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Police Squad! [1982] (1 disc)

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Composer:Ira Newborn
Length:150 minutes
(2 hours 30 minutes)
MPAA Rating:TV-PG
Suggested Event Use:April Fools
Sorting Category:TV Show
Sorting Tub:Kilo
IMDB Rating:8.5/10
Amazon Rating:4.5/5 stars
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Classifications:
  • Comedy
  • Family
  • Mystery
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Synopsis: The small-screen exploits of Frank Drebin, Detective/Lieutenant Police Squad.


Reaction: Odd-ball and quite funny, though if you don't pay attention, the jokes pass you by rather quickly.


Personal Rating: 8/10


Highlights
 "Revenge and Remorse (Guilty Alibi, The)" and "Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood)"

Select Guest Cast
Al Ruscio => Dutch (Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood))
Florence Henderson => Shot Woman (Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood))
John Ashton => Rocky (Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood))
Rebecca Holden => Stella (Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood))
Robert Costanzo => Leo (Rendezvous at Big Gulch (Terror in the Neighborhood))
Barbara Tarbuck => Mrs. Twice (A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise))
Kathryn Leigh Scott => Sally (A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise))
Lorne Greene => Stabbed Man (A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise))
Russell Shannon => Ralph Twice (A Substantial Gift (The Broken Promise))
Bonnie Campbell-Britton => Lana (as Bonnie Campbell Britton) (Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi))
Joyce Brothers => Herself (as Dr. Joyce Brothers) (Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi))
Spencer Milligan => Eddie (as Spence Milligan) (Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi))
William Shatner => Poisoned Man (Revenge and Remorse (The Guilty Alibi))
Claudette Nevins => Veronica (Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh))
Danny Dayton => Joey (Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh))
Dick Clark => Himself (Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh))
Dick Miller => Vic (Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh))
William Conrad => Stabbed Man (Testimony of Evil (Dead Men Don't Laugh))
Floyd Levine => Cooper (Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment))
Georg Stanford Brown => Police under the Safe (Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment))
Grand L. Bush => The Champ (as Grand Bush) (Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment))
Irwin Keyes => Luca (Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment))
Patrick St. Esprit => Buddy (Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment))
Tessa Richarde => Mary (Ring of Fear (A Dangerous Assignment))
K Callan => Charlotte (The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand))
Lilibet Stern => Terri (The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand))
Nicolas Coster => Warner (The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand))
Robert Goulet => Executed Man (The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand))
Tommy Lasorda => Himself (The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand))
David Zucker => Director
Georg Stanford Brown => Director
Jerry Zucker => Director
Jim Abrahams => Director
Joe Dante => Director
Paul Krasny => Director
Reza Badiyi => Director
Ira Newborn => Composer
Alan North => Capt. Ed Hocken
Ed Williams => Mr. Olson
Leslie Nielsen => Det. Frank Drebin
Peter Lupus => Norberg
Rex Hamilton => Abraham Lincoln
William Duell => Johnny

Random Trivia For This Title:

  • Each episode has two titles: the voiceover narration inevitably fails to match the on-screen title.
  • Each week featured a "Special Guest Star" who is killed off in the opening credits. Lorne Greene and William Conrad are knifed and tossed out of cars; Georg Stanford Brown has a safe dropped on him; Florence Henderson is shot during a musical number; Robert Goulet is executed by a firing squad; and William Shatner avoids a burst of machine-gun-fire only to drink a glass of poisoned wine. [?] John Belushi filmed a cameo "guest star" appearance for the {Testimony of Evil} episode, showing him underwater wearing a pair of cement shoes. He died before the episode aired, so a new sequence was filmed with William Conrad. After the success of the [Naked Gun!] movies, both Comedy Central and CBS-TV, and not ABC-TV, re-aired all six episodes of this series in the summer of 1991. Producers wanted to include the [?] John Belushi "guest star" appearance in the rerun of the {Testimony of Evil}, which had been cut from the episode due to Belushi's death in 1982. The footage could not be located, and is now presumed to have been lost or destroyed.
  • Each week Frank's snitch, Johnny the Shoeshine boy who knew everything, would meet with someone else that Johnny could give useful if esoteric information to. In the last three episodes he met with real-life people Dick Clark, Joyce Brothers, and Tommy Lasorda (even providing Clark with a special bottle of anti-aging face cream).
  • At some point in each of the first four episodes, Drebin runs over a set of objects (garbage cans, bikes) equal to the episode number. This joke does not occur in the fifth or sixth episodes.
  • Starting with the 2nd episode, Drebin would reel off a list of the criminals apprehended in all the previous episodes. This joke was slightly ruined as the episodes aired out of order, the fifth episode airing before the fourth and the fourth airing before the third, thus criminals were referred to before they were arrested. This joke was not done in the first or third episodes.
  • According to Pat Proft, had a second season been commissioned, the spot in the opening credits where Abraham Lincoln is shot at and retaliates with a pistol would have been replaced by a similar one, featuring Mahatma Gandhi and a machine gun.
  • Many of the gags from the TV series were reused in the [Naked Gun] films.
  • The episodes end with a mock freeze frame. However, instead of an actual freeze frame, the characters in the frame simply stand as still as possible. In one episode, the frame "freezes" with one character pouring the other a cup of coffee. As they stand still, the cup can be seen overflowing.
  • ABC wanted the show to have a laugh track, but Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker wouldn't give in.
  • Drebin's rank is oft intentionally misused, i.e. he might announce himself as 'Lieutenant Drebin' only to have that person immediately introduce him as 'Captain Drebin.' Even Drebin varies his title, making it one of those distinctively amusing subtleties the Abrahms and Zucker Brothers team are known for.