There were only six episodes of this remarkable program (it later morphed into the Naked Gun movie series). Here are some of the running gags:
- Drebin repeatedly drives into something (usually trash cans) when he parks his car. The number of trash cans he hits matches the episode number, e.g. one in episode one, two in episode two, and so on.
- Drebin would offer a cigarette or coffee to people he was interviewing with the line "Cigarette?" (or "Coffee?") as if offering, to which they would respond "Yes, I know" or "Yes, it is.
- The moment before the ending credits, the characters would freeze up and hold a pose, while action in the background continued normally during the credits, parodying the "freeze-frame" credit endings typical of police dramas and action shows of the era.
p.s. - I'm not being enthusiastic in the tile; the exclamation mark is part of the show's name.
I loved this show. It didn't work out because you had to concentrate so much on the jokes and background stuff. Watch them over and over and you'll see things you missed the first time or three.
ReplyDeleteI also understand the lack of a standard 'laugh track' hurt it. Too bad, really. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteAnother running joke was to have shootouts at extremely short ranges.
ReplyDeleteDaBris
I don't know how I missed this show. I adored Leslie Nielsen.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous, Wikipedia says:
"According to the DVD Commentary, then-ABC entertainment president Tony Thomopoulos said 'Police Squad! was cancelled because the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it.'"
--Swift Loris
Swift, "Police Squad, the Complete Series" is on DVD. I've requested it from our library; you might want to check yours.
ReplyDelete@Minnesotastan, thanks. I may do just that. Or I may rent it from Netflix.
ReplyDelete--Swift Loris