Review of Police Squad!

Introduction

Leslie Nielsen had a long and relatively distinguished career as a serious actor and leading man. His early work is probably best remembered for the lead role in science fiction classic Forbidden Planet in which he starred alongside Robbie The Robot. Later on, he was the Captain in the Poseidon Adventure. Enough of that serious stuff though…

Following his breakthrough comedic role as Dr. Rumack in Airplane!, Nielsen was asked to star in a TV series that would attempt to take the michael out of 70`s cop shows, particularly the ubiquitous Quinn Martin Productions such as Streets Of San Francisco, The Fugitive and The Invaders amongst others (and yes, I know The Invaders wasn`t a cop show…).

Nielsen starred as Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant Police Squad and along with boss Captain Ed Hocken (Alan North) and undercover cop Officer Norberg (Peter Lupus) investigate cases that were pretty much the stereotype for US TV of the era. Helping out in the background was forensic man Ted Olsen (Ed Williams), a man for whom forensics was a real art and was surely the inspiration for the all conquering CSI franchise.

Broadcast in 1982, the series was acclaimed critically but flopped badly. The series was dropped after six episodes and the excuse at the time was that `the viewer had to watch it in order to appreciate it.` Regardless of how stupid that sounds, it does make sense. US TV viewers weren`t that sophisticated according to both executives and critics, and with popular comedy shows like MASH, people could pop out to the kitchen for a brew (or brewski) and not miss much. Police Squad! relied heavily on sight gags and so you really had to pay attention in order to get the most out of it.

Still, the second attempt to do something with this series and character led to three films with The Naked Gun title, which then allowed this series to surface on VHS in the late 80`s and gain a more appreciative audience.

Video

Good clean picture, I couldn`t find anything wrong with it. Sets look like cardboard cut-outs but then this series was a mickey take of TV Cop Series so that`s a given.

Audio

A 5.1 Surround Mix that is a bit hit and miss. It`s pretty good and loud enough, but some of the separation doesn`t quite sound right with the biggest problem being on the commentaries where the sound pickup for some of the participants is quite poor whilst other are booming. Some good effects during the episodes themselves though, and the time spent on this is clearly a mark of how popular this series is now.

Good selection of subtitles.

Features

Interview with Leslie Nielsen - looking his age and not quite all with it, but interesting to hear him speak on this.

Commentaries - mainly with ZAZ, some problems with sound pick up covered above, but relatively amusing to listen to.

Behind The Freezes Frames - short featurette on the famous `cheap` freeze frames at the end of each episode.

Gag Reel - s`ok I guess; some of it funny, some not.

Casting Tests - one for Alan North and one for Ed Williams. Odd to see North working Nielsen`s lines…

Producer`s Photo Gallery of Scenery, Sets & Props

List of Celebrity Death Shots - text based that lists the numerous ways that planned guest stars were going to be killed off. What is interesting is that they shot one with John Belushi prior to his death but have never been able to find the footage since.

Production memo highlights - copies of presumably the actual memo`s circulated around the set of Police Squad! including the one notifying the team of the cancellation, which in all honesty is more than a little bland and a bit of a letdown.

Conclusion

Whilst I saw the Naked Gun films first, this is where it all started and in my opinion is far superior. This is due to the fact that the episodes are only 22 minutes long and therefore more happens more quickly. It is stupid, but that`s the appeal. Nielsen really is a comedic genius here, but kudos also to Alan North, Peter Lupus and Ed Williams for creating a classic but short-lived series.

There`s just so much to appreciate here, so I`m going to miss a few things that others will deem important, but still…

The parody of the QM Productions is immediate with the narrated intro sequence, even narrated I believe by the same bloke. "Rex Hamilton as Abraham Lincoln" never ceases to be funny, even though this is his only appearance in the show. The special guest spots are also funny in that they all die and thus never get to guest star. Some are funnier than others, some like Florence Henderson aren`t that great even when they are essentially sending up their TV persona. William Shatner typically overacts in his…

Once the episode starts properly after the episode announcement that is completely different to that on-screen, the gags fly thick and fast and you probably do need to watch this a few times to get everything that`s been crammed in. There are plenty of decent one-liners but there`s also loads of sight gags. Speaking of which, one of the best was the freeze frame at the end of each episode. Another parody of TV shows at the time, actors would get to say the all important closing line and then the action would freeze. Here they do the freeze for real, although not everyone can do it properly and not everyone is in on it. The classic freeze frame is with the arrested crooked boxing promoter Montague Martin, although that`s followed swiftly by the Norberg one. There are running jokes as well, such as Drebin`s parking and the lines "Cigarette?" "Yes, I know".

It`s debateable as to whether Zucker, Abraham and Zucker could have stretched this out much more than the six episodes produced and presented here, I always preferred these to Naked Gun myself possibly due to the length, possibly due to the fact that I know most of the jokes in their original context. It`s short and sweet, but never boring. A comedy classic that never tires, this is a must for comedy fans.

"We`re sorry to bothered bother you at a time like this, Mrs Twice. We would have come earlier but your husband wasn`t dead then…"