing around them as Drebin and Hocken remained in freeze mode.

Leslie Nielsen was comedic brilliance as Frank Drebin and the perfect fit for this show … how he managed to keep a straight face through some of this is beyond me. Because the jokes and sight gags came so often and quick, you can watch the episodes a 2nd and 3rd time and catch things you missed the first time. If you're like me, you can watch them over and over and still find yourself laughing. Even the jokes that made no sense nor seemingly had any reason to them, such as the "Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln" tag-line in the opening announcement, somehow worked … perhaps they were thrown in there precisely for that reason.

Cleverly spoofing the old Quinn Martin detective/cop shows of the 1970s, Police Squad would return from commercial break with the words "Act Two" appearing on the screen, which was immediately followed by "Yankees One" or some other quip. On the opening credits, the episode's title would appear on the screen, but the announcer would utter a completely different title. My favorite jokes and lines from this series are way too numerous to list, but one of my favorites is when Drebin asks a down-on-his-luck boxer who has previously tanked fights, "Do you think you can beat the Champ?" The boxer responds, "I can take him blindfolded!" To which Drebin responds back, "But what if he's not blindfolded?" A minute later, in reference to the boxer's small, dingy apartment, Drebin tells him, "I'm going to help you get out of this sewer." The next thing you see, Drebin is popping up through a manhole cover on the street! In another episode, Drebin and Hocken are questioning a bombing suspect's flimsy alibi. Drebin, not believing him, says, "Alright, let's say you did go the movies." After a slight pause, Drebin, Hocken, and the suspect all look at the camera and in unison say, "You did go the movies." A few moments later, when Drebin is forced to let the suspected bomber walk free due to lack of evidence, he storms away and angrily yells, "Tell that bomber to take off!" What's seen next is a cop giving the thumbs-up signal to a WWII-style plane on a runway right outside the building! While there were many classic Drebin quotes, one particularly memorable one was, "Sorry to bother you Mrs. Twice. We would have come earlier, but your husband wasn't dead then." Another classic was, "I'm a locksmith … and, I'm a locksmith." When a visibly shaken kidnap victim's father asks Drebin, "What I do I do?" … Drebin, in classic deadpan fashion, responds back, "Well, as I understand it, you're in the textile business." As I said, the humor is not for everyone … many people simply will not "get" it. During the show's brief run, I remember the reaction being very mixed. Some people thought it was absolutely hysterical and one of the funniest things around, while others thought it was the stupid and unfunny. For me, Police Squad, even 20+ years later, is the funniest thing I've ever seen on TV. For younger viewers who enjoy this type of humor but who have never seen Police Squad because they were too young when the series initially aired, I highly recommend. I found the six episodes to be even funnier than the subsequent "Naked Gun" movies.

I watched this series after I had seen the Naked Gun films. I found it much better than the films, and I thought the films were great! This series literally glues you to the television set in anticipation of the next pun, sight gag, or funny situation (the all night wicker place, club flamingo). I don't think I've ever laughed as hard at a TV series in my life, even after seeing the movies first and thus knowing some of the jokes. I think its a shame that only six episodes were produced, but I agree that the writers would be very hard pressed to maintain this level of comedy for any more episodes. Overall, the series is a must see for those who like puns, bad jokes, and slapstick sight-gags.

This show was canceled after just six episodes and, I must say, it's justified. Although "Naked Gun" franchise that I love is based on this show, this was pretty much boring to me. If I saw it as a kid back in 80's I would probably be thrilled, but I do not see how anyone passed elementary school could like this. I cannot say it's crap, but it is overrated and I think the main reason for its cult status is the very fact it was canceled so soon. People have strange habit to oppose and many shows grew instant popularity as soon as they were canceled. In some cases, like with Firefly, it's justified, but in this case, the only credit this show deserves is for spawning "Naked Gun" franchise.

5/10

Endlessly Hilarious! I taped the first 5 shows years and years ago, and every so often I go back and watch them, and still they are as funny as they were the first time. In fact, there are so many sight gags and whatnot, that you will miss a lot of them the first few times you watch the shows! I see something new every time!! Absolutely hilarious, even more so than the films. Several of the gags are used repeatedly ("Cigarette? Yes it is", or the midget cop who is the intercom), but still manage to be funny each time. Too bad they didn't have Johnny the shoeshine guy in the movies. I wish I had the 6th show!!!

Highly recommended if you liked the Naked Gun or Airplane movies.

This is probably the funniest TV show I have ever seen. It only lasted 6 episodes and every episode was tight and perfect. What more can you say about a show that has the funniest line in T.V. history..."Who are you and how did you get in here?" "I'm a locksmith. And...I'm a locksmith." or after Leslie Nielson arrived to investigate a murdered husband he says to the wife... "We would have been here sooner but he wasn't dead yet." I am sure the show could not have have maintained this level for a few seasons, but one would have been great, 6 was way to short, almost a crime it was canceled so quick! PLEASE bring it to DVD with hopefully some deleted scenes and commentary! I cannot die until I see something extra on this show and then share it with my great grandkids also!

This series follows Detective Lieutenant Sergeant Frank Drebin of Police Squad as he investigates a series of cases.

That might not sound like a basis for a comedy but this series contains more gags per minute than just about other any series I can think of. There are recurring jokes; such as the guest star who dies within seconds of appearing and a shoe-shine man who seems to know everything about everything. The rest of the time we are assaulted by a series of puns, sight-gags and other hilarious moments... if you don't get one gag another will occur in seconds. Leslie Nielson does a really good job as Drebin, he, along with the rest of the cast, manage to play things straight even during the most ridiculous moments. Overall I'd say the biggest mystery here is why there are only six episodes... at least it returned on the big screen as the 'Naked Gun' Trilogy... A must see.

You know all those straight-faced police procedurals of the 50's & 60's (Dragnet, The Naked City, The FBI etc) that were so popular? Well, here's the antidote. Everything is spoofed, from the typical big-band intro to the voice-over, no prisoners are taken. And you can't let your attention wander for a second, or you'll miss some quip or sight-gag. There's always some nonsense happening on the screen somewhere, even if it's in the background. Leslie Neilsen is surprisingly good as Detective Frank Drebin, especially as (apart from the movie Airplane) he was not previously known for comedy, and Alan North achieves much by doing very little so well. Everyone enters into the spirit and it always leaves us smiling. We are currently watching the DVD again...

After reading over all these reviews I'm very surprised to see that no one has even once noted that this show was based on the 1957 to 1960 NBC cop show "M Squad" starring Lee Marvin, i read reviews comparing it to "Dragnet" and some of the Quinn Martin police shows, but if you watch M Squad you'll see it was based on it. In the late 1958 episodes of M Squad onwards, you'll see Lee Marvin who plays Lieutenant Detective Frank Ballinger get out of his car and then hes shot at,and he shoots back, the beginning of Police Squad is basically the same ( including the Jazz music) and then Lee Marvin narrates what goes on, (Im Lieutenant Detective Frank Ballinger,M Squad,a special department of the Chicago police) and in Police Squad Leslie Neilsen does the same (Im Detective Lieutenant Frank Drebin, Police Squad, a special division of the Police Department) and so on, in one of the M Squad episodes there's even the Johnny the shoeshine guy character and in a M Squad episode entitled " More Deadly" there's a Police Squad episode entitled "A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise)" which is the same story!

The series aired all too briefly in the early 80s. Too bad. Created by the same bunch behind "Airplane!" (1980), each episode is full of sight gags and strange humor.

The creative team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker had their roots in improvisational theatre in Madison, Wisconsin, I believe it was. They had a group called 'Kentucky Fried Theatre'(or something similar.) They put a bunch of their set pieces onto celluloid as'KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE'(1977), which was long, irreverent, sophomoric and really funny.

They followed up with the very popular, AIRPLANE! (1980), which really put them on the map. In it, they took some rather well known veteran actors in Robert Stack and (especially) Leslie Nielsen, and putting them in prominent roles, proceeded to parody every cliché of every aviation film since the days of John Wayne's (Batjac)Production of THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY (1954).* Pockets stuffed with cash and now having been noticed, the trio worked out a deal with Pramount Television and the American Broadcasting Company TV Network to do a half hour comedy spoof of the nearly countless Police Crime Drama show that have come and gone on our television screens over the years. Remembering the fine job that Mr. Leslie Nielsen had turned in on AIRPLANE!, he was cast in the lead.

As Sgt/Lt./Captain Frank Drebbin (the rank designation switch being one of their comic bits),he presided over a great series of successive puns, sight gags, non sequitors, and overblown police/crime clichés.All of these strung together by some,seemingly standard scripts. Added to this is overly dramatic opening narration, voiced over information contradicting the visual printed info. They always used this in giving the title of the episode titles, where voice and printed titles never matched.

They had a great musical score, which even though being somewhat exaggerated, would have passed as theme and incidental music in a straight drama.The musical score, the opening titles and format of having the episodes divided into Act I, Act II, Epilogue, etc., were all part of obvious, but affectionate, ribbing of Q.M. (Quinn Martin) Productions. (They even had the same announcer as did the real Q.M.'s.)

One thing that this all too short of a series did not have was a technically augmented audience laughter. And, boy they sure didn't need any phony tract. The nature of the spoof was such that it demanded the viewer's close, almost undivided attention, and that proved to be the ultimate reason behind POLICE SQUAD's downfall.

In regards to the series cancellation,an ABC Executive explained that the episodes "...called for too much attention on the part of the viewer." So, isn't that what one would want?

So, after only 6 wonderfully wacky, hilarious episodes,off to the afterlife of series cancellation went POLICE SQUAD!, only to be reborn in THE NAKED GUN trilogy, made for the big screen in movie houses. Once again, they did quite well at the Box Office. Oh well, TV's loss is Cinema's gain, thanks to you Mr. Idiot TV Exec!

* THE HIGH AND MIGHTY was produced by the Duke's own Batjac Productions and released by Warner Brothers. It was unavailable for quite a number of years and finally, Mr. Wayne's family made arrangements to release it to television and to video.

From the minds of Zucker and Abrahams and staring Leslie Neilsen, Police Squad! Was a short run, 6 episode series that was cancelled early only to be reborn as the quite successful Naked Gun franchise years later. If you're a fan of the Naked Gun films or others from the directors (Airplane!) then you'll certainly love this. Extremely dense with constant gags and puns I think literally every line of this show is a joke in some way or another. A comedic take on the police procedural, the series is very fun, the new and unique ways it mocks the ever living genre still rings true today. Fun fact, even in 2022 CBC is currently producing not one, not two, but three police procedural dramas: Murdoch Mysteries, Coroner, and Pretty Hard Cases. That's not even to mention the very related genre legal dramas in which we produce Diggstown. Just goes to show how long this sort of format can hold up, the many ways it can be reformated, and how long making fun of it lands so well. A short series I hope to rewatch many more times, I'm sure there's a lot I missed. Would recommend.

"Police Squad" was a short-lived TV series that aired on ABC in 1982. I remember watching it with my family and we thought it was hilarious. I just watched all six episodes again – 33 years later, and I found it mildly funny in places.

My DVD has a bonus interview with the series star, Leslie Nielsen, who plays Detective Sergeant Lieutenant (sic) Frank Drebin. Nielsen explains the failure of the series to catch on. He compared it to the blockbuster hit series "M.A.S.H." that was in its 11th season in 1982. Nielsen said one could get up and go to the refrigerator while "M.A.S.H." was on, and not miss the comedy. But people had to stay glued to their TV sets the whole time during "Police Squad." The reason is because they would miss much of the comedy that was in sight gags extraneous to the dialog taking place.

This series indeed had tons of sight gags that added to the humor. And, if one were to leave (we didn't back then), one would miss something for sure. This time around, I still saw and enjoyed the sight gags. So, I can see Nielsen's point and think it's valid for that time. The difference this time is that I thought the dialog was goofy but not that funny. In other words, it is dated – not so much in the content as to the style and what was considered very funny by the culture of the time. Today, the script of "Police Squad" just isn't as funny to me. But it appears that many other viewers still find it very funny.

Still, I just don't see that this series rates up there near "Fawlty Towers," (1975) which is one of the greatest comedy series of all time. Or, that it's funnier and better than really great comedies of the period. Yet IMDb viewers overall as of November 2015 rate this TV series better than such classic comedies as "The Jerk" 1979, "Caddyshack" (1980), "Airplane" (1980), "The Naked Gun" (1988), and "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988). To use a modern term, I'll just say, go figure!